Baby kitty is in heat :(

[Sally888]

Yeah thats for sure! U cant forget im small town too so like the next vet is a 30 min drive and so on and there pretty much all the same here. The next town one is actually known for ripping people off so Ill stay away from there.

[secheltsaver]

Pming you-hopefully you will read before Tuesday

[madchives]

not sure where your kitten is from, adopted or found, sally, and i see you're not in toronto - i have brought in a kitten from outside, and through a rescue site, i will pay a hundred for everything.
exam, first shots, flea meds, deworming, and whatever operation
kitty should have - guessing you don't have this option, though, darn.

personally, i'm not a fan of declawing.

'the claw is harder to remove than the tip point of all ten of your fingers because you do not retract your fingertip. your fingertip is not set into the joint below in a complex fashion. a cat's claw is. someone once described declawing to me as 'cutting pieces out of animals' bodies for convenvience' ,,,,,,,,
the physical effect of declawing is gradual weakening of the muscles of the legs, shoulders, and back.'
the new natural cat - anitra frazier.

i've only know two fat cats, both were declawed.
just my 2 cents - which is really worth 3 cents

[Sally888]

Ive gotten blood poisoning 2x from being scratched from a cat. Its a must in my household. Our last cat was declawed and she was NOT fat. I wasn't really looking for a debate on declawing or being pmed to try to make me feel bad. Its a choice we've made. But if you guys are willing to pay for my emergency visits from being scratched, 5000 approx for new furniture and replacing our entire house of berber carpet that their claws keep getting stuck in and its very painful for them, at approx 8000 complete house then I might reconsider hehe.

Our kitties have all their shots up to date including boosters for leukemia etc.

[khipson]

Sorry you've had negative pms Sometimes it really is just a must.

We had to have our cat done because I had a daycare at the time and she loved to play with the kids but didn't always understand how to be gentle. We only did the front though on the recommendation of the vet - he said they like to leave the rear claws because then if they do escape the house they can still climb a tree or fight back against an aggressive cat. It was done when she was a big kitten and she was fine, she lived a happy and contented indoor life with occasional outdoor adventures, until she was about 13 years old. And never once had problems with her feet or legs. She recovered from the surgery super-fast, actually she tore off her bandages before she even left the vet. You do have to be careful for a while and make sure you don't use fine cat litter, though - our vet recommended the newspaper-based litter because it's big pieces that can't get in between their toes and cause infection. She was chubby - but that's because she was an indoor cat who preferred snoozing to exercising, not because she was declawed.

The only ill effect she ever had was a few days later, when she had recovered from her surgery and was up and around again, she tried to leap onto the back of a chair and missed. She looked at her paws, meowed at them, you could tell she was confused, but then she just went on and all was well. And I never had a parent have to pick up their child with a cat scratch on them from playing.

[orv]

oh my goodness goodness i feel your pain right now!!!.. my kitty has been wondering around howling for 2 days straight now.. all day.. all NIGHT!!!! i didnt think she was even old enough to be in heat until i came to this thread....

[Litesandsirens911]

If I could go back in time and declaw my 4 cats, I would have...because I agree my livingroom couch set that isn't even 3 years old now looks like it is 20, the cats shredded both ends...and nothing worked, not hotsauce, not orange spray, not cutting their nails, not water...And my beautiful victorian style 4 poster bed can never be passed down either, it has a bazillion cat scratches from them climbing on it and jumping down from it...ugh.
I know there are cons to everything, but we should respect Sally's decision to do this, I am sure she wouldn't do it for the pleasure of it....

[doctor]

Usually a cat will find something to rub against...

[maddie2008]

I know how you feel with your kitty in heat. We didn't have time to get my kitty spayed before her 1st heat cycle.My kitty went into heat at 10 weeks old. The vet said it was very unusual. Then she went into heat 2 weeks following her 1st one, and then almost immediately following that. Turns out my baby had a small cyst(not a tumor) which was making her go into heat all the time, especially that early(10wks).
I gave my cat one of my old stuffed animals(it was a stuffed kitty), and she took to it right away and calmed right down.
I had her spayed immediately following the 3rd heat cycle, she was in at 8am, and home by 930am. I don't even think she knew she had surgery . Had 2 tiny little incisions about 0.5cm long, then glued shut.
So peaceful after that.
Hug your kitty for me.

