Declawed Cats Outdoors ~ Oh No!

Please forgive me, but I AM LIVID! I just need to express my outrage and what better forum than here, where other cat lovers will surely empathize with me:

A professor emeritus at Princeton University writes a regular column in the local newspaper, and the contents of today's column appalled me. He somehow deems it humorous to chronicle the physical altercations between his neutered and declawed cat, Huck, and a (possibly) feral gray (possibly) Persian he refers to as Lion (sorry, Spencer). He states that Huck has returned on more than one occasion "barely ambulatory" and that a vet bill was $1,000. Now . . . WHY this gentleman continues to allow his defenseless Huck out of doors truly escapes me. My only conclusion is that obviously formal education does not necessarily go hand in hand with common sense. Needless to say, I dashed off a scathing email (sprinkled with helpful advice on the off-chance that he may be so inclined to follow it), chastising his irresponsibility. And I trust he has been inundated with similar terse admonishments, as his email address appears at the end of the column (along with his above stated credentials) and he specifically requests and welcomes emails pertaining to this particular column. (I already tried to scan the article and email it to someone but it was not legible, so if anyone would like to read the column just email your address and I will snail-mail a Xerox copy.) In short, animal control picked up the Lion cat after he trapped it, but the cat is now back prowling.

By virtue of writing a newspaper column, this man has the power to educate and entertain. Sadly, he has chosen to promote what I consider to be animal abuse in the hopes of generating a chuckle. I find nothing even remotely funny about a declawed cat that is repeatedly shown the door, only to endure emotional and physical anguish at the claws of the neighborhood bully.

I just had to rant and rave about this . . . I feel better knowing that I have shared this with others who can understand.





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Regards ~ AvaJoy
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please email me that article and his email address. what a dumb professor. I've had professors calling me dumb for a few years now. Here is my chance to get back at that abuser.

email to: [email protected]

thank you,
Ben

It seems like this guy takes some kind of eerie pleasure in this situation. I guess there are some declawed cats that do go outdoors and still use their hunting abilities. Today's cat of the day is apparently declawed and an excellent hunter. I for one, would never declaw, but if I ever did adopt a cat that was declawed, it would definitely stay indoors. Hope you put this professor in his place, AvaJoy.

"SpencerTheLion" what is a "snowshoe" cat ? Is it a cat with really big feet, not joking :0) I have a cat that has six toes on one front foot seven on the other and six toes on each back foot. I was wondering if this was just a breeding mutation or an actual breed.

Heres a pic, it sort of shows his front feet

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/009/QG/Ab/p3/ug90546.jpg

I asked our vet and he said that he has never seen a cat with that many toes, but he didn't know if it was a breed or a mutation.



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http://wsphotofews.excite.com/028/dj/a1/go/kr18691.jpg
~~ My House Is Not A Home Without A Hound ~~

What kind of vet do you go to? It's called polydactylism (english translation - may toes) and it is a very common genetic mutation! It can occur in any breed. In fact, it can occur in any mammal!

A snowshoe is a pointed cat (siamese-type)with white feet.

Ben ~ I have emailed the article to you, and it can be read (hopefully it is legible) at http://home.earthlink.net/~jemdoll/inksoup2.JPG I first scanned it at 100% but it was HUGE and took forever to download, so I scanned it again at 50%.

I will gladly email or snail-mail it to anyone else that is interested. I wonder if I will get a repy from the Professor!



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Regards ~ AvaJoy
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Logan ~ Thanks for being in my corner! I, too, would never consider having a cat declawed. Ironic that I started this topic yesterday, and now today a declawed outdoors cat is featured . . . interesting that he is still an adept hunter despite the fact that he has been maimed. I only hope he never has the misfortune of meeting up with an armed cat out there.



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Regards ~ AvaJoy
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Polydactylism is extremly common in Nova Scotia. It is a genetic mutation where a cat can have one or more extra toes. My sister's female cat has 7 toes on her front feet, and 6 on the back, and her male cat has 6 in front and 5 in back.
Apparantly there was a family of cats somewhere in the distant past of Nova Scotia that had extra toes, and they spread all across the province. There are literally thousands of cats with polydactylism in Nova Scotia now because several cats had it in the past.

Thanks for your support, Spencer. I just can't fathom how someone so well educated can be so lacking in feline awareness. Geez! Hope you are able to access the link I gave in a previous post to read the article. I wonder what his next column will address; hopefully he will have seen the light and be begging for forgiveness from Huck, who had to endure the slings and arrows of this man's ignorance.





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Regards ~ AvaJoy
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Yep Spencer, that sure looks like Bucky Katt!!

Just a little bit of trivia: These "designer breeds" (I don't know what else to call them) are produced when cats who have the desired characteristics are bred together over and over until the line finally "breeds true" - meaning when two are mated they will now only produce like offspring. In other words, what is now called the snowshoe "breed" was once just a pattern that happened to occur when a colorpoint mated with an and-white (amongst a variety of other possible patterns). These colorpoint-and-whites were bred with other colorpoint-and-whites, and their colorpoint-and-white kittens were bred with other colorpoint-and-whites until finally there were no kittens being born except colorpoint-and-whites. The long and short of what I am saying is that a snowshoe can be a bred cat with papers and a pedigree, but it can just as easily be one of a litter of variously colored alley cats. Some of the cat fancy associations won't even recognize some of these "designer breeds" because of this. I don't think some of the older, better established designer breeds are in this category anymore, like the snowshoes, ragdolls, and birmans, but I know the brand new munchkin is still not accepted as a "breed" by most of the associations.

