San Francisco looking into banning declawing...

**RICHARD** · 09-11-2009, 04:06 PM

Great news!

Nancy Pelosi should volunteer to be first?

**lvpets2002** · 09-11-2009, 04:26 PM

Richard your such a bad boy.. Hey I wish they would OutLaw it in Every State.. It just un-nerves me to no end for Vet to do declawing.. Then most of the time the people dont keep the cat anyways & they sit in shelters for the rest of their lives.. Grrrr

Originally Posted by RICHARD

Nancy Pelosi should volunteer to be first?

**phesina** · 09-11-2009, 06:00 PM

The ones that wind up in shelters are relatively lucky. What is the absolute worst is all the ones that are just abandoned, tossed out to fend for themselves.

**aTailOf2Kitties** · 09-12-2009, 10:42 AM

i have mixed feelings about declawing. I don't think it should be done without trying other options first, but I'm not gonna say it oughta be banned outright.

My last cat was front-declawed when I got him but I don't think he even knew-he still "clawed" on the couch and bed. We always said he was sharpening his toes. Granted, Montego was a spoiled indoor kitty who didn't need to defend himself from anything but a senile, toothless, oblivious dog. He still caught mice too. He was about 12 or so when he crossed the Bridge due to something toally unrelated.

I was gonna get my 2 current boys done, but honestly they love their scratching posts and boards and never showed any interest in shredding anything else.... or me. I routinely trim their nails just to keep them from snagging the furniture when they jump up on it, and to protect my ankles from under-bed ambush when the fuzz-butts are engaged in their routine spazz-outs. Toby does OK if he's already curled up on your lap and you go slow and easy with it. Havoc gets all hyper and squirmy so it's a 2-person job you gotta do quick, since I don't want him re-injuring his "magic" hip trying to get away.

But some cats just aren't going to tolerate nail trimming or little rubber caps, and some owners just can't wrangle a fidgety fray of frightened feline fury. So then what? Take a nervous cat to the vet for frequent sedation and nail trim or capping? Just put up with having shredded furniture?

If all other avenues have been tried and exhusted, you have 2 options: get rid of your beloved pet, or get it declawed. If you do go for option 2 then do your research on techniques used by different vets. Some use a scalpel, some use a laser. My old vet did the old fashioned scalpel procedure until they finally invested in a surgical laser. Laser declaws bled a lot less since the laser has a cauterizing affect, healed much much quicker. It was a small practice who did maybe one declaw every couple of weeks but very, very few cats came back with any complications. My vet ONLY did the front feet and gave the owners STRICT instructions for post-op care: restrict the kitty's activities and use non-gravelly litter for at least a week. If the cats had any complications it was generally due to one of the above suggestions not being followed. The reply was usually "well she wanted to run around and play so bad I had to let her", or we found evidence of clumping litter clumped to the surgical sites. My vet also refused to do particularly large cats, due to the excessive weight being put on tender toes.

I guess in a nutshell my opinion is.... weigh all of your options first, and if you absolutely feel you absolutely have to get your indoor cat declawed then do your research and do it right. Cats that are outside a lot need to be left alone, unless you can ensure they are safe (not very likely)