Declawing: against or for?

[davidpizzica]

Originally posted by Uabassoon
That sounds like a great idea! While I'm at it I should debark my dog because it will make him a nice quiet and loveable pet. Because a cat with claws and a dog that barks is in no way a loveable animal. I know a toddler that likes to walk around and sometimes break things, maybe I should suggest that he get his hands cut off. We wouldn't want him to break anything valuable. A toddler with no hands turns into a loveable child that can cause to damage. I think I should change all of nature to suit my needs. Thank you for showing me that if I don't like something about nature I should change it.

Uabassoon, I couldn't agree more! AMEN!!!!!

[lizzielou742]

Originally posted by the Julles
Absolutely you SHOULD declaw your cat (if you want to). All of my cats (indoor only!) have been declawed, front and back. This makes them loveable, soft, cuddly pets who will not damage your furniture or scratch YOU.

None of my cats has ever learned to not scratch nor to use a scratching post.

You are talking about amputation of part of a cat's "toes." IMO that is animal cruelty.

Declawing is illegal and/or considered extremely inhumane in:
England
Scotland
Wales
Italy
France
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
Norway
Sweden
Netherlands
Northern Ireland
Ireland
Denmark
Finland
Slovenia
Portugal
Belgium
Spain
Brazil
Australia
New Zealand

There is no medical reason you would ever need to declaw a cat. I have two cats, and because I TRAINED THEM (there's a novel idea ) not to scratch me, and I gave them other appropriate places to scratch, I have not been scratched by either one of them since the first week I had them. Not one single scratch. My furniture isn't scratched up either. The fact that you have not taught your cats to use a scratching post, and declawed them anyway, is despicable.

Like it was said before, cats come with claws. If you don't want claws, go get a stuffed animal. Or a pet rock.

[lizzielou742]

Originally posted by CamCamPup33
She is an outside cat. Like i said, when i got her she was already declawed from her previous owners.

Pretty please consider keeping her inside only. She is 100% defenseless outdoors. If she was ever to encounter an animal bigger than her, or a snake, or fall down into a hole or ravine...I shudder at the thought.

[cruisetime]

I have only read the first page of responses so far. Personally - as you all know I don't know much about cats and have just now got my first one - I would not say no matter what I would not declaw. I don't think it is a good thing to do and wouldn't want to do it BUT there are situations that I would not want to include in that statement. I was at the Animal Control shelter looking at the cat I adopted and there was a beautiful cat looking at me. I asked about her and they said she was not adoptable because she was pregnant and too pregnant to get an abortion so they would not adopt her out. The next day I went back to pay for the kitty I have taken home and the beautiful cat was not there - I asked the lady and she just looked at me and finally said they had already killed her. Now if this had been a situation of if she was declawed they could adopt her and if not they would kill her - well I'd say declaw. As a matter of fact the declaw ones do have a better chance. Most are killed in 24 hours if it is an owner release and 72 hours on a stray. Be careful to make such a blanket statement - if your leg was caught under a rock and the river was rising and you had a knife wouldn't you cut off your leg before you drown? Debbie

[CamCamPup33]

Originally posted by lizzielou742
Pretty please consider keeping her inside only. She is 100% defenseless outdoors. If she was ever to encounter an animal bigger than her, or a snake, or fall down into a hole or ravine...I shudder at the thought.

I've had this thought MANY times. Trust me, i would love to keep her in but i can't. Keeping her inside isn't an option.

1- She doesn't like it in the house, when i bring her inside she scratches on my door wanting out.

2- My dad is allergic to cat's and he has VERY bad allergy attacks when the cat is in the house.

She has her back claws so she isn't 100% defenseless. (The claws in the back of her front paw's).

She has never been an inside cat, she like's it outside because that's what she was used to when WE got her. It's not what she's used to, so she doesn't like it. And she's not outside the whole time, she sleep's inside of the garage.

