What are your thoughts on...

bonnie1965

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Originally Posted by StarryEyedTiGeR

When people come in KNOWING this information and still plan to declaw- i turn them down for the adoption- cats are cats- they are born with claws- why would you want to adopt an animal only to mutulate it so it won't "destroy" your $2000 sofa
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Its wonderful that you take the time to educate others on this. I am not sure why it doesn't occur to people that this might be unnatural and cruel. I suppose if we consider pets property rather than living beings, then it becomes easier. Thanks for all you do
 

starryeyedtiger

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Originally Posted by Bonnie1965

Its wonderful that you take the time to educate others on this. I am not sure why it doesn't occur to people that this might be unnatural and cruel. I suppose if we consider pets property rather than living beings, then it becomes easier. Thanks for all you do
no problem!!! my opinion is- the animals in our shelter do not have voices- it is up to us as their responsible care takers to make sure that they are spoken for and put into only the best possible homes...that includes a home with owners who have taken the time to research and educate themselves on important issues like declawing. so i do not mind taking the time to kindly explaine WHY it is cruel and refer them to other positive alternatives instead. If though the people are still intent on declawing after we talk about it- i will absolutely under no circumstances approve the adoption. i will not send an animal into a home that wants to knowingly mutilate their pets and deform them. The same goes for those who want to dock/crop a dogs tail or ears. We are big on education at our shelter and really try to push positive alternatives/responsible ownership- we owe it to those beautiful animals we work with -if we don't stand up for them, who will? we also are big on educating people as far as microchipping, proper dental care/etc goes.
 

Asteria

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I am against declawing and will never have it done to any of my cats. I think everyone has done a pretty good job explaining what I was thinking.
 

fostermomm

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I would never declaw. Our rescue has a rule about it. Itrs in the contract that the cats cant be. Plus I think its just awful.
 

merlynn's mom

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I definitely do not believe in declawing and agree with everyone else's posts. Like others have said, if your dog chews up your carpet are you going to have it's teetch removed? Or what about if your toddler destroys all your precious china? Are you going to have his/her hands removed? The answer is most likely no. So why feel so different about cats??

I do agree that most people who do this are just not educated about the procedure properly. The others are just cruel.

But a responsible owner will do his/her own research...that's why we're here!!


I have two cats and have NEVER had scratching problems. They have plenty of sisal scratchers and spend their days on those bad boys. Now eating my rattan chair, well that's a different post...
 

littleraven7726

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i don't believe in declawing cats.

that said, i don't have a problem adopting cats that are already declawed. they are usually adults, and already have that going against them for adoption chances. i also rent, and it's been difficult in some areas we've lived to rent with cats--and the places that did take them required declawed cats. not a problem since our cats came to us that way (declawed by previous owners). that has been in bigger urban areas. when we lived in a smaller college town, we found more landlords that really didn't care.

i also figure i know what issues to look for in a declawed cat. some are very picky about their litter because they walk on their pads rather than toes. some people would rehome, rather than say "hey, litter with large pieces might be like walking on gravel for kitty" and buy softer litter.

my declawed cats have cat furniture, and "scratch" on their posts/furniture. for years i didn't have anything for them but toys. i wish i had learned earlier that *all* kitties need scratchers and forts.
now they are scratching post trained if we ever get a cat with claws. true story: when i was a teen, my family adopted a 4-paw declawed cat. he would "scratch" on the couch. well mom didn't think anything of it, until he detrained our other cat, who had his claws.
then she trained them both not to do it.
 

twstychik

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I like cheese pizza!

