Tough question...

First of all, I have to say that declawing is an illegal procedure in Germany and no vet here would do that. And I don't see any reasons why it should be done to a cat, it's painful and cruel, and it's an amputation.

But the question was "should a cat rather die in a killing shelter than being declawed?" Then, of course, my answer would be "no".

But I would really like people to reconsider and think about the necessity of declawing. When a cat has a scratching post, it usually don't scratch on the walls and furnitures, and you can train your cats to get their claws trimmed (which I'm doing with my cats it workes very well).

Kirsten