My house is a "stray" magnet

[MichiganReptiles]

Why do all the stray animals come to my house? Last year we "adopted" a black and white cat that was walking by our house in the cold. She is still our cat, I guess, since we provide food and water, but she is an outdoor cat. She would come in for a night and then want out so we just let her remain an outdoor cat.

Today my 12 year old son was walking home from a friends house and a little gray, fluffy kitten followed him home. She is currently cuddled up next to me on my bed. I've sent my son and his friends up and down the block to people's houses to see if anyone knows who this kitten belongs to. It's too pretty and clean to really be a stray. I'm sure someone is missing their kitty. No luck so far. I'm going to post a "found kitten" ad on Craigslist.

Here are two pictures I just took with my iPhone. It doesn't even do her justice and she looks big in this picture, which she is not. She's probably about 5 or 6 months old. Her coloring is like a gun metal gray. She's absolutely beautiful. I hope someone claims her. If I have to I will make an appointment to get her spayed and declawed (because she is already clawing up my furniture), but I don't want to do that yet if she is someone else's kitten.

She seems pretty content, doesn't she?

 

[Kathy]

I swear they can sense who is a cat lover with a kind heart that will help them. I can't tell you how many cats I have rescued over the years that have shown up at my doorstep. I just always wonder where in the world do they come from. Do people move and abandon them, trap them and dump them. I just vented in the venting thread in the watering hole about the one I am trying to trap now. It's hard to see them suffer, especially in this God awful heat we are having right now. Thank you for helping the little animals who do not ask to be born.

P.S, The kitten is adorable.

 

[Redneck]

LoL! Cats are weird! Seriously.. We have 2 that are ours.. Plus another 6 strays that stay at our house all the time.. They are always running in & out of the house when the door opens... We aint got a clue to whos the other 6 are..

They are all females at that! Thank god! We dont need any breeding..

 

[Crysta]

LoL! Cats are weird! Seriously.. We have 2 that are ours.. Plus another 6 strays that stay at our house all the time.. They are always running in & out of the house when the door opens... We aint got a clue to whos the other 6 are..

They are all females at that! Thank god! We dont need any breeding..

wait till you get one male walking by and knocking them all up. haha becareful!!

 

[proper_tea]

In the past 3 years we've taken in half a dozen strays, and ended up adopting out all but one (that we fell in love with and ended up keeping). The worst was when I caught some local lowlifes sicking their pitbull (I love pits... they're my fav... don't get me wrong) on a stray we had been semi-taking care of. Ended up costing us $1,000 to patch him up, and he ended up living with us for the next year... which is exactly what he wanted in the first place.

Personally... I'm really not a cat person... but I've learned to love them in spite of themselves.

very cute kitten... BTW... good for you for taking him in.

 

[LeilaNami]

Please do not declaw on default just for scratching. Look into SoftClaws. They are plastic nail caps you put over the cat's nails and are very good deterrents to scratching without putting the animal through an inhumane surgery with long-term physical and behavioral side effects. Many cats turn to biting after being declawed when they are over six months old not to mention you are having joints amputated and it will throw off the skeletal balance of the animals. Cats can easily be taught not to claw at furniture so I ask to please not make declawing a default reaction. Find her a home instead if you don't want a cat exhibiting natural cat behavior. Thank you for taking in a stray. My own kitty was once one running around in Dallas Zoo.

 

[Redneck]

wait till you get one male walking by and knocking them all up. haha becareful!!

Yeah.. That is going to suck.. Time to get them all rounded up.. LoL!

 

[HankyPankyRoe]

Sounds like..........

When I was a kid, our quiet country road had tons of cat's and dog's dropped off. If you can't afford them don't get them, or at least have the fixed, plain and simple.

 

[LeilaNami]

Yeah I have to stop myself from taking in animals sometimes. The majority of my reptiles and my cat are all rescues...I also feel that I'm a stray magnet.

