We have a kitten, around 10 months, running around the house. He’s energetic and bouncy, and loves to playfight; my hands are normally covered with tiny little scratches. Nothing serious, mind you.
Earlier today, he missed a jump, and I was nearby and tried to help him. Only he was already scared of falling and this big thing moved towards him, and he panicked.
I now have ten distinct open wounds, all gained in under a half second. I have nice thick scratches on three fingers on my right hand, and a hole in the back of my hand. I don’t know how he did that. Two scratches on my left arm. A nice cluster of four holes in my leg, one of them fairly deep. All in under a half-second, and the leg injury is through fabric.
And to think, we keep them as pets.
Comments [archived]
From: PlaidMan
Date: 2005-11-14 16:21:49 -0600
There’s a reason why most people don’t keep larger cats as pets.
From: tubby
Date: 2005-11-14 22:02:17 -0600
Kitty cats are fun pets. Wife loves ours.
Had it declawed. You should too.
From: seebs
Date: 2005-11-15 03:48:12 -0600
I’m sorta down on declawing; they have to take away too much paw to do it, and it makes the cats a little less competent to survive. The serious harm was the back claws anyway; yeowch! But I figure a few cuts and scratches are harmless enough, and I seem to have survived my brief run of cat scratch fever.
From: andy
Date: 2005-11-15 04:55:56 -0600
Declawing cats should be illegal - it is extremely cruel. Nearly all cats are able to be socialised relatively quickly.
From: beoba
Date: 2005-11-16 10:40:38 -0600
As another option, you could consider trimming the claws instead.