We had Mittens the Wonder Kitten spayed and declawed on Monday.
We brought her home late in the afternoon the same day and by the evening she was trying unsuccessfully to jump on to our bed. She did it more than once even though it was obviously painful for her. Perhaps she is just not that bright. That thought has occurred to me a few times over the two months we have had her.
She got the bandages taken off of her paws today, and I still don't think she realizes that the claws are gone. She was madly scratching at the scratching post and she just tried to jump on my lap only to fall off and land on her neck. She is ok, and I shouldn't but I laughed at her. Then picked her up and gave her some love. Which to Mittens is an open invitation to play bite my fingers.
She has a lot of play in her that is for sure.
I have been having some guilt about the declawing and I am sure there are those out there who are thinking that I absolutely should feel guilty.
Then I remember finding her swinging from the top of the canopy in #2's room, and the multiple times she decided to climb all the way up the back of my body to sit on my head, and I think...no, we made the right decision.
We did not have the senior citizen kitty declawed. The SPCA where we adopted her and the vet in California made us feel so guilty for even entertaining the idea that we didn't do it. We don't really have a scratching problem with her either. However, 13 years ago when she was a tiny kitten I was in grad school, working only part time, living in a city where we knew no one and had little social life, and of course NO CHILDREN. So there was ample time to teach kitty where scratching was acceptable.
That ain't gonna happen with this one, no way no how. I barely have time to teach the children what they can and can't do. She is a total house cat, and that figured in to the decision. Also our vet suggested it. It is a laser procedure now and the recovery for kittens Mittens age is quick. As we have discovered. She is pretty much back to normal.
My cats growing up were all declawed and they were indoor/outdoor cats. It did not seem to hamper their kitty freedom and abilities at all. One cat climbed trees, caught SQUIRRELS, and fish from the creek in our back yard. He was an amazing cat and EVERYONE loved him. Even people who did not like cats were quickly brought under Morris's spell. He was the shit. I still miss him. He went off one day and never came back while I was living in California. My mom was so upset by it that she called us in California when she knew I would be in class and made BH tell me. He was old and we think he just went off to die. He was a HUGE orange tabby cat. I could not even consider an orange tabby when we were looking for the most recent cat, because I knew they could never live up to good ol' Morris, and that is what I would want.
I am a total loser when it comes to taking pictures of things and I failed to get one of Mittens in her boxing gloves. I think it was partially out of guilt really. She kept shaking her paws at us, as if to say, "Why?? Why??" Then she would try to eat them.
Gotta love the kitties.
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