Hey,
I'm sure many of you saw this, but I wanted to share.
http://www.examiner.com/x-12366-DC-Pet-Rescue-Examiner~y2009m7d14-Obvious-but-Cool--Cats-Know-How-to-Manipulate-Humans

Apparently Toby has been manipulating me by changing his purrs. Smart kitty!

Here are my ladies, Ella and Tinky. There is a kitten pic and a full-grown pic of each after the cut, just for comparison.



Sisterfriends!

( Read more )

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12817036

Bay City News Service

Posted: 07/11/2009 10:49:05 AM PDT
Updated: 07/11/2009 10:49:07 AM PDT

An animal welfare advisory board to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is recommending the city ban the veterinary practice of de-clawing cats, except in cases of medical necessity.

The San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare voted 5-1 Thursday in support of a ban, arguing the practice is cruel and often done simply for cosmetic purposes or to prevent pets from clawing furniture, Commission Chair Sally Stephens said.

Stephens said the procedure involves amputating the last bone in a cat's paw and, though doctors use anesthetic, some cats can suffer long-term pain and behavioral changes, such as refusing to use a litter box.

"So basically it's kind of barbaric," Stephens said.

A proposed ordinance in San Francisco would be modeled on a ban already in effect in West Hollywood, the first city in the country to ban de-clawing. The practice has also been banned in several European countries.

According to Stephens, the ban would exclude cases where de-clawing was necessary for the health of the cat, such as with serious infections or tumors.

"De-clawing is no less cruel because it is labeled a common veterinary procedure," veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Conrad of the Paw Project, who spoke at Thursday's hearing, said in a statement today.

"In fact, it is more cruel because veterinarians, of all people, should know better," Conrad said.

Stephens said a representative of California Veterinary Medical Association, which unsuccessfully sued to overturn the West Hollywood ban, also spoke at the hearing, but against the proposed ban.

The CVMA representative argued such a decision should be left to the veterinarian and the cat owner, rather than imposed by the city, according to Stephens.

Stephens said she hoped the Board of Supervisors would vote to ban the practice by the end of the year.

http://www.exchangeandmart.co.uk/nid1000680/index.asp?adid=1016390&lnk=312&desc=bengal%20marble%20female&orderby=hasphoto,start_date%20desc&category_id=284

I can't believe this is real but I wouldn't put it past certain people. Cute cat. :/

Just read about this - even though it's from May it hasn't gotten much press - and thought I'd share since it's important.

Pet food company Nutro announces recall of dry cat food

Nutro hasn't been exactly honest and forthcoming about this either. They're denying wrongdoing even though hundreds of complaints have been filed and animals are dying.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2009/06/nutro-cat-food-recall-zinc.html
http://consumerist.com/5297536/is-nutro-ignoring-owners-of-cats-made-sick-by-recalled-food
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/06/nutro_foia08.html

Scary, scary stuff.

Hello all! I'm new. I'm Bridget. I work at an animal shelter in the intake and adoptions departments. If I'm not taking in messed up declawed cats in one end of the building, I'm in the other end, trying to convince people not to mess up their new cat by declawing him. I get so frustrated about this issue and I'm excited to have a place to vent!

Now, pictures!

( My be-clawed babies )

Hullo, first post. I'd like to introduce my "kitten", Fred/Frida Jude, with her gorgeously adorned Softpaws.

We/I only cap the front ones. Her back toes are free! (Which can be dangerous when she goes belly up and into disembowel mode!) We go back and forth between letting them grow out, and capping them. When she grooms the back toes, we laughingly call it, "feet treats". I hope to get better and even more recent pictures (this one is a few months old! /gasp!) soon.



(She's named after Frida Kahlo, and the song, "Hey Jude", and after a friend of mine from LiveJournal.)

Regarding the changing of laws in California and my previous post about writing to Gov. Schwarzenegger, it is with real sadness to find out that he is simply sending an automated reply to people and is obviously not even bothering reading our concerns that we email him.

CLICK HERE for a couple of people who got THE SAME email back from him.

