Thanks for your view points you guys. FMM The Paw Project does more than raise awareness. They are responsible for getting many of these suffering cats the repair surgeries they need to free them from so much pain and suffering. They are always asking for donations for one cat or another.
I never said, once I knew the money was donated for a specific purpose, that I felt the money should be used some other way. I am simply feeling discouraged because their contest timing interferes with what I had hoped to do this Christmas season. This community is in desperate desperate need of being educated about declawing. The problem is there is a very prominent vet here who makes most of her living chopping the toes off cats. She actively pushes declawing, I know because that was the reason I left her practice, after having declawing pushed at me for my Mazy cat. In addition to her thriving business of cutting off cats toes, she runs a monthly low cost spay neuter clinic and does a huge amount of rescue work.
You see what I am up against here. I need to start very slowly and gently with this. If I worked in private sector I wouldn't be quite so...cautious, but I work for the government of this city. At least two of the people I work with have declawed cats. I have to be careful how I step on toes. I bought a stack of Paw Project videos and sent them to all the vet clinics in this and the surrounding area, and to the two shelters, also. That was my start.
People here are starting to know that I am all about the animals, as I let it be known shortly after starting that I drive out to the shelter every few months and anyone wanting to donate old blankets or towels could give them to me and I would drop them off. But the declawing thing....
Last year I made a bed for a friend's elderly little dog, and several people asked if they could buy one from me "next Christmas". I've never wanted to make money off these beds, I've never wanted to make them "to order" they are a hobby and I want to keep it that way. But then one woman who is determined to have one suggested, at the time, that if I didn't want to take money for myself, I could seel them and donate the money. That idea has been percolating all this time and I decided rather than donate to the shelter I would use this as a chance to start people learning about The Paw Project and the awfulness of declawing.
Then I saw this contest and I was so outraged, because I felt it was going to interfere with MY plan. Selfish me, you see.
Lola, I thought the same as you, that they should be charging an entry fee to this contest, not giving money away, but, I don't believe there is any charge for entering the contest.
Maybe if I wait on the beds until the contest is over, but I don't want to wait too long, want them to sell for Christmas, you know?
I still want to do it, I NEED to be doing something, this community is so BLIND about declawing, but I am not a crusader in real life, I can only go with the subtle approach, and everyone thinks that vet is "so wonderful".