SILKY aka Lil Bits aka Slick,LOL

[~*mikie*~]

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OK. You gals all know Silky's story. He goes to the vet on Monday for next round of shots, & when the vet's office called to confirm today, we discussed doing the alteration. The gal said I could drop him off early (between 7-8) if that's ok. I decided I'd wait til after I talked w/the vet again. When she said 'amputation' of the extra toes, OMG, my heart dropped to my feet. Panic set in. Silky has come a long way in the past few weeks, & he's learning. Still hides from my poor sweet hubby who's the kindest person on earth, & he even scatters half the time when *I* walk into a room. It is going to take time & love & oodles of patience before he learns to trust us. It was mentioned here that the alternative to removing the extra claws is to clip the nails every 2 wks or so. HOW? When he won't let anyone near him, I am *really* nervous about the prospects of success.

Sorry, I'm not making a great deal of sense here. My mind's running amok. I LOVE my furbabies & have never, ever had one declawed though they are indoor cats. The thought of bringing my baby pain is killing me. He had *enough* pain in his life in that cellar of the druggie-infested apartment building, & of course I want only GOOD things in his life now.

What the vet had said was that he'd remove the extra claws when he alters him. Silky has a bunch of extra toes which are cute as heck. The vet said they have no control over the extra ones & can't retract them..& that they curl around & can grow into the pads of their feet unless either removed or groomed properly. Give me (again) the benefit of your experiences with this. I *know* that IF Silky were a normal kitten we could handle the clipping duty with no problem. It's the fact that he gets terrified so easily that's making this iffy. REALLY iffy. And I'm a wreck. I can't even pick this cat UP yet, & he *loves me*, ROFL. Typical man.LOLOLOL. Help!!!

mikie

[~*mikie*~]

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Remember this is where he came from, poor baby.

[lcash]

Wow, Mikie, that's a hard one. I think I would try to buy some time. Since you're going in to the vet anyway, do a minimal tranquilizer (for the cat, not for you!) and clip the nails. That will give you some time to work with him. We clip all our kitties' nails every two weeks with fingernail clippers followed by a favorite treat. We started with one or two nails, whatever they would tolerate comfortably, then stop before they got real wiggly. Later that day, we'd try another nail or two. Now they are happy to have their manicures with a special treat for dessert. If you can't get him to settle down, you may have to go ahead and do the surgery. Remember, my dear, in the course of life, we mothers must inflict some pain upon our loved ones, but only for their best interests. Silky/Lil Bits/Slick has come a long way in a short time - he now has a warm, comfortable home with a loving family. IME with such surgeries (mostly neutering - I'm not a fan of declawing unless it's medically necessary), the cats actually sought me for comfort after their trauma. That may be the case for Silky as well. But no matter what, he's come a long way, thanks to you. Lauren

[~*mikie*~]

Thanks, Lauren. He really *has* come a long way. I forget it's only been less than a month. He & his older brother were asleep *together* on my chair on the sunporch yesterday ~ they are *darling* together, & Silky's progress is very much a result of his big brother's acceptance. Abie grooms him, they wrestle & throw each other around (no hissing, no growling, but to hear the THUMP, thump,crash you'd think they were killing each other). I feel SO blessed that Abie adopted him,lol, & that hubby would NEVER deny Abie anything he wants, hehe. I'm so tickled that this is working out.

I know he'll calm down & come around. The way those druggies operated is up/party all night/stomp up & down stairs, & always *noise* & terror. When Lil Bits/Silky/Slick finally began to trust me, I stood guard while he ate & drank because ANY noise or commotion sent him scurrying back into his hidey hole. There was danger all around him..violence always...& *fools* (likely hopped-up-on-God-knows-what) throwing "food" out for him, sigh....I use the term "food" loosely. This was a barely weaned kitten ~ & I had to get rid of frozen shrimp, whole chunks of chicken...had to sweep up broken glass daily ~ it was a bad, sad environment for him. I was worried he'd get caught in somebody's crossfire.

Now, thankfully, I'm just worried about clipping his nails. SEE how much you helped me? Made me see reason in spite of myself. You're *good*, Lauren.

mikie

[mgmsrk]

Wow he looks so much bigger!

