Julius and Peaches

My two little kittens are resting today after their latest visit to the vet. I brought them to the doctor yesterday, for ‘fixing’ and de-clawing... and I picked them up first thing this morning. The neutering was a must, but I thought long and hard about the de-clawing. Julius and Peaches are inside cats forever more.  They did not let me clip their nails, and heaven knows I tried. Julius was intent on climbing up my legs with those razor-sharp claws... and Peaches tried his hardest to climb up the curtains.

Adopting two abandoned kittens at my age was maybe not a smart thing to do because I find that my patience level is not where it once was. Life should be easier now, not harder, and detaching one kitten from my leg and one kitten from the curtains was not what I wanted to be doing. Do I keep the kittens or do they keep their claws.... I could not let the kittens go just for the sake of scratches on my legs and tears on the curtains. So the claws went, I’m sorry to say.

Hard decision to make, but Julius and Peaches will have a good home for the rest of their lives, I can guarantee them that. They are both a little groggy this afternoon, and the vet said they will be low-energy for the rest of the day. They are in the TV room with Sweet Pea... our older cat does have his claws, but he doesn’t use them for climbing, and he lets me trim his claws when they need it. However, Sweet Pea still did a number on the back of the sofa in the TV room, which had to be covered up with a quilt. Such is life with a cat.... Sweet Pea was an adult cat when we found him, so de-clawing him was not an option.

Last time I checked on the kittens, they were both sleeping on the sofa. Julius looked up at me and then covered his eyes with his front paws.  I imagined him saying “Not only did the vet take my balls, but he took my claws too... how could you?!”

Guilt. It makes the world go round.