[mina'smomma]

I'm not sure how I feel about declawing. My poor Mina has to be declawed as soon as she is big enough because her poor front paws have claws that are growing inward and are very bothersome to her. She is the runt of the litter so the vet doesn't want to do the surgery until she is a little bigger. I also tend to agree with some of the others who think its ok if its the only reason a cat is being adopted, but just because an owner doesn't want to mess with training a cat then no. I will never agreee to having all four paws done because cats still can use their back claws for defense.

[davidpizzica]

Mina's Momma, I've said before that I'm dead set against declawing for the reason of saving furniture, but in Mina's case,if it would relieve her of pain, I think that it would be a good reason.

[leslie]

Jan (Queenscoopalot) was called to a nursing home a couple of summers ago here. The nurses had been feeding a cat with a partial tail. After much searching, she finally managed to trap him (there was a heavily wooded area and then a very busy street below the hilled woods making it near impossible to know where he could be and no real feeding schedule- eye, eye,eye!!!!!) Anyway, turned out, this orangie long haired male was already neutered, had likely accidently gotten out of his home. Maybe he belonged to an elderly person or someone with lots of kids and hard to monitor the doors... Anyway, he is declawed in front but this clearly did him no good. The vet said some creature ripped off his tail. Fox, coyote, raccoon? He is lucky whatever it was didn't do more damage. He was a 6 month quarenteen and now in a good home. My point is, BACK CLAWS DO NOT DO MUCH GOOD TO HELP CATS TO DEFEND THEMSELVES!
Predators grab at the neck when they can, what good are back claws then? zero. If someone has a story where back claws were used by a cat to save it's life against a predator, I welcome it, it would give us all some peace of mind for those poor strays out there that are declawed!

[davidpizzica]

As I said in Mina's case,where it would relieve Mina's pain and discomfort I would say yes. But otherwise, just doing it to protect furniture(being too LAZY to train) is just plain torturing the poor animal!

[bootsysmommy]

We just got our kitten a few weeks ago.
My mom always declawed our cats growing up... so when we got boots, we were thinking about it... (he scratches us, A LOT)

I did research online about it and within reading 2 sentences about declawing and effects I became totally against it.

He's been a farm kitty until we got him (hes about 6 months). Its only been a few weeks, but we've actually trained him and he knows he can go to the couch we dont care about to scratch, or his scratching post. He stays away from our precious expensive couch

I have to say even if he was tearing up my furniture, theres no way, knowing what I do about declawing, that I could do it to him.

[davidpizzica]

Hi, bootsysmommy, welcome to Pet Talk! I am david p and I live in Pittsburgh, Pa. I'm owned by two kitties, Nikki, a tuxedo kitty, and Daisy, a tortoiseshell kitty. Both of them still have their claws. You may have read some of my posts on declawing, which state that I'm totally against it. I'm glad that you did'nt put your kitty through this. I'd rather train them to use a scratching post than to put them through this.

[bootsysmommy]

I totally agree

There's just no need for it. Asides from the actual procedure being something I coudn't do to him...

More than 1 friend also told me after they brought the cat home from the vet that they were never the same. And Boots is such an affectionate loveable kitty I wouldn't want him to change.

[Obpp]

I am for declawing...I've had my last two done with laser surgery...the after-effects and pain are minimal and they will never...ever...go outside.

[carole]

Obpp I am curious as to why you deem it necessary to de-claw your cats at all?

I am sure done the way you mentioned is less painful for the cat, but why put your cat through anything painful at all when you don't have to?

P.S how do you know the pain is minimal, because you have been told this by the vet, are you feeling the pain?

[davidpizzica]

Declawing, for any reason, no matter HOW it is done, is painful for the cat. To me, declawing no matter how humane is torture for him. this barbaric practice SHOULD be outlawed everywhere. There is NO EXCUSE for declawing. A cat can be trained to use a scratching post and not your furniture.