New Cat

[Sean]

As another person who has taken in a lot of cats as well I can definitely understand wanting something more special than your average housecat.

But, are there any rescue places for the more exotic breeds? That might be something to look into too.

[Ham n Cheese]

Yeah basically you pay an adoption fee at places like that.

[Zarcath]

Originally Posted by prescient63

I know it sounds CRAZY but you can actually teach them not to do that. The world is a CRAZY place.

I'm sorry but I think you've got it the other way around. I think you meant to say it's CRAZY what a cat can teach YOU. He wants a CAT not a DOG.

We had a scottish fold cat without the folded ears (was cheaper). Was a really cute and fun cat.

[Grimmlokk]

On the episode of Dirty Jobs where Mike Rowe was working at a pet grooming place they had some specialist come in to clip a cats nails and he explained that declawed cats are actually more agressive and worse behaved. Don't remember the exact reasoning.

Anyhoo, cats rule. Someone mentioned bengals, I'll re-mention them. If you're looking to splurge on a cat that looks wicked, they're the shit. Coloration varies from leopard spots to what they call "marble" and everything in between. Some even look almost like tiger stripes(not as pronounced as those Toygers they're working on).

They're expensive, but they're the coolest looking cats in the world=P

[Sean]

Ooooooh the baby kitties.

[Braen]

I have always been a big fan of the Russian Blue. Like the cat from Pet Semetary. One of my cats is similar but not a pure Russian Blue. Hopefully when I build my new house the wife will let me get a pure breed.

[gavinrad]

most of the anti-declawing stuff in this thread is just propaganda without any proof to support it. Although I am against declawing, it is by no means inhumane or cruel, the idea that many veterinarians are refusing to do it is a fucking joke. The bottom line is that many owners cannot/will not take care of a cat's nails, and if having that cat declawed ensures that it has a home instead of being put to sleep, than explain to me how that procedure was inhumane.

Now, having a cat declawed after its a year old or so? Borderline inhumane. Cartilage, among other things, has started to grow in the fingers and if your cat isn't a kitten anymore, it will be alot more painful to be declawed and may cause behavioral problems.

*edit*

Oh god ++ on Bengals or Himalayans, if I was gonna buy a cat from a breeder thats what I would get. Himalayans are incredibly high maintenance, long and really thick fur, but they are gorgeous. Bengals are just gorgeous, and freaking crazy. I love em to death.

[Braen]

Most people declaw a cat cause they don't want their furniture torn up... I know many dogs that do the same thing, why don't they declaw a dog?

You can teach a cat not to tear shit up. But I watch my declawed cats (done by my wifes mother when she got them and before she gave them to us) they can't grab ahold of anything, it looks pathetic. Also, one of my cats was extremely playful and outgoing before getting declawed... now she is shy and timid.

Oh and from Wikipedia about Declawing:

Onychectomy is the act of surgically removing the claws, most often of a household cat, though occasionally of other animals such as circus lions or dancing bears. This process involves amputating all or part of the distal phalanx, or end bone, of the animal's toes — the equivalent of cutting off the end of a human finger at its first joint — under anaesthesia, and is popularly known as declawing.

Declawing is rare outside of North America, being considered an act of animal cruelty in many Western countries (see "Legal Status" below).

Declawing is uncommon outside North America, and laws governing its practice vary. Many European countries prohibit or significantly restrict the practice, as do Australia, Brazil, Israel, New Zealand, Japan and Turkey. The list below gives an overview of the situation in different parts of the world.


[edit] Australia
In Australia, legislation concerning animal welfare is enacted at the state level and is highly inconsistent. There are ongoing efforts to develop a National Animal Welfare Act; in its current state, the bill would prohibit the declawing of cats except for medical reasons. However, some pro-wildlife campaigners advocate declawing (and possibly defanging) to protect native wildlife from pet cats.


[edit] Europe
In many European countries the practice is forbidden under the terms of the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals[2] , unless there is a medical indication for the procedure, or a veterinarian considers it beneficial to the animal.

Some European countries go further, such as Finland, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland[3], where declawing cats for non-medical reasons is always illegal under their laws against cruelty to animals.


[edit] United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, declawing was outlawed by the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which explicitly prohibited "interference with the sensitive tissues or bone structure of the animal, otherwise than for the purposes of its medical treatment".[4]

Even before the 2006 Act, however, declawing was extremely uncommon, to the extent that most people had never seen a declawed cat. The procedure was considered cruel by almost all British vets, who refused to perform it except on medical grounds. The Guide to Professional Conduct of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons stated that declawing was "only acceptable where, in the opinion of the veterinary surgeon, injury to the animal is likely to occur during normal activity. It is not acceptable if carried out for the convenience of the owner ... the removal of claws, particularly those which are weight-bearing, to preclude damage to furnishings is not acceptable."[5]


[edit] North America
Although widely practiced, declawing is ethically controversial within the North American veterinary community.[1] Many North American veterinarians are critical of the procedure and some refuse to perform it[6]. The two leading national animal protection organizations in the US, the Humane Society of the United State and the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, each strongly discourage or condemn the procedure.[7] The Humane Society of the United States and other animal advocacy groups have supported legislation banning or restricting declawing.[8] Major opposition to attempts to ban or restrict declawing has come from veterinary trade organizations, such as the California Veterinary Medical Association.

