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Unclawing....

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
I see fear in their eyes. I didn't understand what happened in her live before I got her, but REHOME is not an option. I deal with it since I got her, I will deal with it for the future.

I really caution you against thinking that this is her only option as a home. Sometimes we simply have to accept that no matter how much we love an animal that our home may not be right for it. That doesn't mean that you are irresponsible or that you don't love your cat. In my mind, it means you love them truly and not selfishly...you put their needs above your own.

Having done rescue work for 14 years now, we have seen homes where the cat truly blossoms on changing their home. Sometimes it is hard to know what is different, but the cat responds differently. You need to know that you would not be giving up on your cat, you would be looking for a more appropriate home for her. There is a big difference.

You might also think ahead. You've mentioned that one of the reasons you would want to declaw Jasmine is that your girlfriend and you might want to start a family soon. What we see in Rescue is that this causes all sorts of panic in late pregnancy with the soon-to-be-mama sometimes freaking out about the cat being near the baby...and wanting it gone asap. Or the baby arrives and the cat starts trying to investigate it and that panics people...or heaven forbid there is an interaction where baby gets scratched. THEN the cat needs a home fast...while if you are foreseeing this being a problem and think about a new home now you have so much more time to find just the right situation. The fact that you have identified Jasmine as a problem if you have a baby means that this is going to be a recurrent thought. I personally know it is easy to raise a baby with Savannahs (I have five ranging from F1 to F5) but it is relatively common for surrenders to happen around this stress when people are hormonal, exhausted and not coping well.

My advice if keeping Jasmine is to increase her hiding places... high shelving, cave-like cat beds... things where she feels she is away from the humans and can choose her interactions. I would also consider trimming her nails maybe less frequently and bathing less often. Stretch out the times between all those stresses and see if she relaxes more also...
 
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