Anybody else here had the same reply? Please let us know.

This makes me so bloody sad. :(

California bill SB 762 is on the desk of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger NOW. This bill would eliminate the right of California cities to prohibit declawing and other non-therapeutic procedures on animals. Please help California cities retain their right to ban declawing. Please urge Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto SB 762. You can write, phone, and fax the governor at:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160

To send an e-mail, go to:
http://gov.ca.gov/interact

Submitting an e-mail to the Governor is a two-step process. First, select the purpose of your email by clicking the "Have Comment" button. Then fill in your contact information, first and last names and e-mail address. Next, go to "PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR SUBJECT" and click on the drop-down menu and select "Animal issues/concerns." Click the "SUBMIT" button and you be taken to a new window. In step two, click the "Con" button, then type in you e-mail message.

E-mail from California residents obviously carries more weight, so if you are a California resident, please indicate that fact or list the California city where you live.

Please personalize your message. Keep it short and polite. Your e-mail message might read something like this, but writing some of your own specific declawing comments as well:

Please veto SB 762. This bill would eliminate the right of cities to prohibit certain non-therapeutic procedures on animals, even when performed by veterinarians, when their inhabitants find them to unnecessary and inhumane. The courts have stated that such procedures are incidental to the practice of veterinary medicine and that banning them is not regulation of veterinary practice. I believe decisions regarding the humane treatment of animals should remain the prerogative of local governments and their citizens. Thank you.

PLEASE LET´S HAVE ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Hey, not sure if this is allowed but I don't live in CA so the only thing I feel I can do is make sure people who love animals who might live in CA know about this...

Way too busy to write something real about this but it sickens me that the Governator is pushing cuts that will shave off 1/10 of a percent of CA's budget deficit by likely causing the deaths of lots of animals
https://secure2.convio.net/aspca/site/Advocacy?alertId=2587&pg=makeACall&JServSessionIdr011=nqk8xabfm2.app39b

Right now CA shelters have a holding period of 6 days. He wants to cut that to 3 or less. Those 6 day holding periods give people time to find the shelter where their lost cat has ended up, shelters time to find a rescue that can take the animal before they run out of space/funds to care for him, and animals time to adjust to the shelter so they can present better to the public.

If you live in CA there is a link on that page to find your rep's office and call to urge them not to shorten the holding period.

It upsets me :(

Here is a happier photo of my cat with claws, Toby, with catnip:


xposted from my journal.

The claws are barely visible, but I'm afraid I never submitted any pics and he's too much of a cutie to keep this to myself... :D

( pads )

Hi! I'm looking for a home for a very sweet little girl who came up to my porch in January and chose to have babies there. I looked for her owners (She was too people-friendly to have never been around humans), and couldn't find them. Once the babies were weaned (She had six, and I found another-same color-same age, in the local grocery store parking lot), a vet in my area took all seven and had them spayed/neutered and found them all good homes. I have had her spayed, and paid for her rabies shot. Her surgery, rabies shot and pain medication only cost me $40 (because of my finacial strains, the local humane society paid for the rest. I felt guilty asking, but couldn't afford it any other way.), but because I have been unemployeed and taking care of my grandmother (Who had alzheimers and dementia until her death a couple of weeks ago) the $40 was actually a hit to my budget as well as the cat food/litter/etc. I am asking $15-$20 for her since I was told it's a bad idea to post free pets because they rarely go to good homes. I assume she's about 8-9 months old. She's litter trained too. Long fur tuxedo sweetheart.

I can't keep her. I cannot afford to. I hate people who gather up animals that they cannot afford to keep (I.E. vet bills, etc.), and am trying my best to find her a good home.

I live about 45 minutes from Atlanta (towards Alabama) on I-20, and would be willing to meet someone anywhere within an hour to an hour and a half driving distance, as long as she's happy.