[ninna]

Ugh. Feel your pain. Our cats are both fixed, which is great. But I remember when the one came into heat prior to getting fixed. It was horrid. She was so loud that we moved her to the basement to live till she was out of heat because we were in school and trying to write final papers and stuff. Wouldn't you know it? One of the neighborhood tomcats used to come visit her every night around the same time. We named him her "gentleman caller." He'd sit on the outside of the window and she'd sit on the ledge inside and they'd have window sex. hahahaha.

It was SO great once she got fixed. The silence was fantastic.

[Natalka]

Oh, ninna, that cracked me up!

[Kayley]

I've never had a female cat so I had not heard much about them being in heat!!

The cat rescue that we adopted our 8 month old male cat from told us that they don't spay or neuter before 6 months. They were saying there are more potential risks to it, so I see what you mean about your vet wanting to wait until she's bigger.
They also don't adopt out to people who plan to declaw. I personally haven't looked into it too much, but I wouldn't want to have to make that decision. I agree that it is a personal decision that we should respect when the person is informed about the options, like Sally seems to be.

We actually haven't had any or many problems with his scratching at all yet. (*crosses fingers) But then again, before he got to go outside we had so many scratching posts and someone was around most of the day to reinforce the water bottle sprays (sometimes with added vinegar that we were careful not to get anywhere near his face) and putting him on the posts. In the past, our cats have created some rather "unique" pieces of furniture.

[Tuktu60]

My first cat Timmy was declawed before I got him. I had him 16 years and no problems. After Timmy passed, I got a new kitty Ozzy but he was not declawed and in 3 years he ruined my couch. I made a conscious decision not to declaw Ozzy, but if I had my time back, I would have done it. My couch is in shreds LOL

I don't know why vets insist on 2 seperate visits for spaying and declawing. To me it would be easier to do it all at once. Only reason I can see is that the vet gets more money for 2 separate surgeries. Hope your little kitty gets all fixed up soon. Poor thing!

[madchives]

Ive gotten blood poisoning 2x from being scratched from a cat. Its a must in my household. Our last cat was declawed and she was NOT fat. I wasn't really looking for a debate on declawing or being pmed to try to make me feel bad. Its a choice we've made. But if you guys are willing to pay for my emergency visits from being scratched, 5000 approx for new furniture and replacing our entire house of berber carpet that their claws keep getting stuck in and its very painful for them, at approx 8000 complete house then I might reconsider hehe.

Our kitties have all their shots up to date including boosters for leukemia etc.

sorry, sally was only me mentioning a few things - not a debate -
your kitten has no say so do what you want, obviously - better
inside than not.
(thought i'd mention i have not pmed sally about this, and
am sorry anyone has, with comments that upset her)
i've been on antibiotics 2 or 3 times with cat bites/scratches but
that's just my system, and i've never considered spending a bunch
on furniture when i have kitties - they do have their own mind.
however, i'm lucky right now, couch intact, one chair not so,,



think i always worry what if any cat gets outside - due to whatever situation - what then?
and if declawed? guessing i worry,,,,

[dealsniffer]

Oh Sally that sucks. You know if it gets done at the same time there is definite benefits because they only have to wear a collar once also. lol oh Felix HATED the collar and kept running in to things with it and would glare at us and he was very unhappy. plus he couldn't itch his chin or his ears so we had to help him out with that. oh he loved it when we hit the spot. he would get all frantic when he had an itch on his head and we would have to help him out.
When I was debating getting Felix declawed, people were giving me both sides and people would say how horrible it was for the cat but I am soooo happy I did it. Felix was a destructive scratcher I think they called it, where he scratched because he was mad. he had plenty of scratching posts and we tried everything-even pshycology. lol him and I were at each other's throats almost because I would get mad at him for scratching and then he got mad at me... he was scratching my feet drawing blood too. Since declawing him-he has been a much better cat and it's been amazing. He still thinks he is scratching stuff up and I pretend to be annoyed so he thinks he is doing something to bug me. hehe. that has helped I think to prevent him from doing other destructive stuff. so definitely it can be much better if a cat is declawed. just giving the other side I guess. Sally I hope everything works out!