Declawing: against or for?

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm also against declawing but had to learn the hard way. I adopted my RB Pepper when he was 9 weeks old and he was a little terror. When he was about 15 weeks old my Mom suggested that I get him declawed because he was scratching up everything and seemed out of control.

I was also very naive about the declawing procedure. I had only heard that you should do it on young cats because if they were older then it could effect their walking. I unfortunately decided to have him declawed on his front paws. He had to stay overnight at the vets and then the vet called me to tell me that Pepper didn't want to walk on his right paw. He had to wear a splint for a few days. He must have been in so much pain and now when I think about it I feel terrible.

He never had any behavioral problems but his personality changed. He became much shyer and more frightened towards people and he also became more terrified of going to the vets. I'll never ever get another cat declawed. I'm glad that I learned my lesson even though it was the hard way.

Here's a picture of my RB Pepper with his splint on his paw.