I do not feel the same as most other cat owners. Yes, I love my cat dearly and just spent $300 to save his life after being poisoned by flea treatment. I don't see anything wrong with declawing a cat. My cat has been strictly indoors since I first got him 10 years ago. I tried many different kinds of scratching posts. However, he still caused a great deal of destruction at my parents house, where I lived until a couple of years ago. When Squirt, my cat, was about 9 years old, I got him declawed. I was moving out and didn't want him to cause the same kind of damage as he had in the past. I knew I would be renting an apartment for a while and could not allow him to destroy someone else's property. Squirt had the laser surgery done, which is safe. The vet in Edinboro, PA who declawed him did an excellent job! Squirt was sore for a short period of time, but is the same cat he was before this. It did not change his personality or aggressiveness at all. Squirt has always been afraid of the outdoors, and his declawing did not cause him to fear it. I feel that a surgery on a pet is just like a human who gets surgery. Of course, there are always risks with anesthesia. But even knowing the risks, I will receive anesthesia if it is necessary for a procedure. I guess I just don't believe in sheltering and overprotecting pets. My cat does not like having a new puppy in the house. But, yes, I let my puppy investigate Squirt and find out for himself that he cannot mess with the cat. I just do not think that declawing is cruel to a cat. I would rather keep my cat inside and be declawed. Even if a cat has his/her claws, there are still dangers to being an outside cat. Feline leukemia is extremely contagious in cats and poses more of a health risk than declawing.
I really think that some pet owners and animal activists go a little overboard with these issues. I did not see any negative effects to declawing my cat and would do it again.
I trust my veterinarian to do the best job he/she can. Now that I am outside of PA, I still found an excellent vet who I owe everything to for saving Squirt's life. I would trust her with my cat and my dog for any procedure.
Ultimately, this is your decision. If you feel that, for whatever reason, it would be best for your cat to be declawed, then find a reputable vet to do the procedure. If you feel that your cat's personality is too sensitive to be able to handle this surgery, then maybe you need to decide not to go through with declawing. Just base your decision on your own feelings and reasons. All cats and all situations are different.
I did try scratching posts with my cat, but was unsuccessful. He was squirted with water when he scratched other things. He just has a very strong, stubborn personality and really nothing worked to get him to scratch only his post. He did a lot of damage to my parents home due to his scratching. Even trimming his nails regularly did not stop him.
And by the way, my cat was a biter before I had him declawed. He only used his teeth as a defense anyway, so it made no difference. And let's also just clear up that I am not a horribly mean person just because I'm not against declawing.
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