Pistachio and Mags have arrived
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I've read that declawing can be the cause of serious behavioral issues.
First of all, it's actually an amputation of the distal phalanx - the bone is cut. Terribly painful for a while and may result in litter-box issues.
Secondly, you've just removed the primary method of a cat's defense. The Bee was declawed. We think she had been abused, and was terribly afraid of being touched. If you approached her when she wasn't in the mood, if she was feeling charitable, she might swat at you. If she wasn't, she'd bite. Both Mrs. George and I ended up with cat-bite infections that required trips to urgent care for IV antibiotics.
I believe I shared this pic in the past.
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I could stick you in 17 places...
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Our cat was lovely, just the friendliest cat. The vet didn’t warn us what was involved in having her declawed but I came home the day after and she was shaking and quivering, it was terrible. She didn’t seem to suffer any long term issues but that was enough. I’d never do it again.
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Anyway, congratulations LD - they’re exceptionally cute
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Speaking of cats...My old barn cat female had kittens awhile back and raised them around the shop. She gets a bit nervous with them (she's not the best mom) so she moved them after a day when I was puttering around inside. Haven't seen the kittens since.
I guess an owl or a coyote got them. Shame, since one was a pretty grey tuxedo, one was black tuxedo and the other was a yellow tabby.
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BTW, I said I'd never have a cat in the house. Dogs, but not a cat. Until I sunk $1000 into my best barn cat after something tried to kill him. He's been in the house five years come this fall.
I've never even considered declawing him.
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Yeah, we’re already scheduled for spay and neutering in September. Trying to ride the line between mostly full grown but before she goes in heat. And no declawing.
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@George-K said in Pistachio and Mags have arrived:
Why would anyone let their pet cats go outdoors?
I think that outdoor cats are the number 1 cause of bird deaths also.
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@taiwan_girl said in Pistachio and Mags have arrived:
@George-K said in Pistachio and Mags have arrived:
Why would anyone let their pet cats go outdoors?
I think that outdoor cats are the number 1 cause of bird deaths also.
That’s a very bad take pushed by bird conservancy groups. The more accurate take is that domestic cats are the #1 directly related to humans cause of death to birds. What that basically means is that more birds die from domestic cats than to kids shooting them with pellet guns. This does not include birds that die from natural predators (orders of magnitude higher), birds that die from flying into wind turbines and buildings (orders of magnitude higher), birds killed by disease, age, etc… in scale, the number of birds killed by domestic cats vs total bird deaths would probably look a lot like the scale of the earth vs the sun. And of those birds killed by domestic cats, 99% are going to be pigeons, starlings, or sparrows as those birds are most often found thriving in urban and suburban areas where you are going to be most likely to find domestic cats. In many areas these birds are not just considered nuisance birds but are even listed as invasive.
I love birds and we have many bird feeders and several bird houses that we have put up around the neighborhood, but these bird conservancy groups are the proverbial Karen’s on methamphetamines.
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@taiwan_girl said in Pistachio and Mags have arrived:
@George-K said in Pistachio and Mags have arrived:
Why would anyone let their pet cats go outdoors?
I think that outdoor cats are the number 1 cause of bird deaths also.
I think that's now wind turbines.
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Wireless charging… Takes about 1 hour. We use the solar option.
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Happy cat.
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Tuckered. Lucas and Finley have kept them going
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@LuFins-Dad @George-K Great pics!!!
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@taiwan_girl you really don't appreciate the size of Boris (~20 lb) until he's next to Maggie.
Maggie has always hissed and snarled at him - ever since we got Boris, she's been "unfriendly" toward him.
Interestingly, in the last 6 months or so, she's been more tolerant of him coming "into her space." The other day, they were actually chasing each other around. Maggie was the "chaser."
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@LuFins-Dad ...
What's the plan for the kitties?
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@George-K said in Pistachio and Mags have arrived:
@LuFins-Dad ...
What's the plan for the kitties?
Right now we are keeping them confined most of the day in the kitchen. It’s the easiest place to confine them while give them space, sun, and they aren’t big enough to jump on the counters yet. While we have one of those sanitary litter boxes and are keeping them well away from the food prep and cooking areas. We are still being super careful, and mostly cooking outside…
We are allowing them access to the main level (dining room and living room) for 1-2 hours a day or until they appear overwhelmed.
They’ll get more supervised access to the main level over the next couple of weeks and will start introducing them to the basement and upstairs over the next few weeks. The basement includes a utility room, a music studio, a Finley play room/study room, and a small media room/mancave. The cats will not have access to the media room or the utility room. Upstairs we have 2 kids bedrooms, a bathroom, and a master suite. The plan is to keep them from the master suite.
Finley loves them already, picking them up, hugging them and kissing them goodnight and telling them he loves them before bed.
They will be spayed & neutered at 5.5 months. They will be indoor exclusive (though Karla has plans to leash/harness train them). And we will not be declawing them. They have 4 different climbing trees throughout the house, plenty of scratching posts, and we will try to train them about some of the furniture, but it’s cats…
Me/rry/Christmas
