Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Tuesday Tuxedo


I loves me some Tuxedo.

We rescued him from a life as a blood donor in an animal hospital in Miami. They said he was mean; unadoptable....is that a word? Nothing but trouble. And he was, for the first few days.

Now, four years later he's a loving cat who follows you around the house, sits in the kitchen when you cook, and plays catch the reflection in the bathroom before we go to bed.

He's my boy. I call him 'My boy' just to irk Carlos, and it does.

But anyway, enough of the love story between me and el gato. What I wanted to point out was how he sits at the top of the chair in our home office; his hind claws dug in for support and his front legs dangling down either side.

Cute. Right?

Not so much. He sits like that because he was declawed by a veterinarian who thought it might make him a better candidate for adoption. You know, less mean and aggressive. So they cut off his fingers; cat's claws are not like our finger nails, they are like our fingers. Cats use them to scratch and groom themselves, to pick up things, to play with things, and for protection. Cutting off his fingers wasn't a good idea. It didn't make him less aggressive, it made him more aggressive because now he has only his back feet and claws to use as a defense.

So, if you have a cat or want a cat, don't, don't, don't, let anyone talk you into cutting off their fingers. If you want to declaw a cat because you have a leather sofa, or pretty velvet drapes, then either get rid of the cat or get rid of the couch and drapes. Or, do like Carlos and I have done, train your cats that they cannot claw the furniture.

Because, even though they don't show it, they are listening.

Tuxedo. He's a cutie. My boy.

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:26 AM

    ANOTHER cat person!

    Sorry, it's the Former Bitch to whom Pete and I give our loyalty. Even if she can be an over-enthusiastic lump on occasions!

    Gave you a plug on It's Getting Better so you'll be picking up waifs and strays for weeks, probs.

    Sorry.

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  2. It amazes me how many people ask me if I'm going to declaw Petunia and Guapo...as if it's just another option!

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  3. I agree, I would NEVER have a cat de-clawed - it is totally cruel.

    Tuxedo is such a cutie - he's a non-round version of my Oscar.

    XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

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  4. Few things infuriate me more than declawing. "Hey honey why don't why we permanently maim the animal who depends on us cause we love that chair from Ikea more than we do him anyway, right?"

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  5. Excellent PSA. I fell victim to the declawing myth several years ago (or I should say my cat at the time did), and once I learned the truth of it, I'll never subject another cat to that. We got Sheeba as a kitten, and from the beginning, Ken played with his paws and got him used to that. Now Sheeba sits quietly (for the most part) while Ken trims his claws. He has a scratching post that he uses and loves. Declawing: NOT AN OPTION!

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  6. I'm learning about that now. We have 2 cats and I couldn't do that to them

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  7. Great message and, yes, he's a cutie, all right. Glad he found you!

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  8. I've given that tirade, uh speech, myself! It's like cutting off our fingers down to the first knuckle. People are so blase about it. They are stupid about neutering and spaying, especially men about neutering. The identify with it unnecessarily.

    Brigit lets me give her manicures with the clippers. I did mine to let her see what we girls need to do, and she's been good about it. I used my own - not the same ones.

    I really do want to decide who gets to have pets and children. (not Joe Jackson)

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  9. Speaking from the flip side of the coin, our cat Pouncer is declawed. We had him declawed as soon as he was old enough because he was destroying everything. He recovered quickly and doesn't realize he's declawed. He still rubs his paws on furniture as if he had claws.

    I know this is not popular, from reading everyone's comments, but it was the right decision for us.

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