Here's some pictures of the ( furry little thing. )

Janelle really has to be in the mood for this (which she was for the video), otherwise I have a few claws painfully stuck in my scalp! ;)

Oh isn´t Luna just the sweetest? She is so relaxed while her mummy puts on the SoftPaws. Check out Luna´s other videos too, she is just one of the most precious kitties I have ever seen. :)

Not my photo, but stolen/borrowed from www.cuteoverload.com (with kind permission, pretty pls?)

This kitty sleeps with its clawsies out - JUST IN CASE! :D - Such beautiful "weapons"....

So I brought my foster cat to an adoption event today.  He is 14 years old and a total cuddle bug.  It's going to be really rough when I give him up.  I'd be tempted to keep him but that A--I couldn't foster others (my building has a strict two cat limit) and B--my cat hasn't cuddled with me once since the foster came home.  

The event went well and while no one filled out an application the foster did well and some people asked for my email so they could follow up with questions.  

One woman though...  she was asking me questions about the foster and at one point said "I'm concerned that he's not declawed.  I think he's too old to go through the surgery"  I responded that we're very opposed to declawing and require all adopters to sign a contact that they will Not declaw because we've learned in the past ten years how painful it is to the cat (I find it easier to say "within the past ten years" because it doesn't demonize the parents of the 20somes who had their childhood cat declawed because a lot of vets did encourage it back then).  I also mentioned that he has never scratched me, just kneaded a bit in my lap which I don't notice if I have jeans or a blanket.  She then responds "well, I know it's not good but...I have *really* nice furniture."


I was a little bit stunned.  I think I mentioned that we sometimes have cats who come in declawed.  She then asks "oh, and would they be good with a child?  I have a one year old."

Now, first--I have nice furniture as an excuse on its own???
Secondly,while I don't agree with it as a reason, I can at least understand worries about a cat clawing a kid (we have a lot of people ask and we give them information on training plus vets who do cheap softpaws).  Not only am I wondering how this woman can put nice furniture above a cat when she claims to know that declawing is bad, but how is that a better reason than the BABY?

We've marked her down in our system to only be allowed to adopt declawed cats (we're open access and do get a number of declawed cats regularly).  I just do not understand some people's value systems.


Typed with adorable clawed foster LeCat purring like a motor in my lap.  No way in hell he's going to a woman who worries about her furniture over her baby and her cat!

(for the record, I do not think the baby would have been a valid excuse but it is at least least shallow than the "really nice furniture")


In better news, I convinced my neighbor to try some cat repellant (like the smelly stuff for dogs) and, if that doesn' t work, softpaws when he had been considering declawing his cats.  They're sweet cats and play very nicely with mine in our apartment hallway (Used as a kitty exercise area by the residents who have cats in tiny efficiencies/studios).  He seemed genuinely shocked when I explained what declawing actually was and I felt something sort of like pride at having possibly kept two cats from losing their claws.

A friend of mine has got these cute little kittens, so I just had to go over and take photos of them. Quality is not all that great, but I only had about 15 mins to shoot - must get an hour or two soon and do a *proper* photo session with these cuties! Best viewed full screen. :)


Find more photos like this on Cat Lovers Lanzarote

ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH! *screams*

Sorry, just had to vent there. Been dealing with people again telling me about their precious furniture. And comparing declawing to neutering. And comparing it to letting your cat out or keeping it in. And telling me to act my age. You probably all already know the drill.

ARGHHHHHHHHHH!

I feel like crying sometimes because I just cannot make some people SEE that it is just so WRONG to declaw. I don´t understand WHY THEY CAN´T SEE IT´S WRONG even after explaining all the facts.... *sighs*

Thanks for listening. :(

Smudge, curmudgeon of the feline world, longest lived cat of the herd at 18 years, has slipped out the screen door of eternity in to the sunny patch by the dogwood tree. An amazing kitteh of proud proportions, she was a ragdoll/coon cat cross who was feisty enough to give my mom a run for her money, yet gentle enough that all one had to do to trim her scimitar toenails was roll her on her back. She started life as a farm kitten in a utility room off the porch and ended it as a cherished family member, my little fuzzbutt sister, spoilt by Mother beyond all hope.

Good lovey. We'll miss you, tittee-tat.