Kitty v5.0

This weekend I volunteered at King Street Cats, helping out with Saturday adoptions. Of the 24 kitties that we are sheltering now, one of them was adopted yesterday - yay!

Um, and guess who was the adopter? Little did I know that I'd be coming home with Kitty version 5.0, but this little girl touched my heart and I just had to try her out as a companion for Baby. Starting next week, I'm going to be gone about 15 hours a day on Mondays and Tuesdays, and I hate to leave Baby alone that long. So I hope this works out.

The new kitty already has a new name, so that's a good sign. (Remember New Kitty the spaz from a year ago?) Well, this newer kitty was called Sable at first. You can see her on petfinder.org. Not unlike Baby, this poor thing has had two previous families - both military; both left her behind when re-stationed. Despite the trauma she has endured, she couldn't be sweeter. She's actually a snuggler! I'd never met a cat that snuggles with humans. And she squeaks. She's very talkative, but it comes out as a squeak, not a meow. It's so cute!

She's a slightly chubby Tuxedo—which just means an all-black cat with white feet, chest, and face. I Googled Tuxedo cat and found out that T.S. Eliot called these black-and-white cats "Jellicle Cats." A while after reading that, I was sitting on the floor with Sable when she walked away from me. I took one look at her squarish body and that paunch of hers, and out of my mouth came the words, "Jelly Belly!" She had a new name.

Baby is not pleased. I'm keeping the girls separated. Twice they accidentally ended up in the same room, and before I could stop it, an evil Baby (whom I didn't recognize as my sweet, lovable Chantilly kitty) viciously chased down Jelly Belly and attacked her. When I separated them and a couple chunks of fur settled to the floor, poor JB was lying on her back, all four paws up in the air. Now she's scared of Baby.

I have told Baby that she's made it quite clear that she is officially the Alpha cat, and she needs to leave it at that.

The reason this kitty captured my heart is she is what's called an "all-four declaw," which essentially means she's suffered through ten amputations. It's inhumane and can scar a cat for life (psychologically), not to mention leave the poor animal with all kinds of physical problems. Remember, when these 10 amputations occur, the cat isn't given a wheel chair to get around in—it still has to walk on all fours while they slowly heal, and it's excruciating.

On her first day here, Jelly Belly would try to jump up on the bed. But she'd miss and slide down the side. It about killed me to see that. She's only five years old and she's not that fat, so I couldn't understand why she couldn't jump up on the bed. Later I noticed that she frequently displays balance problems trying to walk. It's primarily in her hind legs. That's when I realized why she can't jump up on the bed - it's because she's an all-four declaw. She'll have problems walking and balancing for the rest of her life.

Many people don't realize the mutilation that declawing entails; when I was younger, I used to be one of those people who thought it was OK to get a cat's front claws removed. Now that I know how painful it is and the lasting effects it has on a cat, I'd never ever put a cat through that again. And a four-paw declaw is just cruel.

It breaks my heart. All the more reason to hope and pray that Baby will warm up to her and become her best friend. Jelly is going to need lots of loving.

Fingers are crossed! This girl is a real sweety, and I hope I can keep her.