NO DOGS ALLOWED!!!!

[moremoremore]

hehehehe..love the kitten and the your kitty pix! Too funny with the claw covers!
Good for you not declawing JCJD....declawing is nothing short of amputation. Another issue I feel very strongly about. I'd rahter sit here in shredded furniture. It's all about training and providing outlets!!

 

[Kamuelamom]

Ugh, declawing........

I''ve declawed 2 of my cats in the past, only because I went to live with my sis and she told me that the minute they tore up her furniture I''d need to have them declawed or they''d be gone...

Well they did, so I had to or they''d have be gone, she wasn''t joking. And I''ll say, never again.........

They''d never been the same after that. Lost their cat confidence, lost their cat pride.

 

[JCJD]

I rescued Sammy in college - she was a frat house cat, not pretty... And when I took her to get spayed, I just had her front-declawed at the same time. It was just automatic. Katie is front-declawed (my parents'' decision when I was in 8th grade), so I just did it. Well, her poor little paws swelled up and got infected so she had to stay at the vet another 2 days and even after we took her back to the dorms she was leaving little spots of blood occasionally.

Never again! I convinced my sister to keep her cats claws intact, and they''re so well-behaved! Except when they decide to climb up your back just to get some jumping air!

 

[Lorelei]

A friend of a friend from the States had her cat here, he had been declawed and she used to have him fitted with acrylic claws

I didn''t believe it, my friend has always taken great delight in teasing me as I am such an easy target, so one day she brought the claws to show me. I immediately trotted down to my nice vet to show him, who laughed and said he had seen them when he was a student in Canada!!! Declawing cats is never done here in the UK, and is mainly unheard of.
Firegoddess is she good to have her claw covers fitted? Does the vet have to do it or do you?

 

[Kamuelamom]

Firegoddess, I''m real curious about those claw covers. What are they? How do you put them on? what purpose do they serve? I''ve never seen nor heard of them before.

 

[Rockchick]

declawing??? sounds horrible

I would neverever do that... I never even heard of it before

love all the new kitty pics! FG, how on earth do you get those claw covers on? i''d like to know too.

The nicknames for the red one are, Lolo, fatty, furball

(his name is lodewijk) And he is just a big ball of fur. We cut his hair this time instead of shaving it, must take pics of that..
And the black one shares the same nickname as Gracie.. pretty princess, or meisje (which means ''little girl'') and het name is Guusje.

o and just for the record, I use babytalk all the time with my cats, and so does DF.. LOL

 

[FireGoddess]

So these claw covers....are freaking fantastic. I would never declaw, but Chloe REFUSES to get anywhere near a scratching post. Over the course of the 5 years I had her in graduate school, she shredded all the corners of my mattress and box spring set. So when I moved and got a new bed, I vowed she wouldn't touch it. That meant keeping her out of my bedroom. But she's a fraidy cat and her temperament really changed after that...she wasn't allowed to sleep in my bedroom and so she got more skittish for some reason. Then I found the claw covers at Soft Paws and she's happily slept in my bedroom ever since. They rock! You can see them in the last picture of Chloe I posted...they are pink. The red ones cracked me up (little manicured kitty) but they remind me of blood so I got the pink the next time.

ANYWAY, these last for weeks - it's only once a month at the most that I put them on her...often times longer than that. The kit comes with the covers, a tube of adhesive, and little pointy tips to put on the adhesive bottle so the "glue' comes out in fine drops. You trim the cat's nails, fill the nail cover with adhesive, put it on the nail and hold a few seconds...and voila, done. I trim all the cat's nails, but you only need to put the covers on the front paws, as they only scratch stuff with those. Some cats freak out for 5 minutes the first time you put them on, but then - they don't notice at all. Chloe never once noticed anything...not the first time, not ever. They will gradually fall off as the nail grows and the outer layers of the nail shed. Lately when I replace them one or two will still be on...I just cut the tip off with the cat nail clippers and it falls right off.

ETA: I get Chloe the size small.
ETA: JCJD - I LOVE when they make that Prrrrreow noise. It's my favorite.

