Here is an update about Dixie the kitty who was relinquished by her owners to Tails Humane Society because of behavioral issues from her four paw declaw and was to be euthanized yesterday. Good news!!! She has a second chance in life!

Tails Humane Society said that Dixie is not going to be euthanized! She has to recover from a bad upper respiratory infection and needs dental work before she can be taken out of this shelter.

There are two rescues who want to get her out of the shelter and into a good home.

The Paw Project is contacting their vet in Chicago to see if they can examine Dixie and see if she needs paw repair surgery. Please donate to the PawProject.org [button href=”http://pawproject.org/” color=”purple” newwindow=”yes”] Paw Project website[/button]

Your donations are used to help kitties like Dixie.


A little back story on Dixie. She was adopted as a kitten from this shelter, Tails Humane Society in Illinois.

The people who adopted her previously had a four paw declawed kitty so they took Dixie to their vet and requested that she also be declawed on all four paws. The vet granted the cat owner’s request, as most vets do when it comes to declawing, and did the 4 paw declaw.

Dixie lived her life mostly under the bed, wasn’t properly cared for, and seemed to be a very scared kitty according to a family member who didn’t live in the home with Dixie.

Dixie’s owners decided to return her to this shelter because of litter box avoidance issues.

The family member was concerned about Dixie’s welfare and called this shelter. She spoke with the “certified euthanasia tech” who said that Dixie unadoptable because of her behavioral issues and said Dixie would be euthanized the next day.

The family member was shocked and saddened that Dixie not only had to suffer through this mutilating and inhumane procedure, but now she was going to be euthanized because of issues from the declaw.

She urgently reached out to Milo’s Sanctuary [button href=”http://www.milossanctuary.org/” color=”orange” newwindow=”yes”] Milo’s Sanctuary [/button] to try to help to save poor Dixie’s life. Milo’s Sanctuary reached out to me and I posted Dixie’s story. (Milo’s Sanctuary does amazing work to save kitties so please help them out with a donation)

Thanks to the overwhelming support and concern from so many of you, Tails Humane Society said they aren’t going to euthanize her.

Here is the official comment from Tails Humane Society about Dixie.

“As explained in general in our response to everyone’s inquiries, Dixie is not being euthanized simply because she is declawed. She was relinquished to us after not using the litterbox in her former home, and unfortunately she’s peed outside her box in her cage at the shelter. She is also currently being treated for URI and will need extensive dental work too. Dixie is a very sweet cat. We would love to find a home for her, but as you know, cats with a history of peeing outside the box are extremely difficult to adopt. Tails is not a sanctuary and we are not set up to house cats long term, especially those with litter box issues. If you have resources to find Dixie a home and ensure her medical issues are addressed we would love to work together! I also would like to note that her paws don’t appear to be deformed from a botched declaw surgery. Also, we do not advocate declawing, and our contract states that declawing is not allowed.”

I will keep you posted about Dixie.

Remember, declawing doesn’t keep a cat in a home and it doesn’t save a cat from being thrown away and euthanized. There are thousands of declawed kitties like Dixie who are sitting in shelters and rescues who will be euthanized because of behavioral issues from their mutilating declaw surgeries.