Onychectomy (on-uh-KEK-tuh-mee) is the procedure’s medical name, but opponents of declawing call it amputation. They’re right as rain. However it’s done, whether by scalpel or laser or the discomfitingly named “guillotine” tool, declawing is, put simply, the complete removal of phalange #3, analogous to removal of the fingernail and last bone of a human finger. […]
There’s a term — adjacent possible — that refers to what could happen next given the current state of things. If “you can get there from here,” your destination is the adjacent possible, even if you never go. The first metal coil spring, for example, was patented in 1763 by a man named Tradwell, yet […]
Yesterday, I came perilously close to buying a cat. I’d decided that, if I were to buy a cat, a Maine Coon would be my breed of choice. They’re big and friendly and pretty. She’d be a she because females don’t spray, and she’d be leukemia-free and FIV-free. And she’d have no front claws. I […]