 

[Lorelei]

Thanks Firegoddess, you learn something new every day!!! Chloe looks too sweet with her " painted nails." I think I would need an ambulance if I tried to fit them on mine - worm tablets are bad enough

Sounds like Chloe enjoys her '' manicure''

 

[Rockchick]

Thanks FG, but still i'm wondering how you can get them on her. If I would try that I would be seriously injured LOL

Do you have her in a headlock or something LOL

We need those badly on our black kitty. She's sweet, but absolutely ruins everything, but i don't know how I would get those things on her?!?

 

[FireGoddess]

Well, Chloe is so afraid of everything that when caught, she will first struggle, and upon realizing it's not working, just buries her head and hopes that if she can't see me, I can't see her. So it's not that bad, and I basically catch her, lock both of us in the bathroom, and go to it. Done in less than 5 minutes. A friend of mine has 2 cats and they are more normal (ie. not afraid) and she basically wraps the cat in a towel and works with one paw, then the other.

My parents have a cat that has turned mean in his old age and will tear you to pieces...that kind of cat doesn't get claw guards unless he's sedated.

Do you trim your cat's nails? If so, it only takes 2 more seconds to apply the claw guard. If you don't/can't trim the cat's nails...do you have the vet cut the nails? Or just let them become talons? Cuz then...lord help you!!

 

[moremoremore]

LOL.....Love the nail tips LOL.... Like a fancy lady coming from the salon....!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS FOR LOVING CATS!

Rock chick- declawing is actually the equiv. of cutting your fingers off at the first knuckle.

Little Shelter writes:

The cat is given a general anesthetic

The fur around the feet is clipped

A tourniquet is placed around the leg

The nails are rinsed with alcohol

The amputation of the nail is accomplished with a guillotine nail cutter, which cuts across the first joint and may involve the foot pad

The toes are then bandaged tightly to prevent hemorrhage.

The bandage is removed two to three days post-operatively.

There is an alternate procedure in which the nail is removed completely and the skin is sutured over. The procedure is not as common as it is more time-consuming.

 

[moremoremore]

This is a decent article on scratching! And Pam Bennet johnson on The THink Like A Cat chat board on IVillage is GREAT!
http://www.catscratching.com/#declaw

 

[Blue824]

Date: 7/20/2005 8:50:53 PM
Author: moremoremore

LOL.....Love the nail tips LOL.... Like a fancy lady coming from the salon....!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS FOR LOVING CATS!

Rock chick- declawing is actually the equiv. of cutting your fingers off at the first knuckle.

Little Shelter writes:

The cat is given a general anesthetic

The fur around the feet is clipped

A tourniquet is placed around the leg

The nails are rinsed with alcohol

The amputation of the nail is accomplished with a guillotine nail cutter, which cuts across the first joint and may involve the foot pad

The toes are then bandaged tightly to prevent hemorrhage.

The bandage is removed two to three days post-operatively.

There is an alternate procedure in which the nail is removed completely and the skin is sutured over. The procedure is not as common as it is more time-consuming.

That was a scary thing to read.

We took in a stray, Rockie, after she found us and she was pregnant with kittens, and we had 4 of them adopted and kept one. Our vet advised us to have the front claws removed on the kitten we kept, Lambchop. We really were uneducated about it, they just sort of came into our lives and with in a week we had 6 cats

and it really was a learning experience. Lambchop liked to jump behind our washer & dryer and after we got him declawed he''d still try to do that and I just remember there were these bloody marks all around the room he was in. Just so sad that my mom vowed never to do that to a cat again. My eyes tear up just thinking about it. Our two after that have not been declawed at all...but I am curious about those claw covers as they have done damage to the woodwork in our house. Will these claw covers come off if they''re running around a lot and stuff? I guess you just keep replacing them if they do. Do you HAVE to trim them? My cats are not very grooming friendly. I''ve always joked about how if I lived in LA I''d give my cats manicures, so this would be sort of funny, while a great benefit, for us. Only like $20, so its worth the try I suppose.

