New Friends

[c9]

- we went to a fun party last night, and we're starting to make friends -- yay!
- we're talking about adopting cats!

I would like these two cats:

	Neo
	Trinity

They're siblings, so adopting them together is of course best. Unfortunately there are two problems: they're not declawed, which is leapfish's preference to protect our couches (since a spray bottle is not quite as effective). Also (ssshhh, don't tell Vinny) they're named after characters from the Matrix.

Maybe we could rename them (to avoid the geekiness factor for Vinny) to slightly different names (to avoid confusion for them). Nemo? El Nino? Divinity? Salinity? I'd better stop now.

Comments

[leapfish.livejournal.com]

I'm interested in protecting our skins too... Claws are damn sharp!

[gotwoody.livejournal.com]

Trinity looks a lot like Kefir!!

And as for the claws, what do you mean? You're going to trim them with a human nail clipper (works great) or you mean you want to have the claws removed? (bad humans! bad!)

[c9.livejournal.com]

I would never get a cat declawed, it's awful in my opinion. But I am open to adopting cats that have already been declawed.

Trimming really wouldn't get done, I don't think. My goal would be to train them to not scratch the furniture, and then let them do whatever they want to the scratching posts we get. :)

[putaindemerde.livejournal.com]

Provided they're indoor cats (which is safer), declawing should be okay, right?

If you opt to make them outdoor cats, then declawing isn't fair since they wouldn't have a means of defending themselves...

[jdhorner.livejournal.com]

toby and i have loved our cats (vinny, got him when he was 3, had him for over 3 years now) and mario (bought him (i know know) when we moved to boston the first xmas as a playmate for vinny) who is now 3.

they are both indoor cats. vinny came declawed and de-balled from his previous owner. he doesn't seem to miss either removed "feature"

mario has everything nature bestowed upon all mammals. since he's only been exposed to a unich and the indoors, he's never "sprayed" anything. however, our Jordan's Furniture couch was eventually ruined, and our IKEA couch is already showing signs of claw-wear (thank god it's just the fitted cover).

in the end, yes, it cruel to have a vet rip out pieces of cats' fingers to prevent damage to materialistic things. but really, as dave said, if they're just indoor cats, perhaps it's a decision worth considering? (although, personally, i just don't know if i could do it to mario now).

they really are the two best cats (and pets) i'ver EVER had. it's a litte scary how i consider them to be a part of the family. ;-) we talk to them, they talk to us :-) and i love coming home to them every day. and we all know it: really, it's their apartment, and we're just allowed to live here.

and about the car hair thing: almost _all_ pet owners, dog or cat, have to deal with some hair. but a mouthfull during fun time on the bed? never happened. just be a clean housewife and you'll be all set.

and the names? pick something YOU like. cats don't care what you call them, as long as you pet them and feed them. :-)

and leave little things around for them to find and play with. like pen caps, string, twisty-ties from bread bags, plastic, plastic, plastic, soda caps, beer caps, rubber bands, a dead fly, a live fly, sheet of paper,

well, you get the idea.

hehe.

[ex-halfwitte432.livejournal.com]

Declawing is inhumane and can be likened to cutting your finger off at the knuckle. Training can be done. I had a guest cat for 4 months and my furniture is intact, all it takes is some tinfoil and a scratching post. If they scratch the couch, foil the part they were scratching and move their post to right beside it. They HATE scratching tinfoil. They like their scratching post. You can then slowly move the post away from the furniture day by day until it's back to where it should be.

Cutting a finger off at the knuckle? *gasp*

[putaindemerde.livejournal.com]

See, this shows how much I know, right? I'm thinking in terms as shown above (making them defenseless). I'm also thinking that declawing a cat is only like removing their nails or somehow inhibiting the growth of their nails...

I'm curious... please educate me here! I positively hate to be ignorant! :-)

[c9.livejournal.com]

Declawing a cat involves ripping the first knuckle off of each finger. It's not something I'd want to have happen to me, so it's not something I'd allow to happen to my pets either. But if they're already declawed, then the damage is done, and I'd happily adopt them of course. They will be indoor cats (since we have no method of getting them outdoors in this place), so it's OK if they're already declawed, they'll be safe.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Whoops, wrote my reply before I saw yours. I like the tinfoil idea!

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

Our girls (Shrodinger and Zoe) don't usually claw furniture -- if they do, a spray works well. The trick is consistent & quick punishment when they misbehave and lots of re-enforcement when they do right (scratch the scratching post). Dieter (the boy) is de-clawed, but only because of his bizarre love ritual with Jackie.

One other thing to consider is capping: just a nylon sheath that fits over the nail. We used caps on the girls for a couple of years and it works fairly well. It takes two people to get the caps on (since you have to crazy-glue them into place, but once on they last for 4-6 weeks (or longer) and totally prevent the cat from scratching. And the cats don't seem to mind them, either. Even Shrodinger, who's really skittish.

The biggest problem we have is the shedding, since Jackie & I are at *least* as lazy as you guys. We're lucky in that our cats are big sooks and if you sit down to watch TV, they're usually right there. Just keep a brush handy.

