Dear Pet Talk, I have a question. When I adopted Cassie, she had already had her front paws declawed. In my adoption contract I agreed not to declaw her any further. I have a neighbor in my building who says that because she never goes outdoors, she has no need for her back claws either and I should have her declawed. I disagreed because of the contract I signed and also because I understand declawing to be painful for the cat. Cassie is not "scratchy", although she is less playful now that she is getting on in years, so she doesn't scrape off her old claws in play as much as she did when she was younger. I try to give her play time so she can get rid of the claws on her own. But if she doesn't, I'm not afraid to clip her claws and even if she only lets me clip one or two at a time, I'll get through them all soon enough. I don't want to have her back claws removed in case we ever move to a place where she could safely go outdoors. I just don't want to put her through that. Am I making the right decision?
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