 

[FireGoddess]

I think the claw covers stay on better when the nails are cut because you've gotten rid of the really pointy tip of the nail and are left with the thicker part, and it's easier to get a really good gluing surface for the claw cover to stick to. But I've never tried NOT clipping her nails. They are super cheap ($20 or so) and last me around half a year, so it's definitely worth trying. Every few weeks I'll find a claw cover on the floor so I know when one has fallen off. They're pretty hardy cuz when Chloe gets freaked out, she BOLTS (this happens constantly...kitty tearing across the house) and they stay on. I generally don't replace until most are gone. It's amazing how some of them I really have to use nail clippers to get off cuz they're on the claw so well! They've saved me from wanting to just choke my cat...she refuses the scratching post and she's already 9 or 10 years old so she's untrainable at this point I think. Besides, it is freaking hysterical to watch her prance in with her pink toes. heehee

 

[JCJD]

Here''s my trick to cutting cat claws - most of their complaining and discomfort stems from you touching their feet. So, when you''ve got them all purry and warm and limp sitting on your lap one day, start stroking their feet, and eventually start playing with their paws, making their claws pop up. Do this until they''re used to it - it only took Sammy a week. Then, when you go to clip them, get them all cuddly again, start stroking their feet, and only clip off the really sharp part, well above the quick. Verbal praise and chin scritching works well here for me. Sammy doesn''t even squirm anymore, and all Katie does is whine when she realizes what I''m doing. Just make sure to NEVER cut the quick (the white/opaque part) because that will bleed and hurt and you''ll have to start all over again.

 

[AmantdeChat]

Here''s the website for softclaws: http://www.softclaws.com/

Well, my little white furbaby, Jasmine, has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. She had been losing weight (which at her size is not good!) and her fur was becoming rough and matted. Since my other cat Flash had hyperthyroidism several years ago with the same symptoms I was pretty sure that''s what was going on with Jasmine. So we went to the vet and he put her on thyroid medication for the past month so the he could test her kidney functions. Just found out today that her kidney''s are functioning at a normal level (thank God!) and we will be able to move forward with the next step.

Since her thyroid cannot be felt by the vet, she is not a candidate for surgery. The good news is there is another alternative, radioactive iodine treatment. The bad news is it''s the most expensive (~$1000) and she will have to be in the hospital for 7 days

. (She will be radioactive, or at least her urine will be, that''s why she has to be in the hospital so long!)

I''m just glad there is something we can do for her, though. So I am hoping we can get her into treatment within the next few weeks and get her back on track. I will keep you guys updated.

 

[Lorelei]

Good luck with Jasmine''s treatment. Her symptoms sound fairly typical and I am sure she will be fine. I have known cats (skinny ones!) go on for donkey''s years with this condition. Keep us updated and give her a cuddle from her PS Aunties

 

[Catmom]

Oh, I''m so sorry to hear about Jasmine. I so hope her treatment fixes her right up and she is home safe and healthy. At least there was some good news about her kidneys!

 

[Blue824]

AmantdeChat -- Sorry to hear about your Jasmine. I hope the treatment works well on her. However, I must let you know that I did get a kick out of the radio active pee

 

[FireGoddess]

Amant - I''m so sorry to hear about your cat, but also glad that she has been diagnosed and can be treated! My cat had UTI afer UTI after UTI...meds like crazy..pills...IV...for months, and they couldn''t figure out why. Finally did a scan and saw she had kidney stones. By then she had dwindled down to FOUR pounds...skin and bones...I was very traumatized. You could see every bone in her body. The surgery cost $600...I was a student at the time and that was an entire month''s rent!...but I paid it of course and she has been going strong ever since...for the last 4 years! And now she''s happy, healthy, and back to normal (though on a special diet). I''m just glad they know what''s wrong with your cat and you can do something about it! She will be sooooooooo happy to see you once that week is over...and then she''ll hopefully be back to normal!!!!

 

[Blue824]

Alright, so recently I noticed that I have cute pictures of my other cats framed but not my youngest, Kishu. Sooo I went on a mission to take a picture of him that was frame worthy. I know that can''t really be planned, but sometimes he''s cute about it. However not so much yesterday! He kept trying to attack my camera, and this might give you a headache, but this was one of his pictures. I had it in action mode so I came up with a bunch. He was being all cute and then last minute he''d attack the camera string and try to pull it out of my hand.

I also ended up with a few close ups of his nose and some of those "close ups" were just black screens because he wouldnt stay far enough away. Such a curious little kitty.

