Posted by Helen Simmons on November 16, 1997 at 17:02:12:
In Reply to: Congrats... You all stopped me! posted by Alan on November 15, 1997 at 23:23:11:
: I'm a first time cat owner. My 3 year old fell in love with this white shorthair kitten that seemed to pay particular attention to her more so than any other cat.
: We've had him for 4 weeks now and not only has he destroyed furniture, but he has scarred the face and hands of my daughter... not meaning to but just in playing with her provocations. To shorten the story, I had an appointment set for the D... word to have his claws removed. I decided to do an internet search on the subject and found you guys. Needless to say, after reading all your comments, I was forced to look inside myself to see if I still had it in me to go through with it. I'm proud to say that tommorws project is to build the best scratch post I can design and to educated my daughter ...not my cat, on the proper way to handle him so she wont get scratched. Wish me luck with a 3 year old. It breaks my heart to see her all scratched up, yet, I cant go through with the big D word. Congrats to you all ....you stopped me!
Firstly, thank you for making the decision not to declaw your cat:-)
I have a 9 year old and can remember what he was like as a three year old. It will take time
and love to show yor daughter that the kitten is a live creature to be treated
gently and with respect. Hopefully, your daughter will not get
too many scratches:-) Please accept my best wishes
on this. With my son, I made sure he had a lot of contact
with cats whilst I was about, and I spoke to him in
a reassuring way all of the time, telling him to speak quietly to the animal, to move slowly
and to give the kitten/cats time to be alone.
Very soon, cats start responding to gentle care and certainly
my son has reaped the benefits. At nine years old he is very
caring to ALL animals and this is as a result of being shown
how to act around cats, primarily. I am not blowing my own
trumpet here, but using it to show you that the rewards are
most definitely worth it both for the child and the animal:-)
Good luck to you and your family and cat.
If you require any helpful information or suppert,
the newsgroup alt.animals.felines is very good.
Kindest regards, Helen S