Thanks for the info http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/smile.gif

I live in a small town in Canada and I have only ever seen cats with one extra toe on the front paw, they look like a little kids hand in a mitten. So sorry if Im a little underknowleged on the subject.

Oh and the vet I asked is a vet that helps out at the rabies clinic !


"SpencerTheLion" Bucky is adorable http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/smile.gif


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http://wsphotofews.excite.com/028/dj/a1/go/kr18691.jpg
~~ My House Is Not A Home Without A Hound ~~

When you declaw, you not only take the claws off a cat and leave it pretty much "helpless" since it has no claws to use, BUT you also take off it's first "knuckle". So sad.. http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/frown.gif Hope it stops and the idiotic people that do that and think it's funny will get arrested. http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/wink.gif
Purrs,
~~Mary
VISIT ALL ABOUT BOOGIE!! - http://www.angelfire.com/al3/coolcatband/index.html

Declawing a cat is like cutting of the first joint on of your fingers! What a horrible thing to do to a cat!

First, let me state that I am 100% against declawing - I do not under any circumstances condone such an action.

Now that I have made that clear - The professor in the article clearly states at the beginning of the article that his cat was declawed and neutered by previous owners. My sister and her new husband adopted a declawed/neutered cat when they moved into their new home. Oxford (the stray) is very tempremental and very viscious - he is able to and does beat up Miska (original cat in the household - not declawed) on a regular basis. He attacks my sister and her husband for no reason. He has been shown nothing but love and affection for the past six months but he still attacks on a whim. He CANNOT be kept inside if he wants out - he goes ballistic and will attack anyone/thing in his way. He has had all his shots, a collar and a microchip.

The reason I have told you all of this is because maybe the professor's is in the same boat with his cat as my sister is with her's and is doing all he can to help. Many declawed cats turn very vicious in an attempt to make up for the loss of a major defense mechanism so they are very difficult to train/teach.

Thanks for reading and I hope I haven't offended anyone.

[This message has been edited by Kitty Peon (edited June 07, 2001).]

Boy, Oxford sure sounds like a handful! I've heard that many declawed cats do turn into biters to compensate, and are still quite capable of inflicting injury.

In the article Huck is not portrayed as the aggressive type; in fact the professor states that Huck would be no match against a determined kitten, let alone a seasoned fighter like Lion. How many times does poor Huck have to return home injured before he realizes that Huck can obviously NOT hold his own outside . . . I shudder to think . . . I suppose we should be happy that the professor "adopted" and feeds Huck, but the cat really isn't much better off than before because he still is going outside and so must engage in battles he can't win.

It is akin to a child who is constantly beaten up and teased by other kids at school, and the parents take delight in sending him off to school each day so he can suffer more abuse.

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Regards ~ AvaJoy
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[This message has been edited by AvaJoy (edited June 07, 2001).]

Ok. I read the column...

So, basically this guy has a cat that was declawed by a previous owner. Declawing is cruel, we don't do it here.

This "professor" is ignorant and self righteous.

My reasons: Ignorant because he doesn't know how best to care for his declawed cat.( mind you, he does now, after your mail! http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/biggrin.gif)

Self righteous snobbery because he wants to play God, he sees the feral cat as a "scourge", when all it is, is a cat! Not only that but it's a less fortunate cat, a homeless cat.

The answer for him, is firstly, Education! ironically! He should go and get himself a decent cat owners guide to health, keep his own cat indoors, and then he won't have to worry about the "scourge" outdoors, save for this big man eating humility pie and feeding the critter! We have a name for people like him over here, I won't use it. I have one question for you guys...food for thought, you might say.......How can an animal lover, or, lets narrow it down, ...a cat lover defrenciate between cats to love, and cats not to love? All cats, all animals have a vulnerability. Animal lovers have kind hearts and can't wish ill to any animal, no?

So, basically, to me this man gave his cat a home to make himself feel good/ better about himself...I don't get arrogant, ignorant, snobbery; I don't get him, he needs a kick in the ass http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/rolleyes.gif!


And another thing: You'd think that the person he acquired his cat from would tell him that the cat couldn't go outdoors? Maybe the Professor was told, but cannot be taught!

[This message has been edited by Gina (edited June 09, 2001).]

Animal cruelty isn't addictive, smoking is. I can't blame people for suing for not being told it was addictive untill to late.

Did anyone who e-mailed this jerk/idiot get a response?

[This message has been edited by catwoman (edited June 25, 2001).]

Thanks for your concern, Catwoman. I never received any response to the email I sent. The subject matter of his subsequent columns has been unrelated to Huck. Odd . . . I fully expected to read a follow-up column, especially since he invited email opinions. Maybe he has decided to abandon the saga due to the adversity he has generated. Here is a feline oriented version of that old TV announcement: "It is 10 PM - do you know where your cats are??" Let us hope Huck is now indoors and safe from harm.



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Regards ~ AvaJoy
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