 

[FireGoddess]

Awww, ferocious playful kitty. purr purr purr

I love when cats do this! DH bought one of those little mice on a wand with a string so he can fling it around and drag it around the floor from afar and Chloe can chase it...she wants NOTHING to do with it. I smeared it with catnip and then she licked all the catnip off, but as soon as he made it move she freaked and left.

She only likes toys when SHE''s the one batting them around. If there''s any pretense it might be real (aka she''s not the one moving it) she gets scared and leaves.

When I lived in Houston a few years ago there was a little roach that crawled in from under the front door...Chloe took one look at it and as soon as it got near one of her front paws she freaked and bolted. Uh, hello? What are you HERE for? Go kill it!!! No such luck.

 

[Lorelei]

And Calico makes 6!!!!!! Hey Catmothers I have a new cat!!!! She is a little stray found by some friends who cannot keep her. Oh is she cute, but she is hiding away terrified right now, bless her. She only arrived an hour ago, so I will let you all know how she settles, poor little girl.

 

[AmantdeChat]

Good morning! Love the action shot of your kitty Blue824!

We will definitely need pictures of the new furbaby LoriLei!

Good news from the vet. Jasmine thyroid levels dropped in half with her medication. The cost for the radioactive treatment is $925 which includes everything (no hidden cost!). I have her scheduled to go in next Wednesday and she only has to stay until Sunday. This is great, because she does not do well without her mommy

. The doctor''s assistant should be contacting me sometime today to let me know the procedure and what kind of "homey" things to bring to make her as comfortable as possible. If it''s safe to bring toys without them having to be destroyed later, I will definitely bring her toy sock. It''s her favorite. She carries it around and tries to meow with it in her mouth. It really is quite strange, but that''s my Jasmine!

Thanks for all the warm thoughts and comments. I''m sure she is going to be fine, but it''s never fun when one of your "babies" is sick!

 

[Lorelei]

Oh AmanteChat I hear you, it's such a worry. I am a nervous wreck when one of my babies are sick, even having some vet training doesn't help, just makes it worse

I'm sure Jasmine will be fine, can you visit at the vet's office? Having some of her things around will definitely help her. Thats great that her T levels have dropped with meds!!! I know it sounds strange, but I always explain to my cats and horses if they have to go to the vet. I find it really helps them to cope better! found this tip from Sonia Fitzpatrick the pet psychic, and although sceptical at first now I always do it. I am using this technique on my poor new puss, when she emerges I will try to get some pics of her. Off out later toy shopping for her!!!!! Keep us posted on Jasmine's progress and cuddles from her PS Aunties!

 

[AndyRosse]

I tried Soft Claws/Soft Paws about a year ago. I had my vet put them on my cat, and within a couple days, several of them had fallen off. We kept trying to keep them on, but it was a lost cause. By the end of a month, I think he only had two of them still on. My vet had several other clients who also used them, and if I remember correctly, none of them had much success. But obviously there are people, such as FireGoddess, who have had much better luck with them!

 

[Lorelei]

Calling all Catmoms

In the newspapers recently there was a tragic story of a cat who was poisoned by Lily flowers. Apparently lilies are extremely toxic to cats, I didn''t know this and have often had vases of lilies in the house. No more though. Just wondered if anyone else has ever heard of this and to warn you all. Even the pollen they drop on the floor is dangerous.

 

[Catmom]

Date: 7/25/2005 9:31:56 AM
Author: Lorelei
Calling all Catmoms

In the newspapers recently there was a tragic story of a cat who was poisoned by Lily flowers. Apparently lilies are extremely toxic to cats, I didn''t know this and have often had vases of lilies in the house. No more though. Just wondered if anyone else has ever heard of this and to warn you all. Even the pollen they drop on the floor is dangerous.

Wow, Lorelei, thanks! I have never heard of this and will make sure to never have Lilies in my house. A few of my cats are terrible plant eaters so I have to be very careful. Thanks again!!

 

[Lorelei]

I know Catmom, I have had cats for years and never heard of this either, it's scary your cat could get sick and die and you would never think of that vase of lillies causing it. Mine love eating plants too, good thing I found out about the lilies, they were always my favourite cut flower, never again.

 

[Blue824]

Wow, thanks Lorelei, I didn''t know about that.