Last week, we featured some of the adorable puppies available for adoption at Have a Heart Pet Shelter. So in the interest of “equal time” and “fair play,” this week we’re spotlighting just two of our 25 kittens currently looking for their new, furever people.
First up, we have Bossie. This gorgeous golden torbie (tortoiseshell tabby) comes by her name honestly. She has a spunky personality that will charm you into doing her wishes. She is very vocal (as most torties are) and will meow at you to hold and love on her. Born on March 14, that puts her right at four months old.
Bossie
And then there is Wendy. This sweet little girl took a while to put on weight but, as you can see, now she is a beautiful dark tabby three-and-a-half month old kitten. Although not vocal like Bossie, Wendy shows her love by climbing up to you for attention and lots of cuddles. She was born on April 7.
Wendy
As mentioned, we currently have 23 other kittens, males and females, who are waiting for you to come meet them. We have kittens of all kinds of kitten purrsonalities to suit anyone. If you’d like to meet Bossie, Wendy, or the rest of the crew, give the Shelter a call at 870-449-7387 or come see us at 657 Highway 202 West in Yellville.
Now, while we’re focusing on kittens, there is another, less pleasant topic we’d like to call to our readers’ attention. It concerns the procedure of declawing cats/kittens. One of the most commonly misunderstood things about having inside cats is that declawing is the easiest, best way to stop unwanted scratching.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, declawing can actually make a cat less likely to use the litter box, more likely to bite, and “can cause lasting physical problems for your cat.”
So what is declawing? Contrary to some assumptions, it’s definitely not just similar to a human having our nails trimmed. There are basically three different types of procedures: amputation, laser surgery, and tendonectomy. The traditional method is the first, which is basically the amputation of the last bone of each toe. Such a unnecessary surgery provides no medical benefit to the animal or the human who may be hoping to reduce scratches to himself, his furniture, or other household items.
Many countries of the world have banned declawing. The main point here, as stated by the Humane Society of the United States (and we, at Have a Heart, agree) is this: “Declawing and tendonectomies should be reserved only for those rare cases in which a cat has a medical problem that would warrant such surgery, such as the need to remove cancerous nail bed tumors.”
“So, how do I stop the unwanted scratching and subsequent damage?” you may be asking. First of all, scratching is normal cat behavior. It isn’t done to destroy a favorite chair. Some of the reasons cats scratch is to remove the dead husks from their claws, mark territory, and stretch their muscles. They usually begin scratching at around eight weeks old. So that’s the ideal time to train kittens to use scratching posts and allow nail trims. Here are a few tips from the Humane Society of the United States:
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Keep claws regularly trimmed.
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Provide stable scratching posts and boards around your home (and use toys and catnip to entice the cat to them.
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Ask your veterinarian about soft plastic caps that are glued to the cat’s nails.
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Attach a special tape to furniture that will help deter from undesired scratching.
You can find much more information about this topic at the website, www.humanesociety.org. All in all, it’s simply much better for your furbaby and its humans to avoid declawing.