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When my husband and I first started living together we decided to get a cat. I had pets as a kid but had never before had one of my own to care for. This was before I started doing rescue on my own so I went to a kill shelter. I didn't want to buy a cat with so many needing homes. Well there was this 'little' white cat with big blue eyes. While I was looking at him I noticed he was marked to be put down. I took him out and he licked my nose. Ok that was my cat. So off we went. That night I realized how thin Sunny was. He had lost 11 lbs while he was there according to his vet records from previous owners and my new vet records. He would not eat or drink. I took him to the emergency clinic. After a couple of months of medication he recovered. During this period he would not use a litter box but I attributed it to his being to ill to get up. Once he was better we learned the truth.
Sunny would never deficate in a box and would often not urinate in one. I called the shelter and they said to bring him back but we all know what that means. So I called my vet. He said to put him down! My new vet explained that this had little to do with his illness and was probably due to the fact he was declawed. Well I have tried every behavior modification technique there is and nothing works. So now Sunny is caged at night while I can't watch him. He is ok during the day. If he had been adopted to most people they would have brought him back and Sunny would be dead.
Basicly his previous owner decided to kill their cat for the sake of a couch. He is my love bug and is safe with me now but he still suffers. He knows he shouldn't go on the floor and is scared when he does it. He seems more afraid of the box though. By the way I did have the vet do many tests to rule out every other reason.
A year after I got Sunny I decided to get him a friend. I went back to the same shelter. I do not like the place but it doesn't mean I want their animals to die.Sunny won my heart by kissing and Sandy did it by hugging me. Sandy also came declawed. I was not looking for declawed cats but that is how it turned out. Sandy still has pain years after surgery. His front feet look like some one sucked the bones out. The skin is left but it is empty. Sandy is a smart cat who I taught to sit and shake paws. His left paw was no problem. Then we moved on to 'other paw'. He bit me every time I touched it! I couldn't figure it out. He was fine with the first one. I took him to the vet assuming something hurt. Again the cause was declawing. Even the slightest pressure on the top of his foot makes this otherwise wonderful loving animal bite. If he had been adopted by someone with kids to bite he would have also died in that she later after being returned.
Again please don't declaw. I wouldn't have my fingers cut of for a life time of nice furniture and I won't ask my cats to do it either!
Since then I have had 2 others follow me home. They were strays and have claws. For anyone who thinks you can't mix declawed and whole cats it is not true. They all love eachother and spend their days conspiring on how to take up ALL the room in bed.
