Listen to those supersonic purrs! 🙂
City the Kitty, Crusader against Declawing
We are proud to be Instagram furriends with this amazing ginger and white tom called City. He and his mom, Lori, have been tirelessly campaigning and fighting against the outdated and barbaric procedure of declawing.
Most people think that declawing is simply a clipping of the claws, but the reality is so much worse than that… it’s actually an amputation of the last digit of each “finger” on a cat’s paw! Some cats are so unlucky to be declawed on all four paws, but it’s more common for vets to do just the front paws. Yes VETS! These are the people who take an oath and solemnly swear to do no harm to an animal! And yet, especially in the U.S., this procedure is done routinely, along with spay/neuter ops, and the only real reason being so that cats do not scratch/destroy people’s furniture.
Declawing is purely a cosmetic procedure and has no health benefits for the cat whatsoever (except in extreme and rare cases where the cat has severe epilepsy, for example, and could end up hurting itself).
Well, to the people who want pristine furniture, I say “DON’T HAVE A CAT THEN!” How dare they maim their kitty’s paws so it then walks around on the amputated stumps and in pain for the rest of its life just because you don’t want your sofa scratched?!
I could go on for days about this subject, but please visit City the Kitty’s website to get the inside scoop and detailed information on how you can help become a fighter against declawing too. There are petitions you can sign and congress people to write to who have the power to change the law, with your help.
PLEASE HELP US STOP DECLAWING!
I love my boy Lugosi!
He hates having selfies with me taken, but decided to tolerate it for 20 seconds or so. 😉
Love Cats Ruby & Lugosi
Listen to those purrs! She loves her “big bro” so much! 🙂
Selfies with Kitties
Selfie with Ruby
Selfie with Spider – sorry, but Lugosi *hates* selfies with me being taken, but I’ll try and get one of him soon anyway!
Ruby’s Feline Hyperesthesia
**Warning: Cat lovers / parents may find the video below distressing.**
However, I post this here to increase awareness of the rather common, but not well known feline condition called Feline Hyperesthesia, otherwise known as “rippling skin disease”.
When Ruby has an attack, she starts frantically licking and biting herself, and often runs around as if stung by an invisible scorpion. Attacks can last anything from 30 seconds to a few minutes, and it’s so heartbreaking to see her suffering!.
When I am home and I see she is having an attack, I can almost always successfully distract her with toys, catnip or even giving her back a brush, as strange as the latter sounds. I realise though that the main factor in Ruby’s case must be nutrition. Since she has been eating mostly Royal Canin’s Exigent (and stealing some of the renal food that my old boys eat!) for the last few months, the severity and frequency of her attacks has been so much worse than when on 100% raw food, so I am going to put her back on that, or at least a mixture of raw and “junk food”.
Sometimes, in very severe cases, vets will prescribe anti-epileptics, some or other natural/holistic remedy, or try a change in food, but in mild cases I find that distraction methods like the ones described above will temporarily make your cat “forget” that she’s having an attack, and before she knows it, it’s over.
You can find out a bit more about feline hyperesthesia here.
Finally, a Pet Crematorium for Lanzarote!
Someone has been listening to the many voices of pet owners here in Lanzarote, and we now finally have a crematorium for our furbabies! I know this is quite a sad subject, but an important one too. I for one, would love to be able to make my kitties’ passing as loving and luxurious as all the things that I have given them in life.
Pet owners in Lanzarote who lost a beloved pet, have had until now no option to give their deceased pet a decent and dignified send-off. If your pet died at the vets or was found dead in the road, it will be sent to the municipal animal crematorium in Arrecife and chucked in with all the other animals, including roadkill and leftover carcasses from slaughter houses. To a loving pet owner, this is very non-personal and quite horrible really. If you have a garden, then sometimes burial is possible, but many of us live in apartments, and some of us go and find a secluded spot in the country to do a discrete burial – both options are, however, illegal.
Hela Pet Crematorium is in Arrecife, and their cremation service (based on a 5kg animal), including one of their very sweet basic urns, costs around €75, so is very affordable to most people.
Having two 18 year old tabby boys makes me aware every day that their clocks are ticking and we don’t have that much time left together, and I am glad that when the time comes, I now have the option to see them off to the Rainbow Bridge with the dignity the deserve…
Spider & Lugosi at the Vets!
Lugosi (left) doesn’t look very happy, but I don’t blame him, because he had a thermometer stuck up his bum when I took this picture!
Ruby’s Ginger Pawsies
Those white tufts are just too adorable. 🙂