Declawing was outlawed in West Hollywood, California, in 2003, the first such ban is the US.[9]. The California Veterinary Medical Association challenged the law in court[10], leading to a court ruling that temporarily suspended the law. In June 2007, the California appeals court overturned the 2006 ruling, thus reinstating the law banning declawing in West Hollywood.[11]. The CVMA's court challenge held that West Hollywood had overstepped its municipal authority by enacting an ordinance that infringed on licensed professionals’ state-granted rights. It did not address declawing as an animal welfare issue.

In 2004, California became the first state in the USA to enact a state-wide ban on the declawing of wild and exotic cats.

In 2006, the United States Department of Agriculture enacted a ban on declawing of all wild and exotic animals held by USDA-licensed owners.[12]

In April 2007, the city of Norfolk, Virginia outlawed declawing.[13]

List of Vets that refuse to declaw:

Veterinarians who do not declaw

[gavinrad]

Originally Posted by Braen

Most people declaw a cat cause they don't want their furniture torn up... I know many dogs that do the same thing, why don't they declaw a dog?

You can teach a cat not to tear shit up. But I watch my declawed cats (done by my wifes mother when she got them and before she gave them to us) they can't grab ahold of anything, it looks pathetic. Also, one of my cats was extremely playful and outgoing before getting declawed... now she is shy and timid.

Have any experience to back that claim up? More people who had kittens declawed at my clinic did so because of small children than because of furniture...usually a scratching post, some catnip, and a brief lesson on how to trim nails is all we had to do for people who were having furniture related problems. Most people are more than willing to give the 30ish dollar option a try before they go for the 200 dollar option, especially when we describe the procedure.

*edit*
since you added that wikipedia stuff

that wikipedia stuff is fucking nonsense.

"Many North American veterinarians are critical of the procedure and some refuse to perform it"

Uh, I would say all North American veterinarians are critical of the procedure...thats because it's a fairly major surgery and most pet owners are ignorant of what the procedure involves. But some refusing to perform it is a joke. That list of veterinarians who won't provide the procedure is miniscule. I live in the same town as one of the veterinary schools in the nation, there are probably 50-60 veterinarians in a 50 mile radius, and I can't think of a single one that won't perform declaws.

As far as that crap about other countries, who gives a flying fuck about what other countries think about declaws? Unless you can show me that those countries are having the same overpopulation crisis of cats that we are, I could give a shit what they do or don't do with their cats. We are putting cats to death by the thousands and probably even millions, so if having a couple declawed gives them a chance at life, anyone who is against declaws can sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up.

[Ham n Cheese]

Dude rofl... you do this for a living and you're the one spouting shit off when you apparently were the one without the facts

[Slide]

Don't understand the whole declawing thing, lived with cats all my life and never had to do any claw maintainence on any of them. Maybe the vet checks their claws when they go for their jabs, who knows.

If you dont want your furniture ripped up dont have a cat, and if you dont want to be scratched then dont torment them. It's not as if its hard to spot when a cat is getting pissed off with you poking and prodding it.

It's hit and miss as to whether you can train them not scratch furniture, but some carrots and sticks for the scratching post (catnip and water pistol) usually works wonders, as does letting the cat go outside and scratch on trees etc.

[Dabamf]

I never liked people declawing cats. It's like cutting off the hands of a person. Scratches are only bad if your cat is mean (many strays, possibly a weird cat here and there) or if your cat is playing and you pull your hand back at the wrong time (when it is swatting you). The latter has happened to me a lot, but its really only painful, the scratch itself is superficial.

Scratching furniture is annoying, but that can easily be conditioned out. Get a couple scratching posts in convenient locations and scratch their necks any time they use it. When they scratch furniture its usually because they want something. Yell at them, and when they scratch the post, then give it to them.

I have the biggest asshole of a cat ever and this worked beautifully on him. I'd be very surprised to see a cat this didn't work on.

[NeuadvenBonechillerr]

Originally Posted by kedwyn

Neither of those but as far as low mantenance pets go cats rock. I picked up an automatic litter box off Amazon a few months ago and will never go back. Its a litttermate I believe.

my cat doesn't use a litterbox unless left in the house for like 2 days. . .shrug

[Grimmlokk]

Originally Posted by Braen

I have always been a big fan of the Russian Blue. Like the cat from Pet Semetary. One of my cats is similar but not a pure Russian Blue. Hopefully when I build my new house the wife will let me get a pure breed.

Had a Russian Blue named Shadow for most of my childhood. That cat was awesome. He used to sit on top of the TV and claw at the actors. And he could jump vertically from the ground onto the top railing of my bunkbed.

But he didn't have leopard spots...

[Zarcath]

buy a box and label it CAT. Never open the box.