Now, the litter box -- that used to drive me crazy, but lately I've just been doing a complete dump and replace instead of scooping. It's a little more expensive in terms of cat litter, but totally worth it in terms of time and effort.

And finally, feeding: take my advice: feed them in carriers. Your vet will love you.

Re: Cutting a finger off at the knuckle? *gasp*

[c9.livejournal.com]

Check out these sites for more info:
http://www.declawing.com/
http://www.felinefuture.com/catcare/declawing.php

They actually have to cut through the bone of the cat's finger in order to do it properly. And even then, claws can regrow and cause intense pain or even damage the bone without any problems being visible to the owner! It's quite bad.

[c9.livejournal.com]

As in the bowls live in the carriers, so it's easier to lure them in there?

[c9.livejournal.com]

Also, I remember finding those bright red caps (it was like you had hooker cats) all over the place -- to me it seemed like they didn't stay on that long. I like the training and reinforcing methods, myself. Just have to trick Vinny into falling in love with a couple of clawed cats now. :-)

[c9.livejournal.com]

That's true. Remember that they won't be frightened of us though, so it'll be rare that their claws come out near us. We just have to be careful when they're still getting used to us.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Hahaha -- true! Best solution, just have another comforter or blanket that stays on top of the bed when you're not in it. It can be easily and quickly removed.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Mario's not fixed? *gasp* Tsk tsk, Joshua. What if he escapes someday? He'll be planting his Bostonian seed all over la belle province!

Re: Cutting a finger off at the knuckle? *gasp*

[putaindemerde.livejournal.com]

*sniff* that's horrible!

So glad I know this now...

Re: Cutting a finger off at the knuckle? *gasp*

[c9.livejournal.com]

I knew it was bad, but I assumed it was still common. I'm pleased to learn it's basically a North American thing only now, and gradually becoming less common.

[leapfish.livejournal.com]

I walked by two cats doing it on the Plateau once. It was about -30, and the penetrated cat was screaching. So not hot.

I've been scarred ever since. Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean, calm...

[jdhorner.livejournal.com]

hey... if he can get from the third floor, down to the ground floor, and through three locked doors all by himself, then perhaps his seed should be spread... he's obviously a superior animal.

[jdhorner.livejournal.com]

and we'd get him fixed... if you're willing to pay the $200+ (USD) fee.

[c9.livejournal.com]

:-) I have to save up for fixing our pets, once we have them! (Actually, most shelters in this neighbourhood appear to do the fixing for you, and just charge you the fees. Seems like a good approach.)

[jdhorner.livejournal.com]

so are these two cute felines going to substitute for children for a few years? if so, i think that's a _great_ idea. then again, i don't know too much about your quest for kids in the first place.

perhaps one day we'll be able to chat about it...

[c9.livejournal.com]

Not for a few years necessarily, though adoption can take quite a long time, depending on (and I hate this phrase) what type of kid you're looking for. But certainly we've wanted pets, and it can't hurt to have a living thing that needs a bit of attention before moving onto the headliner.

Though of course, cats don't really *need* humans. Employ would be a better verb.

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

That's one thing -- if they come to associate the carrier with food, it's easier to get them in and out. The other is that if they're fed alone they only eat what you put out for them; they don't get overweight, and that's the biggest health risk to indoor cats.

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

Actually they stayed on plenty long -- it was just that when they came off, our cats liked to play with them and hide them on us :-)

[nihilicious.livejournal.com]

I had to declaw my pet cactus once. Its screams of terror unnerve me to this day.

If I had it to do all over again...

[purplemartini.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have had Dieter declawed. Sure he has his Bizarre Love ritual with me but if I wasn't so selfish at the time and of course If I'd known then what they had to do to my precious boy to disarm him. Well I do regret it. I think my neck probably doesn't regret it tho.

As for caps. They actually do stay on quite a while once you have the hang of getting them on. It takes a bit to get used to just how much glue you will need for your specific cat. And they come in such cute colors. I mean the fact alone that your cats will be able to accessorise should totally sell you on the idea of caps. We got tired of the expense of caps and near the end it seemed like we were replacing one cap here one cap there. So now we just trim about once a week, or whenever I notice that the girls seem to stick to the scratching post like velcro.

Honestly, your furniture may take a bit of a beating during the intial training periond (I won't lie to you on that ) cats are stubborn animals and don't pick up on that stuff right away. And they like what they like. So if you get a crapy scratching post they will prefer your furniture anyway. So my advice. Firm reinforcement of use of the scratching post (we still praise our girls when they use it) and a squirt bottle for negative reinforcement of all bad behaviour (including getting on the counter) . On the upside, you guys have ikea furniture, and ikea makes replacement covers. So if the cats destroy your sofa during the training period you can replace the covers and no one will be the wiser.

On the other hand, having cats leaves you open to all sorts of criticsm when you have a baby. "cats steal kids breath when they are sleeping!" My attitude is that our cats are going to be to weirded out by the hairless interloper in thier home to bother trying to steal the kids breath LOL.