Sophie's Choice

Sophie

There is a new baby in the house! Saturday morning I opened up my bedroom shade and there, staring at me with big blue eyes, was this little baby. She cried when she saw me and I was toast! I immediately went to the backdoor and let her onto the porch. Poor thing is skin and bones. She is, however, declawed and fixed, so I knew she wasn’t just your ordinary neighborhood feral cat when I first picked her up. I took her to the vet and despite starvation and flea infestation, she has been given a clean bill of health. When I emailed my family about her, my niece Kimber wrote right back and said she immediately thought “Sophie” when she saw her. I like that, I like being “Sophie’s Choice”, after all she did choose me.

Personally I have a problem with people declawing their cats. It is really just a convenience for the humans. They don’t want to take the time it takes to train the cats not to scratch. However, it really isn’t that difficult to train them not to scratch on your furniture, but it can be expensive. When you notice the cat scratching, you need to first punish the cat and then place a scratching post covered in sisal rope next to the furniture where they are scratching. It may take a few punishings, but they will eventually choose the post over the furniture. Declawing is cruel and if your cat ever gets out you’ve left them defenseless against the neighborhood ferals and Toms.

I’ve also wondered why someone would put a defenseless, sweet little baby out in the cold (we are averaging below freezing temperatures). My vet suggested that it could be due to the mortgage crisis and that was confirmed by an article in the paper, http://www.kansascity.com/431/story/466001.html later in the weekend. There are many other options for those owners faced with such a tough decision. They could try and adopt them out, leave them with the Humane Society, or even call Animal Rescue Groups, but by just putting the animal out to fend for themselves when they haven’t been taught how to do that is just cruel.

Okay, off my soapbox. We will have a period of adjustment here in our house, but eventually Sophie will fit in just fine. Poor Hap, he loves it when we have visitors in the house, he thinks everyone is there just to see him. Sophie, however, does not want anything to do with a big lumbering male at all. Whenever he gets close, she hisses and growls. She is more accepting of Daisy so far. Although she hasn’t let Daisy close enough to cuddle, she will let Daisy sniff her all over. Hopefully Hap will learn to be more gentle and she will eventually let him near as well.

Hap (grey) & Daisy (orange)