In the UK de-clawing is considered inhumane and cruel. British vets will not de-claw any cat except in cases of extreme medical necessity.
In this country the question of what to do about someone who refused to take a cat from a shelter unless it was first de-clawed would not arise.
Before I adopted my cat a colleauge with three cats of her own asked me if I cared about my sofa? If I did, she said, don't get the cat.
My little fur-monster occasionally likes to go in to the garden (provided it's not wet, cold, windy...you get the picture!) so I wouldn't dream of removing her primary defence mechanisms.
Here's my thought, cats are wonderful creatures. If removing the end bone of the cats toes is the only way a person would consider adopting - then a cat really isn't suited to their lifestyle and I'd have to wonder what other cat foibles the new owner would eventually find impractical.
My house is now covered in fur, half the time so am I! I am on the lookout for spit-up fur balls and bits of re-constitued half chewed grass around the house at all times.
Whenever guests come she chooses that moment to use the litter tray. She's loud as a fog horn. She takes up more of my bed than I do. She choses 3am to bat plastic balls around. Sometimes when we play with a shoelace she scratches me by accident (if she does she curles her paws under her chest and won't play anymore - cute!). If I pick her up I get a set of little claw marks in my arm.
She's a cat; she's beautful and I love her as she is, claws and all.
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