Furby Scratched Me!
by Joyce Sammons
(Hodges, SC, USA)
Guilty but safe from declawing
Something happened to me last night when I was holding Furby that's never happened to me since I found him. It was entirely my fault and my little man has nothing to fear from the experience. My little man SCRATCHED me!
He'd been hanging out in my big bathroom and I needed to close the room off to conserve heat. So I picked him up and carried him into the hall. It was then I remembered my dog was outside in the fence and wanted to come in. So I opened the door with one hand while holding Furby with the other. I'd forgotten Furby likes to run in front of Dreyfuss whenever he comes in from doing his business. I don't know whether Furby thinks he's leading Dreyfuss in or enjoys being trampled by a 100+ pound boxer!
In any case, Furby fought his way out of my arms, leaving me scratched and bleeding. That's one of the things true cat people are prepared for. If you're not, DON'T GET A CAT! I washed the scratches and put a little cream on them. They only hurt for a second anyway. The whole ordeal got me to thinking about how wimpy society has become in the past few decades.
Many people would rush their cat out and declaw it if this happened to them. They're afraid of a little pain or a little blood. Or they're afraid the cat will scratch the kids. Welcome to the real world people. Cats do scratch. Usually there's a reason. Namely, you're doing something they don't like. Or they want to be somewhere else while you're holding them and they scratch their way down, as Furby did. I've been scratched many times by my cats. Both as a child and as an adult.
People need to understand a cat scratch is a part of life. My parents always taught me not to dwell on minor injuries. If you fall off of your bike, you run in to mama, get it patched up, and go back out and ride. The same goes with skateboards, rollerblades and any other activity that draws blood.
For me in my adulthood it's blackberry picking. I'm very proud of my vines, but during the three weeks during the summer when picking is at it's heaviest I stay scratched up. My friends all know that the dozens of scratches on my arms come from the vines. Does it make me want to give up my gardening. Of course not!
So why do people want to get rid of a cat or have it declawed when that first scratch happens? It's insane! A cat scratch is easy to treat. The trick is finding something that doesn't sting when applied. This goes for kids too. They hate painful medications. I remember Unguentine back in the 1960's. The company still produces it, but it's hard to find. It used to come in a container that looked like a fire extinguisher. Now it's a cream instead of a spray. Doesn't hurt a bit. I'm sure there are painless products in every country. Find one and keep it on hand. Don't declaw your cat, or the next time you'll be dealing with a deep germ infested BITE. Those are much more dangerous, and painful. It's a given once you've declawed a cat and taken away their first line of defense.
We as humans are taught to deal with pain. We know when we go into surgery for any procedure that a certain amount of pain is expected post-op. Cat's don't know this. When they undergo declawing, they have no idea what they've done to deserve being put in AGONY! Even if we could try to explain it to them, I don't think we'd want to because the cat would hate us.
I hope everyone understands what I'm trying to say here. Mainly it's this. You don't get rid of or hurt something you love because of a little pain. If this were true, no one would grow roses because of the thorns.
Furby wrote a declawing story awhile back. He doesn't have anything to worry about in his furever home. His claws will remain where God intended-ON HIS FEET!
Joyce
