That sucks :( because now, you have two problems— the cats hate the drops, and now they hate/are terrified of what the burrito signifies. It's not your fault AT ALL— drops gotta be dropped, man— but it will take a fair amount of work to make it better.

I wish I could star this a thousand times. But, eh, all the rescue volunteers and workers reading this thread have heard allllllll of the shit talk before :)

When the ASPCA first introduced it (god, it's been more than five years, it feels like last month) I was SO SKEPTICAL. Because a lot of the tests seemed kind of strange, and a lot of the cats we tested seemed to score "low." But a lot of research was put into developing it, and over time we did find that it was, on…

OHHHHH. I wish there had been something there besides the ingredients to tell me that. Or that I was better at getting subtlety. Either.

I don't get it.

I still read a site about JA and I WILL NOT BE ASHAMED.*

I read the whole book, and I didn’t hate it, but I couldn’t get the smell of pompous tryhardery off my hands.

I am on my phone, so it's a pain to go into too much detail, but the laser doesn't cut anywhere different than the scalpel. It does cauterize the cut though, so some people argue it speeds healing time.

*high five* You rock.

The thing that is the most fucked up about cats (in my clinical opinion hahaha) is that they're fucking inscrutable. Dogs— dogs are clear, they're honest, they've evolved with us, they're easy to read. Cats— god damn do I know a lot about them and still feel like we know, as a whole, nothing at all about what makes…

Hahaha we could rant all night. Because my first reaction to your first paragraph was OMG AN ADULT SHIH TZU WILL FUCK UP A PUPPY. My Doberman, who is the "youngest child" and the only boy in our dog family, is fully 20+ lbs heavier than my oldest, bossiest (female) dog. And he literally cries like a little bitch if…

Right? You wouldn't pull all your Golden's teeth out. And, honestly, as someone in their 30s, the most common knee-jerk reaction of adopters my age that want to declaw is "we always had declawed cats."

Yes. Exactly. All of what you said; I just get tired of typing it but I'm very glad you did, because hopefully it will change some minds.

People shy away from SoftClaws because they look complicated, and, to be fair, there is a learning curve, but once you do it a few times it's easy and quick and a great alternative to declaws.

Anecdotal, I know, but years ago there was one very cool-as-hell young adult cat at a shelter I worked at. Everyone on staff was sort of wavering about adopting him themselves (we all have too many pets but he was awesome). The people who adopted him declawed.

Exactly. Some cats adapt really well to being declawed. But some don't, and there is literally no way to know until you do. The surgery itself is fucking gross, and, seriously— claws are a part of so much of the cat's essential motility and movement.

No, that's totally the point. A 4-5 year old cat is not old at all, but it IS an adult whose personality and behavior today is going to be the same tomorrow or in a year.

I hope it helps!

I have to disagree with you regarding #1. Sure, if you don't MIND an introverted cat— or if you're the kind of person who is willing to take a chance on adopting a cat that isn't outgoing— RAD. But I also feel like "needy"— as a behavioral term— and "special needs" aren't the same. It's a crucial difference. A needy…

One thing you guys can also try is using a bath towel to make a cat burrito. I've had bottle babies that hated getting their nails trimmed once they were adults; sometimes, with some cats, they hate it no matter what you've tried to do.