Also, incomprehensibly, if their boyfriend/girlfriend “doesn’t like” the pet. I told my future husband when I started dating him that I’d had my cat a lot longer than I’d known him, so he was extremely clear on who was going to get kicked out first!
[QUOTE=normandy_shores;8137824]
Too many people get rid of their animals when they start a family.
Because you know, baaayyyy-bies![/QUOTE]
Also, there is the new love interest that is jealous of the animals, and finally talks owner into getting rid of the animals. I’ve known people that did rehome the animals, and every single one eventually found out that they should have kept the animals, and dumped the SO.
To me a deal breaker would be if anyone whether SO, or visitor, didn’t want my animals around, because my animals were there first.
[QUOTE=Jersey Fresh;8138055]
However should I ever get another cat, I would love some suggestions for things i didnt try that would stop a cat from destroying furniture without declawing.[/QUOTE]
There are a lot of solutions to this problem that have already been mentioned, but another is this: go to the shelter and take home an older cat that’s already been declawed. Older cats are often SO hard to place. This way, you give one a home and there’s not much risk of furniture destruction. (Although we did have a declawed cat when I was a kid who was masterful at using the callouses on the end of her fingers to shred furniture.)
I’d never choose to declaw a cat, but this is my plan for my next kitty.
Y
[QUOTE=french fry;8138110]
I’m really not trying to be a jerk, but barring all the other solutions vxf suggested not working, I’d rather replace the chair with something cheap from Ikea that I can easily replace or re-cover rather than chopping the ends of my cat’s toes off. I would hope that most cat owners would.
I would recommend you not get another cat since this seems to be a dealbreaker for you.[/QUOTE]
True. Should have just let him get gassed at the shelter with the hundreds of others that didnt have homes.
Outside of the world of COTH, most people don’t tolerate animals destroying their house.
And as a side note, he’s happy and sweet and has neve shown any signs of pain or distress. Only time he has ever not used thr litter box was when he had a UTI. Cleared that up and he never did it again.
Id rather see animals declawed if nothing else works than be dumped at a shelter. But that’s just my opinion.
[QUOTE=Simkie;8138458]
There are a lot of solutions to this problem that have already been mentioned, but another is this: go to the shelter and take home an older cat that’s already been declawed. Older cats are often SO hard to place. This way, you give one a home and there’s not much risk of furniture destruction. (Although we did have a declawed cat when I was a kid who was masterful at using the callouses on the end of her fingers to shred furniture.)
I’d never choose to declaw a cat, but this is my plan for my next kitty.[/QUOTE]
My guy is pretty special so Id have to think long and hard about getting another down the road. I could never replace him and would worry I would compare the new one to him. But if I did, this is what I would do. No interest in a kitten.
I decided a long time ago that I didn’t care about our furniture as much as the cats! I get decent furniture, but not expensive, and between the kids and cats and husband it gradually wears out and then I replace it.
I have a hard time with choosing something like a chair or rug over a living creature.
Research on declawing seems to suggest that a cat is probably better off put to sleep than have it done; I really haven’t looked into it much b/c it’s not something I would ever do.
Life is hard for cats; it’s too bad there are so many of them b/c they really are so vulnerable.
[QUOTE=Jersey Fresh;8138580]
Y
True. Should have just let him get gassed at the shelter with the hundreds of others that didnt have homes.
Outside of the world of COTH, most people don’t tolerate animals destroying their house.
And as a side note, he’s happy and sweet and has neve shown any signs of pain or distress. Only time he has ever not used thr litter box was when he had a UTI. Cleared that up and he never did it again.
Id rather see animals declawed if nothing else works than be dumped at a shelter. But that’s just my opinion.[/QUOTE]
I think you are missing the point of this thread. Outside of COTH, people dump their animals at shelters for stupid reasons - yes, that’s the whole impetus behind this thread being started.
Are you actually defending those people?
You can be snarky and defensive if you want, but you can’t deny that there were other alternatives (soft paws, covering the furniture, getting cheaper furniture, confining the cat to another area of the house, etc.) that you didn’t feel like putting the effort into before declawing.
Also, have you guys noticed that there’s a glut of old cats in shelters right now—just a minute before the annual deluge of kittens?
That’s the trend at my shelter.
Thanks to those who suggested Cosequin for my “special” kitty’s pee problems… I picked up some last night and ordered a larger box that will arrive in a few days. I also placed a call to our behaviorist about having her ship over a bottle of Zylkene for us to try… it didn’t do a lot for my separation anxiety dog, but maybe it’ll be more effective with my kitteh. 
^^
Why does Cosequin work for peeing problems? I don’t get it.
[QUOTE=mvp;8139248]
^^
Why does Cosequin work for peeing problems? I don’t get it.[/QUOTE]
I call it Catsequin If the kitty is finding alternative pee locations because arthritis is creating a negative association with crouching in the box-- Catsequin may help.
