Please help us ban declawing

[kattaddorra]

Hi,we in England were shocked last November to discover that declawing is still legal in the USA even though it's banned here and many other countries because of the dreadful physical and mental consequences to so many declawed cats. So after much research into the subject and contacting the AVMA and every state in the USA, we started up a petition to have it banned, as it's supposed to be a last resort procedure for serious scratching problems,yet some vets are doing it routinely to kittens, along with neutering:
http://www.petitionthem.com/default....etail&pet=4312
We also started a group:
http://clawsforever.ning.com/
so that as many of us as possible could get together with ideas and gather information, proof of how declawing affects cats, statistics of how many declawed cats end up in shelters etc ....to eventually present to the AVMA along with as many signatures as we can get.
It seems more and more USA citizens are against declawing and a lot of people once they've had it done to a cat say they'd never do it again.But there are still some who don't know it often cripples cats physically and mentally and while some vets will still do this cruel operation, for the money or to please their clients,cats and kittens are still suffering.
So the only way to stop it is by a ban ! If anyone can help us please by signing our petition and/or joining our group to give us advice and ideas, we'd be very grateful.We have 999 signatures, in the 2 months since we set it up,many are Americans who also want it banned. But we need many many more to make an impact,so please if you can pass it on too, it would be a great help.
Thank you.
Ruth aka kattaddorra

[blue]

Rather try to enact more laws, and bans, educate the public. What we dont need are more laws and more bans.

[kattaddorra]

We are educating the public we can reach, but it's rather difficult from another country.It needs someone out there to do it but those who try are fighting a losing battle because even they can't reach everyone to educate them! Declawing will die a natural death eventually as more people realise how cruel it is, but meanwhile cats and kittens are suffering and even one cat suffering is one too many. Hence the need of a ban.... and soon.

[catmandu]

SADLY DECLAWING WILL NEVER DIE HERE AS LONG AS PEOPLE VALUE THIER FURNITURE OVER THIER CATS, AND IF ITS A CASE OF A CAT NOT BEING ADOPTED AND DYING OVER THIS, THEN DECLAWING MAY BE THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE.
I WONDER HOW MANY CATS ARE ABANDONED FOR RIPPING THE 3000 DOLLAR COUCH APART.

[moosmom]

Gary said it best. Until people put their pets over their beloved furniture, nothing is gonna change.

[Anikaca77]

I was going to sign but the link doesn't work. I got it to work when I went into the other site.

[lvpets2002]

Yes he worded it the best.. Hey the way I see it if you are going to have a cat then value the baby over the furniture.. Also buy some scratching post as well..

Gary said it best. Until people put their pets over their beloved furniture, nothing is gonna change.

[kattaddorra]

Even worse is that a lot of declawed cats end up in shelters because being deprived of their claws for defence,some turn to biting,some stop using the litter tray etc .So the selfish people who had it done for the sake of their furniture, blame the cat and get rid of it.
Yes if people would stop asking for it, it would be far better than struggling for a ban,if vets would explain it's as a last resort, not to be done to kittens routinely etc etc ...
Thanks to anyone who has signed the petition,there's not much else we can do from here so we may as well keep on.

[Randi]

Hi, and welcome to PT. I'm very much against declawing, so I'm glad someone is tryng to educate people not to. Declawing is also banned in Denmark, where I live.

There are so many other options than declawing, and vets should be the first to know this, and tell cat owners!

Good luck with the petition!

[Gin]

Welcome to Pet Talk, Kattaddorra! I signed the petition, but had to go the Petitionthem website directly. The link didn't work for me either.

Declawing cats is a horrible practice. It should have been banned long ago, and I'm glad to see someone finally taking a stand in this matter.

[phesina]

Rather try to enact more laws, and bans, educate the public. What we dont need are more laws and more bans.

I gather that banning declawing seems to be working in England and Denmark, am I right?

[Russian Blue]

If you need more resources, please feel free to link back to our website - Stray Pet Advocacy. I helped to do background research on many cat issues (spay/neuter, feral population controls etc.) including the declawing issue.

You can read more here -----> Stray Pet Advocacy

[weluvcats]

I think a ban on declawing cats in America is a great idea. As for the argument that if declawing were banned here, it would increase the number of cats being abandoned because they have damaged furniture, I think that's a pretty weak reason. How hard is it to clip a cat's claws? I've had cats all my life, and we've always clipped their claws, and our furniture has come through just fine.

Declawing, as far as I'm concerned, is a form of mutilation. And just for the record, our family has taken in two declawed strays over the years that have been abandoned. The first was a neutered male about 20 years ago. We named him Jellybean, and he was the sweetest, most gentle cat I think I have ever known. We tried for weeks and weeks to find who he belonged to with no luck. Someone must have abandoned him, because as sweet as he was, you'd think that someone would have been looking for him. More recently, we took in a female, spayed stray a year ago last October. Her name is Baby. She is one of the most adorable cats that I have ever had in my life. We love her dearly, and consider ourselves so lucky to have her...She had been hanging around our house for months off and on before we finally took her in. What prompted us to make the decision to take her in was one day she showed up limping. Once we were able to really get a good look at her, we realized that she had two wounds...one on her left hindquarter, and one on her left rear paw. Both were infected, especially the one on her foot. We took her to our vet who cleaned out the wounds and put her on antibiotics for the infections. It took time, but Baby healed good as new. Our vet said that by the look of the wounds, she had been bitten by another cat. Being on her own outside without claws to help defend herself had to be a factor in her getting hurt.

We looked for months for who she might have belonged to. We ran ads in the paper, checked repeatedly with the animal shelter, the police, and all the vets in town, with no luck. We also believe that she was likely mistreated by the way she reacts sometimes when we pick up something like a coat hanger or broom, around her. So, assuming she was abandoned (because no one was looking for her), the fact that she was declawed apparently didn't make a difference to whoever dumped her.

Anyway, because of my personal experience with declawed cats and their circumstances, I am very strongly opposed to the practice of declawing.

Judy

[phesina]

If you need more resources, please feel free to link back to our website - Stray Pet Advocacy. I helped to do background research on many cat issues (spay/neuter, feral population controls etc.) including the declawing issue.

You can read more here -----> Stray Pet Advocacy

Thank you for the link, and thank you for helping to get that site together. It looks to be quite a valuable resource.

[blue]

I gather that banning declawing seems to be working in England and Denmark, am I right?

I have no idea if it is working in England or Denmark, so no I dont think your right.