Porter has arrived!

Porter has joined us in Memphis, and now I am complete. Although I find Porter--a street cat that Chris picked up from the alley behind a bar in Little Rock--to be the world's best stray, male cat, I have to keep the peace in the family, he has some personality traits worth mentioning. 

First off, he is a street fighter. The first three months of his life in a gutter forever changed him, and he can fight with the best of them. I love this. 

Second, he has the capacity to go a little crazy when provoked. And, chairs, sofas and imaginary moving dots on the floor all come by his attacks rightly. 

When we took Porter in, I really wanted to try and not declaw him. I have no qualms about people who declaw cats. I have always lived with declawed cats, but there was something about Porter's street-fighter mentality that really convinced me to try and not declaw him. 

I have tried many techniques to persuade him to scratch other things rather than the furniture, some of which he likes but nothing as much as the furniture--sorry Mom and Jack!

Upon our move, Chris bought his long-awaited Man Chair--a leather creation that I knew Porter would tear to shreds in moments. 

In an effort to not declaw him, my last effort was to buy Soft Claws. They appeared to be the biggest scam on the market, but for $20, I figured I owed it to Porter and myself to at least try them. 

They are the press-on nails of the cat world. They are individual claw-shaped tubes, which you put a little super glue inside them and place over each claw. Anyone who lives with a cat finds the idea of super gluing plastic claws over their cats original claws insane, as it is.

Yes, they come in colors, but I maintained Porter's manliness by choosing clear. 

With Mom's help, thanks Mom!, we were able to fit Porter with ten new front nails before his departure from Little Rock. He was definitely not into the idea of press-on nails, but after the two-hour car ride, dinner and a night of sleep at the foot of our bed, he has forgotten he's wearing them. 

We're only two days into the experiment, but I am a fan! He's not clawing or tearing up anything since te ends are blunt, and he is running around, fighting and jumping off of counters as though nothing is different. 

This is not an info-mmercial, but so far, sign me up for Sunday morning local tv. These Soft Claws are awesome; however, I'm not looking forward to replacing them once they begin to fall off, but maybe one or two at a time will be manageable.