With her affectionate demeanor and expressive face showing curiosity, the little tailless cat had no idea that she was about to become a statistic: a declawed cat relinquished to a shelter and doomed to euthanasia. And not only was she declawed on all four feet, she was suffering a severe flea infestation that must have been pure torture because she couldn’t scratch the incessant itching. Maybe it was just as well that her time on earth would be short. She was not even given a name. She was ID# 7/17-2975 at Henry County’s Animal Control.
Research shows that declawed cats are twice as likely to be surrendered to shelters as cats with their claws intact, and they are also more likely to wind up being euthanized. A guest writer for the Cats.About.com website, who is a shelter volunteer, has some ideas about why. But of course, ID# 7/17-2975 knew none of this. She just wanted to 
make some new friends at Henry County’s Animal Control. An examination showed that this kitty was young, probably under two years old, and the people who had her claws removed probably did not bother to have her spayed. In addition to being flea-infested, she was very underweight. That her short, mean life had not damaged her sweet disposition was a miracle. And that miracle deserved another miracle in return. ID# 7/17-2975, now known as Bobbi, found rescue.
Like another miracle kitty from Henry County, GA, Bobbi needed a team to get her out. Betsy from the Henry County facility saw her potential and alerted cat rescuer Robin Olson, who put together the people necessary for her rescue. And Bobbi escaped just in time — she was developing an upper respiratory infection that would have certainly doomed her to euthanasia, had she remained at Henry. Between her URI, her low weight, and the skin problems she suffered from the fleas, it’s going to take Bobbi a while to recuperate, but once she does, she will be traveling from Georgia up to Connecticut to Animals In Distress, where she will be available for adoption.
Bobbi beat the odds. If you were moved by her story, I urge you to think about how you might become the miracle in a kitty’s life.
To follow Bobbi’s story, and the story of other rescued cats, check out Robin’s website, Covered in Cat Hair.
See all of Summer’s merch at her Designercat Shop, available on Zazzle.
Bobbi is ADORABLE. She looks a lot like our Sahra. Praying and purring for her forever, loving home to find her very soon, for her to recuperate and be well, and for her to have a long, happy, comfortable, safe, loved life — as EVERY cat deserves. And GATTINA, we fight against this horrible practice and pray for it to be illegal everywhere, as it should be.
How sad, but how hopeful…a forever home for a kitty that has endured a lot. Let’s purr for her!
I heard for the first time of my life from declawed cats when I started blogging. Apparently it was or hopefully is not anymore done only in the USA. In Belgium and other European countries it is strictly forbidden, besides the fact that nobody would even think about it, all cats usually run free. No vet would ever agree to declaw a cat ! That’s so cruel ! Fortunately in this case the end was happy !
I’m glad Bobbi found a happy ending. That story almost brought me to tears.
Oh what a BEAUTIFUL cat!! I live in CT, but never heard of that shelter…
But this makes me mad, stupid people, if they can be heartless enough to declaw a cat…oh I’m already in a mood…
Anyway, I’m so glad she is safe and will hopefully soon find a forever home.
@Jacqueline Surprisingly – and fortunately – there are some good people who work at these kill shelters! Betsy at Henry County is one of them. When she sees cats who are obviously adoptable, she works hard to help them beat the odds and get out. She alerts a bunch of rescues who send the word out. That is how Bobbi and the black kitty now known as Freya were rescued, through Betsy letting rescue people know about them.
HOW people like Betsy can work at these shelters is another thing, because it must be SO heartbreaking. But I am so glad they are there, because that is where kitties need help the most.
Bobbi’s story made our mommy all leaky but we’re glad she was rescued and are sending purrs that she gets the furever home she deserves. Declawing is horrible but we don’t understand the connection between that and shelters. It’s all sad though and we wish all kitties had claws and furever homes!
Oh poor Bobbi! We’ll be purring for her! That’s just MEAN to take away her clawrs!! We hope she finds a Forever Home soon.
We’re sending many purrs to the beautiful Miss Bobbi. We are very sorry to hear about the declawing (and the article about declawed cats being more likely to end up in shelters was awful – what are some people thinking?!) We’re sending many purrs and our mom’s thanks to Robin too – she’s the best!
I’d like to all 4 “de-nail” the folks that did that to her….
Gah….
Here’s to that little sweetie finding a great forever home!
Oh. I am in tears. I send Prayers and Blessings to Robin and to Bobbie. It’s bad enough that people dump animals in the desert (that’s where ours come from) but to declaw and abandon…well there’s a special room in Hell for those people,
Sparkle, thanks for getting the word out. I’m putting Robin on my blogroll so I can help, too.
MomKat Trish
Bobbi deserves the very best in life.. we truly hope she gets it. Bless those who cared enough to do something about her tragedy – and those who helped get the word out, like our very own Miss Sparkle Supermodel Cat.
Hi Sparkle!
Thank you for sharing Bobbi’s story with your readers. She is a very lucky girl to have escaped that shelter alive.
I’m happy to update you with the news that as of today she has begun eating! With her URi, we knew she would have a tough time being able to smell her food. With some antibiotics on board she is starting to find her hunger again. We are also going to be doing some homeopathic treatments on her skin to keep her comfortable.
Bobbi will also be traveling with 6 kittens I have rescued from the same shelter. We are all anxious to get them to Connecticut and get them into their forever homes soon. Bobbi’s CT foster mom is already talking about keeping her!
Cross fingers-this kitty’s bad days are behind her now. On to the happy days!
🙂
We are so happy to hear that Bobbi’s life was spared and sending SUPER DUPER good luck purrayers to her in her choosing her furever family!!!
Robin is doing some great stuff and she is now on my short list for a place to send a few pesos when I can. But I honestly don’t think I can read about any more abused and abandoned animals. I take it too much to heart – I know horrible things are happening but I just can’t read about it day after day! God Bless those who do the good work and fight the good fight.
We are sending mega-watt purrs and healing Light to Bobbi, that she makes a full recovery from the neglect and finds a fabulous forever home.
And our human can’t put in print what she would like to see happen to her original human(s).
Bobbi is gorgeous with a very sweet face=we are thankful she was saved from the kill shelter=our Mommy will never understand those kind of places and believes only evil people could work there…We hope this beautiful baby finds a loving, forever home soon…Happy Friday, lovely friends…xoxo…Calle, Halle, Sukki
We’re purring for a forever home for Bobbi. We’re glad she’s safe now.
Sniffie and the Florida Furkids
So sad…We are purring and praying for Bobbi that she finds a lovng furever home.
Gosh that is a great story and we are so excited that someone got her out of that shelter. I sure wish they would make it illegal to declaw cats.
Bobbi sure is pretty so maybe she won’t have a problem finding a home. Great post. Have a great week end.
Mum thinks my start in life was not so good either, but at least I still have all my claws!
Poor Bobbi! We’re so happy she’s been rescued and we hope she finds her furever home soon.
We are purring that Bobbi finally gets the forever home that she deserves, filled with love and respect.