Frankie is declawed for 2 reasons. My parents required it and I didn't know any better. Wickett is not and none of my future cats will be unless it's medically necessary.
 

luckygirl

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Originally Posted by Bonnie1965

Its wonderful that you take the time to educate others on this. I am not sure why it doesn't occur to people that this might be unnatural and cruel. I suppose if we consider pets property rather than living beings, then it becomes easier. Thanks for all you do
I think because declawing was always the "norm".... Growing up my cat was just automatically declawed, and so was everyone else's cat that I knew....
At 17 she snuck out of the house & didn't come home for 3 days... when she finally did come home, she was attacked by something & her eye was 1/2 out... She lost the eye, and she was never the same again, he spirit was completely broken. That's when I 1st thought declawing was wrong.... but I still didn't have the knowledge I do now. When we found LuckyGirl, we had only been in our home for 6 months, and I have gorgeous furniture.... I do have a $2000 couch. And all my furniture was brand new, we had saved our butts off to get it. We didn't want or need a cat, but she stole our hearts with her big eyes & bunny rabbit tail... When I took her to the vet & asked about clawing, my vet said they will do a declaw as a last resort. And showed me how to clip her nails & gave me info on soft claws, and even said they'd put them on for free the 1st time. The only thing they claw now is the sisal matt I have in front of my door... and they're allowed to claw that.
I have since stopped using the soft claws, it's unecessary in my home....

Originally Posted by darkeyedgirl

Softpaws!!! Softpaws!!! Softpaws!

www.softpaws.com

Works like a charm, and they're cool looking. Can even be used on rear claws, for those 'sharp landings' that kits have sometimes on yer lap.
they do work very well for the landing thing.... my babies have learned not to use their claws from wearing the softpaws, and now I don't even use them anymore.... although I may start to put them on the kitten, his little claws are like razor blades...
now if I could just teach him not to bite!
 

fostermomm

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Originally Posted by merlynn's mom

I definitely do not believe in declawing and agree with everyone else's posts. Like others have said, if your dog chews up your carpet are you going to have it's teetch removed?
I had a foster dog that the previous owners had her canine teeth removed because she nipped when she played. They still ended up dumping her because she still nipped with her other teeth! It was a 1 1/2 year old Boxer.
 

breal76

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had a foster dog that the previous owners had her canine teeth removed because she nipped when she played. They still ended up dumping her because she still nipped with her other teeth! It was a 1 1/2 year old Boxer.
That is just sick! I can't believe a vet would remove a dogs teeth! Wha a vile and discusgting thing to do!

Surgeries can be decided on by one factor. "Does this benefit that animal?" If you answer no to that question then it shouldn't be done.

I think amputation of toes on cats should be outlawed in the US.

I cringe when I see a "declawed" cats deformed paws. It make me sick to think about the mutilation that took place to have it done. When they try to scratch and stretch their backs I get soooooo sad. They are not getting the satifaction if they had their nails. It's absolutely heartbreaking.

Yes I have disposable furniture, but nothing about my animals is disposable to me.
 

carolpetunia

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Originally Posted by calico2222

I definitely don't agree to declawing, but to play devil's advocate, if it's between declawing and dropping your adult cat at the animal shelter where it will most like be put to death, which is the worse of the two evils?
But that's never the choice... there are always other options for anyone who cares enough to pursue them.

By the way... this was a serious test of commitment! I feel almost as strongly about cheese pizza as I do about declawing...
 

zissou'smom

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Originally Posted by calico2222

I definitely don't agree to declawing, but to play devil's advocate, if it's between declawing and dropping your adult cat at the animal shelter where it will most like be put to death, which is the worse of the two evils? For example, one friend of mine has a cat. She was an adult when she had her baby. Everything was fine until one day when her 2 yr old was playing with the cat and she swiped his face leaving deep scratch marks right under the eye. Obvious solution is to keep the kid away from the cat...yeah, right. Who can keep a child away from an animal? Her husband had a fit! So, rather than give Kitters away or take her to a shelter, she had her declawed. Now, I didn't agree with the solution, but I can sort of understand why she did it. Kitters is still one of the sweetest cats I know, and recovered from surgery with no problems. Again, I definitely would never do that to any cat I own (although, I do threaten them with it sometimes when they use me as a scratching post!)
Probably the best solution would be to teach your child how to treat animals, so that "playing" doesn't result in the cat defending itself.

Or clip the nails and get soft paws so the cat can't scratch like that.

Or both.

There's always stories like this, but somehow in countries that do not allow declawing it isn't an issue. Do we cut off the ends of fingers of children who scratch each other?
 
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