A kitten is the most irresistible comedian in the world.

Heerree's Jonesie!

Charlie took Jonesie in to see the vet last Thursday. Jonesie had to have his second de-worming pill. We didn’t know if he’d been treated before we got him and the vet said it wouldn’t hurt him one way or the other. I asked Charlie to go ahead and get an appointment to have Jonesie declawed for the next week. Their first opening for that was on May 2, but they had a cancellation for the next day, Friday, March 11, if we wanted it. Well, since we plan on traveling in May, I didn’t want Jonesie to be still getting over his surgery, so we set it up for last Friday.

Thursday night we had to take his food and water away since he would be having surgery the next morning. I decided that I would put him in the room upstairs where I stayed with Taz when he was recuperating from his surgery last summer. I would stay with him and keep him company. It would be easier to not have food and water in the room than to deprive the rest of the cats of their nightly foraging runs through the house.

Jonesie is a very sweet, calm little cat. We went to bed and he quite happily settled down near me while I read. I turned the light off and thought how ironic it was: Here I was with Jonesie, trying to make sure he didn’t eat or drink anything and just a few months earlier, I was in this same room with Taz, encouraging him to eat and drink as much as he could.

Early in the morning, Jonesie woke and purred and wanted attention. I lay there and petted him, hoping that he wouldn’t want to eat. I was supposed to take him to the vet at 7:30 and we still had a couple of hours. Finally, he jumped down and went over to the area where the food bowl had been last night. Of course, it wasn’t there. Then I heard a “CRUNCH” and I jumped out of bed and went over to see what he’d found. Sure enough, he had found a little dry morsel on the floor. I frantically felt around to make sure there were no more crumbs. I didn’t want to take any chances.

Since he was up and about, I couldn’t stay in the room with him and not feel guilty, so I went downstairs. The other cats were waiting for their breakfast, so I quietly got the bowls out and fed everyone. I didn’t want Jonesie to hear, although I know he knew what I was doing. Cats are such creatures of habit and even though Jonesie is only 6 months old, he knew it was time to eat.

At 7:30 a.m. I went up to get Jonesie. I brought him down and put him in his little carrier. He’s such a good little guy. There was no fuss or struggle, just resignation.

Mr. Creme
(Isn't he handsome?)

When I got to the vet’s office, I didn’t have to wait long. They know us well. The tech who signed me in remembered that Jonesie was our little “stow away”. He had been in the kennel when we took Mr. Crème and Toby to the vet for shots. When we opened the door to get Mr. Crème out, Charlie said “Jonesie’s in here!” It was funny. The whole office got a big laugh over that. Jonesie’s little trick on all of us was the comic relief of the day.

Jonesie was to stay two days after the surgery. Since it was Friday and two days wouldn’t be until Sunday (and the vet is closed), I asked if maybe I could get Jonesie back on Saturday. I was told it would be up to the vet. Fair enough. But, I knew that if he couldn’t come home Saturday, we would be over there to visit him.

I called Friday afternoon to check on Jonesie. Jonesie was doing just fine and I said I’d check back the next day to see if he could come home. It sure was quiet around here without him. Jason looked for him several times during the day.

On Saturday afternoon I called to see if I could bring Jonesie home. I was told “yes”. Woo Who. I went right over to get him.

They told me that he might be a little hungry since he wouldn’t eat for them. Well, he was very hungry and he ate and drank water and went in his litter box, etc. It was safe to assume that he was glad to be home.

Since he was released a day earlier than they would have preferred, he would have to stay upstairs in the room again. His activities had to be curved. No problem. I would stay with him. We spent a quiet night together. This time he was allowed to eat and drink as much as he wanted. He was a little subdued and walked gingerly.

We kept him in his room until early afternoon on Sunday. We figured that if he’d stayed for the two days at the vet’s, it would have been the same. I let him out of his room and he came downstairs. He was still very slow and didn’t really seem to feel normal yet.

The Twins and Jonesie

(Do you know which one is Jason and which one is Kaci?)

I can’t remember any of our other cats being this way. When we had the twins declawed, they probably spent the two nights at the vet’s, but when we brought them home, they were running through the house, up the cat tree, getting used to their new paws, etc. I remember at the time watching them and saying “Be careful, don’t hurt your paws!” They looked at me as if to say, “Huh?”

Jonesie has been getting better each day. He was on the bed the other day and I took a string and teased him. He grabbed at it. Last night he chased after Jason like they used to do. He still has to get used to climbing. Tonight when we were watching TV, Charlie watched Jonesie jump up to the couch. He said that Jonesie gauged his jump to compensate for the fact that he didn’t have claws. Before, he would just take a leap and if he didn’t make it up, he would use his claws to pull him up.

I told Jonesie that all of our babies have gone through what he is going through. He will survive. He will learn to jump higher because of it. We remember when Taz was making that adjustment. We cringed to see him run to his little cat tree and not make it up the first time, but he learned that he could use his paws like hands and hang on.

I know some people don’t think that cats should be declawed and I never had a cat declawed until Rowdy. He was the first cat I had with Charlie. I had never even thought of declawing before. My cat, Sparky, had not been declawed. She shredded the ends of my couch. I noticed it, but it didn’t keep me awake at night.

But, when we got Rowdy, our couch was in pretty good shape and we were renters as well. We didn’t want him climbing the curtains. So we decided to get him declawed. He was an indoor only cat. He never had any ill effects from being declawed. It was all positive, as it was with Calvin and all the cats we’ve had since then. I would never get all four paws declawed though, even if they were indoor cats. I think the cat needs his back claws to help climb and if they happen to get outside by accident, they will be able to somewhat protect themselves if attacked by another cat or dog. When they have to jump a fence, the back claws help pull them up.

Jonesie is still getting back to normal. Like I said, the twins were running circles around each other by now. I’m sure that Jason will have his little playmate back soon. After all, tomorrow is another day…..to play.

Lexi

(Excuse me?)

More later……..