Yup, that's exactly why I wouldn't draw attention to it at all and that's why I wouldn't have even called to ask, but I'm glad the manager is understanding and told you flat out that she wouldn't enforce it!
That's certainly the most practical and pragmatic advice. However, redacting the clause, and getting the management company involved, has the chance to help move towards getting the boiler-plate language altered. The question becomes: do you want to risk not being able to get an apartment with this company by engaging in a kind of low-key activism? If you're willing to move later to preserve your cat's laws, I'd suggest you be willing to chose a different apartment complex now for the possible benefit of other cats. But it is activism, and it could very easily prevent you from getting the apartment.
I just typed "Declawing Japan" in google and got 100's of hits that it was illegal in Japan - but I guess the question is how well is it enforced???
Yes but surely even if a new manager starts working there, she isn't going to send employees to all of a sudden check and make sure all the cats are declawed in all the apartments! They just usually don't do that kind of thing. They even don't check to make sure that people who aren't paying pet rent really don't have pets! I know many people who don't pay pet rent but still have pets as long as they are indoor only and aren't seen. And even if the complex employees come in to fix something inside the apartment, they most definitely don't take out the contract and decide to find ways in which you're breaching it since they aren't there for that..
We lived in a couple of bigger cities that had similar policies. The bigger cities have more large management companies, and that seems to be something the management companies require. The area I've lived in the longest (we moved back here a couple years ago) the landlords don't really care about the declawing, except for a couple fancy expensive complexes in town. But if you're going to pay their super high rent, you might as well buy your own house (which is what we did
Honestly though, when you have a bunch of tenants who take 0 responsibility for their apartments, I can understand where the landlords are coming from. In their experience, they've met a ton of irresponsible owners who let their cats tear apart the carpet, so they're taking action to protect their property.
The apartment he got has hardwood floors, unless it already comes furnished there is literally nothing that the cats can scratch up!! Are they going to scratch up the walls? Cats don't do that! And walls don't get damaged by claws.
I'm not commenting on his specific situation, merely the situation of apartments in the twin cities (where I live) and irresponsible tenants. I'm also not advocating declawing, but merely trying to understand why landlords often require declawing. And if ya'll had my neighbors, you may sympathize as well, lol.
I didn't figure out that one of my cats prefers wood as a scratching surface until she scratched the door jams in my apartment. I lived in a different apartment with peeling paint, and the cats certainly made the paint peel faster! (Declawed cats would do this, too, though, and the problem there was the paint job.) Walls and doors and door-jams do get damaged by cats. Screens get damaged by cats. There are plenty of non-carpet items that do get damaged by cats.
I have hardwood floors and I can show you where Bijou's claws have scratched them up just by running/chasing toys. I can show you a desk that Bijou has scratched just by jumping up on it.