Our extra toed kitten has been with us for one year. Not to contradict a professional but ours defiantly can retract his extra nails(I watched him remove all 7 on one foot from his brothers face just yesterday). They do grow at an angle and you can see that if they got too long some could pose a problem but we have not encountered that yet. He will allow us to trim his but we honestly don’t do it that often, we try for once a month.

I think that the sedatives suggestion is good, you can also try a groomer (with sedatives). I think in time you will be able to condition him to trimming.

Are they on the front or the back, I don’t remember? If on the front do you have a good scratching post that he can use.

[karen]

He has come a long way!! I had a 7-toed cat when I was a kid, and he was always fine. Bootsie could definitely retract them- and I don't ever recall clipping his nails or him having any issues. He scratched the big maple tree in front of the house pretty frequently, and as far as I can recall that was really all he needed.

[~*mikie*~]

Whew! Yes, he/they have scratching posts, & the little one climbs it,LOL! He *also* climbs my computer chair (which truly is in rags now because the other 2 cats love mommy's chair as well). I am not worried about appearances, so they can have at it! "They" also designated one piece of trim next to the back door as their favorite scratching post ~ & since they confine it to the one place, I'm ok with that. The *real* scratching post is covered with sisal & it hangs from my elliptical machine on the sunporch ~ & Silky climbs/swings on it.

Maryah, I know he's got extra toes on both front paws, & yesterday I realized that it looks like on the back paws too??? He looks like he's got huge feet, ROFL!

Buying time seems the way to go. It is possible that the vet thought I was an easy mark. That sounds so awful,lol, but it wouldn't be the 1st time with this vet. I've received "corrected" bills (for more money ) in the past, he's done his best to talk me into the necessity of having *him* clean the cat's teeth..let's just say I trust him to know/deal with health issues very well but as a *person* I trust him about as far as I can throw him,LOL.

Tomorrow I'll apply his Frontline & Monday it'll be exactly a month since I brought him home...& we'll traipse back to the vet!

mikie

[stagemama]

Mikie, I agree with you about the vet. We had a cat with more toes, and called her Mama Toes. She was able to function just fine, and her kittens had extra toes also. never cut them either.
Your vet does sound a bit into extra stuff. I take my two animals to a vet in Watkins, never asked if I wanted their teeth cleaned.
My little craigslist kitty is a sweetheart. When I took him for his visit for shots etc, come to find out, he had an undecended testicle. Can you believe it? So when he had his surgery, he had two scars, they had to go in the belly to fish out the one testicle, and the other was snipped as usual.
I got him a year ago around Halloween, he's black with just a bit of white.
Now to the Sr discount, rarely do they ask to see proof, esp if it's a young clerk. To them, everyone older than their mothers are old. Movie tickets are a real savings.
Heck, the savings can be used for more SN. That makes the SN free. Years ago, we took a trip to Maine, and went to a Bass Shoe outlet. I bought a bunch of shoes and figured how much I saved over retail prices, told Karen's dad that we saved so much that our vacation was free. Not sure he agreed.
linda

[~*mikie*~]

ROFL! Love your girl math! Rarely see a movie but will keep my eyes peeled when going out for lunch! Discounts are good things!

Thanks for the reassuring stories! I never had a cat with extra toes before, so I have no experience to fall back on. Methinks the vet heard "feral" & "rescue" & figured me for a soft touch. ha!

I did a bunch of SHAMELESS enabling this morning on delphi...on Mad About Minerals, HSN Divas, All Things Fem ...hope that Colors For A Cure raises a TON of money.

mikie

[ladycattat]

Hi Mikie......not having any experience with extra-toed kitties, but methinks maybe you need a different vet? Maybe you could do some online research and find one in your area that has some expertise with feral/rescue cats?
As far as clipping goes, Personally, I am totally against de-clawing. We have 3 indoor cats, and we clip their nails about once a month. It is a 2 person operation, I hold the furbaby very lightly by the scruff of her neck(it doesn't hurt her, and it gives us the right angle) while DH does the actual snipping with a regualar fingernail clipper. They doesn't love it, but it only takes about 4 minutes per cat to get all 4 paws, and DH has a steadier hand than I do, since I get sooo nervous about hurting them. 2 of the 3 kitties actually end up purring thru the process.
Whatever you decide to do will be the right thing. Trust your insticts; so far they haven't failed you!
Laurie