[blparent] Adopting a Pet

[Deborah Kent Stein]

We have a totally indoor cat who is front declawed.  I worried that he might 
get out, but after the first year or so he has shown no interest at all in 
the outdoors.  He seems to have a real fear of the great unknown, and if the 
door is standing open he won't go anywhere near it.

Debbie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jo Elizabeth Pinto" <jopinto at msn.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2011 12:37 AM
Subject: Re: [blparent] Adopting a Pet


> The cat is about eight or nine months old, the vet said.  We intend to 
> keep him as an indoor cat if he stays, but there's always the possibility 
> he could get out if someone leaves the screen door open, which did happen 
> a lot over the summer.  It was a never-ending battle for me because I 
> didn't want to be air conditioning the great outdoors.
>
> The way we came by him is interesting and kind of sad.  A friend of mine 
> heard noise outside her house last Sunday and went out to find two little 
> girls chasing the cat under a car with a golf club, trying to get him out. 
> It turned out that the cat had belonged to one of the girls, who was five 
> or six years old.  She got in trouble for something, and her dad threw the 
> cat out the door as a punishment.  Like the poor kid's going to learn 
> anything from that, no matter what she did wrong, except that her dad's a 
> jerk.  So the other little girl took the cat home.  Her parents let her 
> feed it outside but wouldn't take him into their house.  My friend offered 
> to find the cat a new home, and then she called me because I guess I'm a 
> softy, when it comes right down to it.  He seems pretty cuddly and 
> personable, and he's in good health, considering all he's gone through.
>
> So anyway, here he is, Mr. Sam I Am.  Except for a couple of squirts with 
> a spray bottle for getting near the bird cages, everything is okay so far. 
> Oh, and Stephen got a little nip for trying to get the cat out from under 
> his recliner, but we'd told him not to go in after him and he did anyway, 
> so he learned a lesson.
>
> Jo Elizabeth
>
> "How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, 
> compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant 
> of the weak and the strong.  Because someday in life you will have been 
> all of these."--George Washington Carver, 1864-1943, American scientist
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Tammy" <tcl189 at rogers.com>
> Sent: Friday, October 07, 2011 11:16 PM
> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Adopting a Pet
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Is this a strictly indoor cat, or does it go outside sometimes?  If it's 
>> an outdoor cat or even if it may accidentally get out, I wouldn't get it 
>> declawed.  If you declaw it and then it goes outside even by accident, 
>> and gets attacked by another animal it won't have any way to defend 
>> itself. Sarah will most likely get a little nip or scratch from the cat, 
>> but she'll learn very quickly what it will and won't tollerate.  How old 
>> is the cat?  I would advise against getting a kitten, they're a nusence, 
>> and they chew through everything, and are not so good with kids, although 
>> this isn't always the case.  I would tell her that the cat is staying for 
>> the week-end, and I wouldn't tell her anything more at this point.  That 
>> way you're not pressured to keep the cat if you can't, or don't want to, 
>> and you won't have a whiney crying child asking why for the next couple 
>> of days because she won't know any different.  She'll just think the cat 
>> stayed there for a couple of days.  If you end up keeping the cat you can 
>> tell her and she'll be happy to have a new furry family member.  smile 
>> Oh, and get a collar with a bell for the cat.  That way you'll always 
>> know where he or she is.
>> hth
>>
>> Tammy
>> -----Original Message----- 
>> From: Jo Elizabeth Pinto
>> Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 12:57 PM
>> To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
>> Subject: [blparent] Adopting a Pet
>>
>> Hello.  Gerald and I are considering in taking a stray cat who needs a 
>> home. The cat is healthy, has had his shots, been checked for worms and 
>> leukemia. He's not fixed or de-clawed.  I don't know much about cats, so 
>> I have a few questions.
>>
>> What do I need to know before trying to introduce the cat to my guide 
>> dog?
>>
>> I'd like to take the cat on a trial basis for a few days.  How can I make 
>> it clear to my three-year-old that the kitty is going to stay through the 
>> weekend, and then we'll see from there?  Would that idea be too hard on 
>> her?
>>
>> I know de-clawing is beyond the scope of this list, but is it something I 
>> should consider doing because of Sarah?
>>
>> Jo Elizabeth
>>
>> "How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, 
>> compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant 
>> of the weak and the strong.  Because someday in life you will have been 
>> all of these."--George Washington Carver, 1864-1943, American scientist
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>
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