An update on "declawed Jersey"

By yesterday afternoon I was ready to state that the declawing operation on Jersey went 100% well and that she has sailed through it with nary a problem. Staff at the animal hospital said that she was alert and playful the day after the surgery and when I picked her up two days post-surgery, she was basically the same old kitten she was early in the week.

She didn't seem to be in any pain so that made me feel much better... I still struggled with the concept of making her go through the procedure even though it really is necessary for the two of us to live happy lives together. I never could have imagined how painful a cat scratch would be until Jersey became part of my life!

All was well until last night... 3.5 days after the surgery. It seems that she hadn't quite yet understood what had happened to her, and I can't help but wonder when she will grasp it completely. You see, she had this tendency to only jump "half way" when attempting to get somewhere higher than kitty cat eye level. Last night I was sitting in my chair in my office when she decided to jump up on to my shoulder via the chair back. As late as this weekend she would normally grasp onto the fabric of the chair back and climb the rest of the way. She tried that last night... didn't latch on and had to "bail out", falling to the floor.

I only had enough time to while around but couldn't catch her so she landed front paws first. The right one in particular. She let out a pitiful cry and so I picked her up and we spent the rest of the night in bed watching TV, napping and/or sleeping. At this moment she's walking normally and even trotting from time to time, with a barely noticeable little limp, I guess. When she stops or sits down, she picks the paw up some of the time. That must mean that her paw is hurting a bit.

We gave her the last pain pill the vet gave us for her earlier this evening. I'm hoping that she feels better as the hours and days go by because it's a shame - it seemed like all was flawless! Having said all that, I guess what happened last night was exactly what the "rules" I received were trying to have me prevent: keeping the cat from jumping or running for fourteen days!!! How does one do that? Beats me. But not doing so results in a sore paw, so I'll try to figure out how to keep her as quiet as possible for the week to come to make sure she's 100% pain free as quickly as possible.

In the meantime it's been two scratch and pounce-free nights since she came home. It's nice not to have a limb set on fire in the middle of the night when kitty decides that a (possibly) flailing arm or leg is a play toy!!

I'm sure we're all going to live happily ever after... but I really do hate the declaw procedure... if only there was an alternative - and according to my allergist it would be to have no Jersey and to live in a bubble, isolated from all potential allergens.

I think not.