 

[MichiganReptiles]

Please do not declaw on default just for scratching. Look into SoftClaws. They are plastic nail caps you put over the cat's nails and are very good deterrents to scratching without putting the animal through an inhumane surgery with long-term physical and behavioral side effects. Many cats turn to biting after being declawed when they are over six months old not to mention you are having joints amputated and it will throw off the skeletal balance of the animals. Cats can easily be taught not to claw at furniture so I ask to please not make declawing a default reaction. Find her a home instead if you don't want a cat exhibiting natural cat behavior. Thank you for taking in a stray. My own kitty was once one running around in Dallas Zoo.

It's impossible to post anything on this board without getting some sort of lecture. It's natural behavior for cats to breed like crazy too, but most people get their animals spayed or neutered... is that wrong too?

I'm sorry if I seem a bit angry, but I haven't even had a cup of coffee yet and I find it ridiculous that someone always has some major criticism.

 

[advan]

declawing a cat to a cat person is like keeping a king baboon in a ten gallon upright on bark with a sponge in the water bowl. i agree dont declaw. getting an animal fixed is to prevent adding 10 more animals that won't be cared for and wondering to your doorstep. and get some coffee. i need some too.

 

[proper_tea]

Cats can easily be taught not to claw at furniture so I ask to please not make declawing a default reaction.

please explain

 

[Carrot]

I have a cat that used to tear up our window screens and shred the carpet by the front door. I put Soft Paw nail caps on her, and within two weeks she stopped scratching and I was able to take them off. I have also adopted a cat that was declawed by its previous owners and it had a hard time jumping on things or playing with toys like a normal cat, and it was also a biter.

IMO, it'd be better to even have nail caps on their claws permanently than to declaw a cat. I don't believe it is comparable to spaying or neutering.

http://www.declawing.com/htmls/declawing.htm

 

[advan]

get the cat some sort of scratch post or board and use cat nip on them and only there. i used a spray bottle everytime they were caught scratching something they weren't supposed to. you can't catch them everytime but repitition is key in training. my cat actually is a biter even with claws she always has been.(thats what i get for adopting the cat that the cage read "do not put hands in cage, cat will bite) my brothers cat is stubborn headed she knows she doing something wrong and still does it. doesn't work with them all.

adopt an old wooden stool for scratching. it's the only thing my cat will scratch (that's in the house) you should see one of the legs it's almost gone! lol

 

[MichiganReptiles]

I have a cat that used to tear up our window screens and shred the carpet by the front door. I put Soft Paw nail caps on her, and within two weeks she stopped scratching and I was able to take them off. I have also adopted a cat that was declawed by its previous owners and it had a hard time jumping on things or playing with toys like a normal cat, and it was also a biter.

IMO, it'd be better to even have nail caps on their claws permanently than to declaw a cat. I don't believe it is comparable to spaying or neutering.

http://www.declawing.com/htmls/declawing.htm

Thanks for the link. I appreciate the information.

 

[NikiP]

it had a hard time jumping on things or playing with toys like a normal cat, and it was also a biter.

My roommate's cat is declawed in the front & doesn't really seem to be affected by it. (Note: the cat had already been declawed by the person she adopted him from.)

He still gets on the table, the kitchen counters, onto the top of my mudskipper tank ontop of my dresser, etc etc. Maybe he doesn't claw his toys, but he's still perfectly capable of dragging toys around. My hair bands are everywhere tanks to him, there was a scarf he would move from room to room in the blink of an eye (until we finally returned figured out who's scarf it was), & his cat toys are scattered everywhere.

And yes, he's a bitter, but I think he would have been a bitter even with claws You can usually find my dog on his back with Elliot on top, biting the mess out of him. Those two tear up the house with their playing, claws or no claws.

I'm totally against declawing, but I don't think it's really damaged Elliot being a cat.

 

[Kathy]

All my cats are declawed and they have never acted differently. They still "claw" the scratching post and chase things. I think with laser now it is much less invasive. but when you have a 4000 dollar screened in patio and they kept clawing it, what do you do.

 

[Ariel]

both of our cats are declawed in the front and they still move, jump, play, and otherwise get around just fine. Never seems to effect them. They still 'scratch' on walls and boxes and whatever.

 

[jebbewocky]

My cat's been fine since the declaw, aside from initial complications of infection. He acts no different than he did previously, and now he can't murder us horribly in our sleep!