[LDG]

Some facts.

1) Against declawing are:

The ASPCA (no surprise),
The Humane Society of the United States (no surprise),
The Cat Fancier's Association, AND
The American Veterinary Medical Association (official statement: "Declawing of domestic cats should be considered only after attempts have been made to prevent the cat from using its claws destructively or when its clawing presents a zoonotic risk for its owner(s)." ).
Further, in 2006, the USDA - normally an extremely conservative federal agency - amended the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit declawing of exotic carnivores, saying that it "can cause considerable pain and discomfort to the animal and may result in chronic health problems."

2) In 2007, the California Court of Appeals upheld a ban on declawing enacted by the city of West Hollywood, CA, in 2003.

3) In April 2007, the city of Norfolk, VA banned declawing.

According to Jankowsky et al. in Veterinary Medicine, 1998, Vol. 213, pages 370-373, "Acute complications developed in about half of the onychectomized cats. Long-term complications following the procedure were reported for about one fifth of cats subjected to onychectomy. The authors state that owners should be aware of high complication rates for both onychectomy and tendonectomy procedures.

Originally Posted by plar

It is impossible to feel pain under general anesthetic. The cat's response is most likely reflex which she mistakenly think is related to the feeling of pain.

This has been addressed by Amy (MomofMany)

Originally Posted by plar

A properly raised cat will not bite, whether or not it is declawed. You have to push the cat pretty hard for it to resort to biting.

And declawing a cat is pushing it pretty hard and in at least one study, 18% of cats began biting AFTER the declaw:

Yeon SC, Flanders JA, Scarlett JM, et al. Attitudes of owners regarding tendonectomy and onychectomy in cats. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2001;218:43-47.

Summary: Retrospective phone follow-up of teaching hospital clients, DVM student surgeons. 39/98 owners whose cats underwent elective onychectomy or tendonectomy were contacted two months to five years (median 11.5 months) after surgery. 17 (44%) of declawed cats returned to normal within three days, 35 (90%) within two weeks. 31 (80%) had more than one medical complication. 13 (33%) developed at least one behavior problem. 6(15.4%) would not use the litter box and 7 (17.9%) had an increase in biting habits or intensity.

(plar's response to comments about claw regrowth) :

Originally Posted by plar

Contrary to what you said, this happens extremely rarely, although it does happen. "Cat rights" persons love to turn a freak accident into "everyday occurrence".

PLEASE read this thread! Bea begs you never to declaw

Actually, it is not a "freak accident." Martinez et al. reported in Veterinary Medicine, 1993 that for cats subjected to declawing, 11% exhibited lameness, 17% had wound breakdown, and 10% showed (deformed) claw regrowth.

(plar's response to litterbox avoidance as a consequence of declawing) :

Originally Posted by plar

Again this happens very rarely, and very few cats will exhibit this problem, (definitely not "many"). It is also be eliminated by using the right litter while the cat is recovering.

Actually, litter should not be used while the cat is recovering, shredded newspaper or something along those lines should be used. That aside, it is not as rare as you seem to believe: note the above article, where it was reported in 15% of declawed cats. However, there is also this:

Patronek, GJ, Glickman LT, Beck AM, et al. Risk factors for relinquishment of cats to an animal shelter. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1996;209:582–588

Summary: Case-control study of owned and relinquished cats involving a random digit dial survey of cat owners. Prevalence of declawing was 45%(476/1056) in the owned cat population. In the univariate analysis, declawed cats were at decreased risk of relinquishment compared to non-declawed cats (OR=0.63; 95% CI 0.45-0.87). After adjustment in a multivariate model, declawed cats were at an increased risk of relinquishment (OR=1.89;1.00-3.58); this reversal made the effect of declawing difficult to interpret. Among 218 cats relinquished to a shelter, more (44/84; 52.4%) declawed cats than non-declawed cats (39/134; 29.1%) were reported by owners to have inappropriate elimination (p=0.022). emphasis added

...and this: A recent national survey of shelters from the Caddo Parrish Forgotten Felines and Friends indicates that approximately 70% of cats turned in to shelters for behavioral problems are declawed.

..and from the Summer 2002 issue of PETA’s Animal Times: “A survey by a Delaware animal shelter showed that more than 75% of the cats turned in for avoiding their litter boxes had been declawed.”

The very phenomenon of pet ownership is essentially modifying animals to suit humans, and is selfish. Cats naturally live in the wild and hunts small animals for food. Why don't you feel morally and ethically wrong about taking a beautiful animal that God has created and has placed in the wild away from its natural home and subject it to lifelong enslavement and imprisonment?

Other than cougars, cats are not native to this continent. The domestic cat, Felis Catus, has been documented as associated as a companion of humans for 9,500 years. Domestic cats should simply not be born in the wild, though through human thoughtlessness, carelessness, lack of education, lack of funds, and poor city, county, state and national policies are. Fortunately they are excellent survivors.

Originally Posted by plar

Declawing is perfectly legal in vast majority of countries, what does that tell you?

That they do not care about the health and welfare of animals as a national policy.

Originally Posted by plar

If spaying and neutering is so great, why don't you spay/neuter yourself? After all it comes with great health benefit and solve the over population problem! You would probably not do that to yourself because you consider having the ability to reproduce is an essential part of being alive. Your cats probably think the same.

The problem is that cats mate out of instinct and hormones, not out of choice. We have the choice to procreate, or to have sex using birth control in order to prevent procreation. Cats do not have this choice and will breed to the detriment of the female. It just so happens that that there are quite a few health and behavior benefits to spaying and neutering apart from addressing the huge cat overpopulation problem.

The bottom line is the choices promoted by The Cat Site always boil down to the same thing: the welfare of the cat. Spaying and Neutering benefit the cat, the cat population, and the owner. NOT declawing benefits the welfare of the cat.

Laurie