Declawing

sugar lp....

i think your post is very appropriate... :wink:

i was just speaking in general terms...not saying you were the one that was mad. i couldnt agree with you more...AFTER a person knows....and then they choose to do it anyway...thats when i would get mad too!! :m3:

 

Ditto what everyone else has said...I think that anyone who belongs to a forum devoted to kitties, would never even think about declawing their cats. My husband's 14yo cat was declawed when he married his ex-wife due to Anna(who was 3 at the time), scratching their new sofa.
I've always had cats and never thought about declawing (and I didn't know the extent of what the vets did).
Hunter has his claws...and it's taken some work, and I clip his nails every other week....but he's finally stopped scratching on things I don't want him to scratch....and besides, it's only furniture, if people care more about their furniture than to take time to use behavior modification with their pets...then they don't deserve them (kinda like people and kids).

One more thing to add...I have this great Leather chair in my house...the only time I ever see what it looks like is when we have company and I take the cover off.

 

I live in the UK where de-clawing is not allowed, before I started coming to this forum I thought that it was Illegal everywhere, I can't beleive that it is still happening!

I looked through most of the stopdeclaw site and it made me feel sick.

 

I have a total of 20 sharpened and ready to go paws at my home. I wouldn't have it any other way. I think the local animal shelters here make people sign agreements not to declaw when the adopt. I do have a chair that suffered the consequences, but I don't care. I just cover the shredded part with a blanket. Other than that, the cats use their kitty condo for sharpening purposes.

Unfortunatly, my one friend recently declawed her three cats. She didn't tell me for several weeks and avoided having me over to visit while they were healing. She knew I'd be very upset at what she did. I did go over when they were still healing. The poor things kept licking at their paws and they hurt when using the litter. I tried desperately to have my friend not declaw her cats (I knew she was considering it), but in the end, she made her decision. Her cats are okay now and they're wonderful. But, I feel bad that they are claw-less. What's more frustrating is... why did she do it? Because she recently moved into a new house with all new furniture.

Oh well, that's in the past now.

She and I are still friends and nothing's changed with us. We just don't talk about the declawing issue.

 

When Socks and Mittens were kittens and I was scheduling them to be spayed, the vet's office matter of factly asked if I wanted them declawed, too.

I immediately said NO. After the surgery when my kitties were home I couldn't feel their claws (they didn't have any bandages on them or anything like that) and I freaked out and was scared that the vet forgot and declawed them anyway. I discovered that they just had their nails trimmed. Phew, was I relieved.

How I feel -- what's more important, furniture that can be replaced or a living being. So what if my couch has a few claw marks on it.

 

We declawed Pooky because he scratched us mercilessly until we bled and bled. I wished we knew about caring for cats back then. It's too late now for Pooky but at least all our kitties now and future kitties will not be declawed.

 

When I got Tilly her owner had had her front declawed. When I called Tilly's former vet to get her medical records the receptionist stated something about declawing, of course I had to give her my opinion on declawing. I couldn't believe it when she said they recommend declawing to "ensure" the cat will have a forever home. So I asked her to explain to me if declawing "ensures" the cat's forever home why are shelters full of declawed cats...gee wonder why she had no answer

 

Mary,

That's interesting that you point that out. I never thought of it, but I see tons of shelter cats that are declawed (and the shelters actually try to use it as a selling point - the cats are already declawed so a family worried about their furniture won't have to put another cat through it)...

Why are the shelters full of declawed cats? Did they throw up on some expensive rug one too many times? Or, are they 'moving', like everyone else that takes their animals to a shelter?

People shouldn't think that declawing is an answer.

 

I had never heard of declawing until i became a member on this forum, maybe it's illegal here in Norway too..? I dont know.

I would never, ever consider declawing my cat. Like Mary said: their claws are a part of them. Indoor cats may not need their claws, but a cat is a cat, and with the cat comes the claws!

Kyrre can get pretty wild sometimes, but thanks to the scratching board my furniture is still intact :y_the_best:

 

well just a thought on the declawed shelter cats, for one thing alot of them come in, particullarly recent declaws, because the owners say they bite and can't figureout why. Alot of people don't understand that when you take away a cats claws, you take away their first and major line of defense and often times even the most timid, loving cat will start to bite. They are more or less trying to assert themselves, they know they don't have claws and I think it scares them. They are trying to say "ok i may not have claws but I can bite see!" Also we've had a few recent declaws come in because they refuse to use a litter box, sometimes that happens because A, it feels funny, or B, something went wrong with the "surgery" and they now have chronic pain. Ya wanna guess what happens to those cats?? :cry: Who wants a cat who bites or isn't litter trained. It breaks my heart!

 

See, that really bugs me. A few years back when I called to make the appointment for Rhiannon to be spayed the receptionist said "Spay and declaw?". I said "NO, just spay." and then, like you I was paranoid that Rhiannon would be mistakenly declawed when I returned to pick her up.
Its like....people that were'nt even considering getting it done end up having it done just because the receptionists, vets or vet techs act like its so routine and almost like it should be done. :x

 

I can relate Nern. Our vet asked us if we wanted Pumpkin to get declawed during her spaying because he said it'll be cheaper than doing the declaw at a later time and that they heal faster when declawing is done earlier. We've never mentioned declaw with the vet so I was surprised they strongly advocate it years back. Was it part of the protocol to declaw as many kitties as possible? We told him Pumpkin was not a problem child and she kept her claws.