My cat peed a few times outside the box and seemed to be straining-- which is one of the symptoms that led me to take him in to the vet. He was diagnosed and treated for thyroid disease. Once he was treated-- litter habits went right back to normal. Cats really manifest pain/discomfort in different ways than dogs. They hide it, for the most part. It’s possible that LPH’s kitty has some discomfort that Catsequin may help. It also might not help-- but it’s not $$$ and worth a try.
Also, FYI my Costcopharmacy orders Catsequin and other pet “meds” and OTC products mega mega cheap. You don’t have to be a member to use the pharmacy.
Yanno, I would have thought that a cat would have been smarter than to associate pain with peeing in a particular place….ESPECIALLY AFTER THEY DID THE “CRUCIAL EXPERIMENT” (PEEING OTHER PLACES) THAT DISCONFIRMED THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THE LITTER BOX BIT 'EM IN THE BUTT.
Yes, that was yelling logic at a cat.
Also, do you think that Catsequin and Cataquan are doing the same job or different ones? Why do some cats have more and less success with one or the other?
Well, if you pee on the sofa maybe you DON’T have to crouch the same way? Or climb over the edge of the box. Boxes, even no lid ones, can be confining. You have to contort the body a certain way to get in there. If you’re letting loose on a sweatshirt on the floor, it might well be that you can position yourself in a much more comfortable position. Also some cats in pain just hold it until they literally CAN’T and so it’s not that they prefer the sofa, it’s just where they are when they literally cannot hold it any more.
I have not tried Adequan for cats. If it’s anything like horses though, I suspect the injectible is more targeted than the oral. I never saw any effect with Cosequin on horses but loved the effects I saw from Adequan. YMMV.
[QUOTE=mvp;8139248]
^^
Why does Cosequin work for peeing problems? I don’t get it.[/QUOTE]
The lining of the urethra is made up of the same precurser as cartilage- glycosaminoglycans of which Cosequin is
[QUOTE=roseymare;8139302]
The lining of the urethra is made up of the same precurser as cartilage- glycosaminoglycans of which Cosequin is[/QUOTE]
This I did not know. Interesting!
[QUOTE=Lazy Palomino Hunter;8136325]
What I cannot reconcile, though, is how anyone can believe that an animal who has been a house pet for a decade will have ANY quality of life if dumped at a shelter.
People must know the animal will never be adopted (no pet’s behavioral problems have improved in a shelter, I’m sure), and I do not know how they sleep at night knowing the living hell they have doomed their pet for what is most likely the rest of its life.[/QUOTE]
They delude themselves into thinking their animal will be adopted by a loving family who live on a farm, then tell the kids that’s where FluffyUnicornMacaroni (you know how wee kids name their pets :sadsmile:) went. I mean people truly sound convinced of that fallacy. That is the only way they can sleep at night; I hope they have nightmares.
i have a dog who gets frequent UTI’s. along with other meds, he is on Cosequin for his bladder. it lines the bladder and somehow helps.
[QUOTE=Bicoastal;8139356]
They delude themselves into thinking their animal will be adopted by a loving family who live on a farm, then tell the kids that’s where FluffyUnicornMacaroni (you know how wee kids name their pets :sadsmile:) went. I mean people truly sound convinced of that fallacy. That is the only way they can sleep at night; I hope they have nightmares.[/QUOTE]
:sadsmile: heh that makes me feel better, I hope they have nightmares too.
The ‘throw away’ out of sight out of mind/pass the responsibility depresses me.
My kitty is actually a surrender.
Back story is that she was adopted as a kitten by a family from the humane society. When she was about 2 years old, she developed severe atopic dermatitis. The family worked with their vet (my sister’s clinic) for a little while, and when she didn’t improve, brought her for euth - saying that the cat was just miserable and she (the owner) didn’t want to deal with the scabs.
My sister’s clinic told the owner that the proper action was to surrender her back to the humane society. So she did.
The humane society then tried to get the allergies under control, working with my sister’s clinic, but couldn’t - the humane society simply couldn’t stay on top of her meds due to having so many animals. So they brought her back to the clinic for euthanasia.
The vets (my sister and a peer) wanted to give the kitty one more chance, so they took her in as a clinic cat. And…it took a long time, but they figured out the regimen that kept her allergies under control.
As it happened, about that time I was looking to adopt a special needs kitty, so now kitty is mine. For good. 
But, in reviewing the above, I’m finding it hard to judge anyone too much - kitties with significant health issues can result in tough choices. And while it makes me really sad that she was adopted and then surrendered, again I don’t know the first owner’s circumstances. Isabella does cost a lot more on a monthly basis than the normal kitty, and perhaps the first owner simply couldn’t commit to that additional cost for the next 10-15 years. The first owner did bring her back in for euth (or surrender) rather than dumping her on the street, and so I can’t say she acted irresponsibly.
And heck, I have Izzy now, so we’re all good
[QUOTE=mvp;8139117]
Also, have you guys noticed that there’s a glut of old cats in shelters right now—just a minute before the annual deluge of kittens?
That’s the trend at my shelter.[/QUOTE]
YES! I’ve totally noticed this!
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