the 4 legged inventory

With my sister here sometimes my house seems a little overly full of pets. I have 3 cats and a dog (had two dogs until recently, another casualty of the house stress and turmoil) My sister also has 3 cats and a dog. It's a lot for a house this size, that's for sure.

These are mine:

Tsu - At 14+ Tsu is my oldest, She came from the Forsyth Humane Society about 13 years ago. Poor girl has had it rough for a while. She's diabetic (almost died from a bad insulin dosage given by a misguided pet sitter), she has only 3 teeth left (none of them frontsizes either) after being attacked by a dog (sadly one that grew up with her and was just super stressed by the house situation) and is starting to find herself covered with moles. eww. Her eyesight is going and she can't jump as well as she used to...

But she's sweet and smart. And overall a very well behaved tuxedo kitty.

Cosmo - Is about 13 years old. He's a rather pretty classic tabby of the brown and black variety. He's a bit co-dependant and has trouble NOT touching me. He has some bad potty habits related to his anxiety and co-dependency and a voice that makes one think there's some Siamese in there not so many generations back. I can feel him getting older these last few months and suspect there is a thyroid thing going on even though his tests keep coming back 'sort of' normal.

Tucker - Just over 5 at this point Tucker should be acting more restrained than she is. Tucker is a tri-color Pembroke Welsh Corgi. She barks too much, harasses cats too much and eats poop every chance she gets. EWWW. Those moles are looking pretty good aren't they?

Dexter(ous) - The shiny new kitten. Dexter moved in last September. It's nice to have young silliness around the house. He's also a super snuggler and really quite laid back. He went to Florida for the holidays and met 4 strange cats that weren't strangers to him.

Here he's pretending to be a super hero.

21

About 4 months ago my orange tabby cat 'Horus' disappeared. I've been looking for him and occasionally get calls from people who think they may have found my cat.

Last Monday I received a call from a man that actually had a polydactyl (extra toes) cat like Horus. When I went to see the cat a few things were clear. #1 - Sadly, it was not Horus. and #2 - this cat was sick.



This stray had been declawed.

Mind you declawing is a pretty horrible practice on its own. To 'declaw' a cat the last bone of the cats toe actually has to be removed. An amputation of the last joint of your cats toes.

What ends up being particularly horrible here is that this declawed cat - either by accident or intent - ended up outside. And outside there wasn't any kibble. And without his claws he had no way to catch any.

His belly was full of nothing but fur and he has 'hepatic lipidosis' where his body eats his liver for nourishment and replaces the liver with fat.



The vet has been calling him '21' for the number of toes he has. We're calling him Declann. He is very loving and friendly, quite vocal too. And the good news for him is that the feline liver has the remarkable ability to regenerate. Therefore, in cats with idiopathic hepatic lipidosis recurrence is rare, and the cats that recover go on to live normal lives.

But, if you're considering declawing your cat just to keep the furniture intact, I might remind you that not only can cats be trained not to scratch the furniture but other options are available including products like 'Soft Paws'. And while you may think your cat will never go out, things happen. Things change. Do you really want to give your pet a death sentence just to keep the arm of the couch from being scratched?