I'm so sad...we have to return Vivian to the SPCA - Page 2  

OK, as we all know, this site is very anti-declaw. However, what's done is done and please, no more harping and harsh words.

Vivvie, you have received some excellent advice in this thread, please listen to it.

Oh yes, it is an issue of education. And if she had posted that she was considering this BEFORE the incident, I agree -- "going to the bat strongly" may have prevented it. But this was already done. Basically screaming at her and calling her names did nothing but chase her from the site.

Think now of the help this cat is NOT going to get because the owner will no longer be returning to the site. IMHO, this is one of the best sites for feline behavior and health discussions, but now how is the cat going to benefit, since we will no longer be able to share our experiences and advice with her?

Most of us here agree -- declawing is a painful, almost always unnecessary procedure. But to shame her, badger her, say such awful things to a NEW site user who had no idea how violent your opinions can be is despicable, dirty and completely unnecessary. I doubt any of you will even have the good sense or the decency to be ashamed of what you said, either. You will never admit that you were way over the top and out of line.

Voicing your opinion and commiserating that this wasn't an ideal decision is one thing -- but brow beating her and making her feel worse than she already did is inexcusable.

If I had faced what she did, I doubt I would have done it in such good grace. And if she hadn't had a GOOD prior experience with declawed cats, the horror stories you were foisting on her would have made me dump this cat at a shelter and run the other direction. YOU could have been responsible for this cats death if the OP wasn't as good a person as she is.


Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.
Benjamin Franklin

When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius

I was viewing this thread, I came upon this. Oh how sad ;[
Poor girl, you REALLY should have posted her about going to declaw the poor cat before you did. I for one have a solution for it though, if you are not coming back... It just makes me sad to see something like this happen on The Cat Site. I've seen it happen on other forums but never here. I hope you do come back someday, I only have one thing to say, you REALLY should have posted here first. I am very sad to see a member of The Cat Site leave, I do hope you can come back sometime.

Hoping Vivvie will be fine,
Jackz, Jazzy & Ginga.

"violent," "despicable," "dirty" I don't know what posts you were reading, Sam, but I saw none of those. While some comments here were raw with emotion, none here perpetrated the kind of actual "violence" on an innocent creature.

I find your entire response to be quite ironic, if not ridiculous. Here you are berating other posters after-the-fact. You are using the same "despicable" and "dirty" language you are accusing them of. You are saying that these posters would have been responsible for Vivian's death if OP wasn't such a good person? Do you realize how ridiculous that comment is?

If I was a half decent person, I wouldn't dump my cat at a shelter because some anonymous person on the internet disagreed with my actions. If I did dump the cat, it wouldn't have anything to do with the comments either. It's because I'm just not a good person and I don't feel a cat's life is worth the trouble.

The comments were raw with emotion. I had the same reaction as I'm sure others here did. Anyone who loves cats could completely relate to what otto and others expressed. I don't feel they need to apologize or be ashamed of what they said. We should be allowed to speak our mind and not be told to be ashamed or to apologize. It is insincere to apologize for speaking from the heart. Feelings get hurt and we get over it. We are all adults.

Unfortunately for Vivian, it's not that simple. She will never get back her toes. Living with two other cats, Vivian will wonder why they got to keep theirs.

She has MANY options other than declawing. Soft Claws would do the same thing and save the cat's toes. I know they don't work for rvry cat and I had one I had to declaw because of severe aggression issues. I ended up having to get stitches from her attacks. I worked with vets, two different behaviorists, tried medication, Soft Claws(which she's just chew off), clipping her nails down to the quick(but not below it, nothing worked.) I spent years and thousands of dollars and years trying to get Spaz to stop doing it. You name it we tried it, repeatably. There was no pattern she would just suddenly attack and you were off getting stitches. What finally made us have to do it was when she attacked me so severely 911 had to be called and I had to taken away from treatment via ambulance. This go the county involved and they said if I so much as went to the doctor needing to be stitched up she would be put down, they labeled her as a dangerous animal. We went to the vet one last time and he had run out of options and the only solution he(and the other vets he consulted, including one that was anti-declaw) unanimously agreed that declawing was the only solution other than putting her down. The vet made up know what was going to happen, made us read stacks of material on it and even had us watch a video of a declaw. It was horrifying but we wanted to give her a shot at life. Honestly it calmed her down, she never bit(she was never a biter to begin with) and used the litterbox like a champ. Would I do it again in the same situation, I don't know. Would I declaw a cat for any other reason? not only no but hell no.

I know many viscous declawed cats, but it was our last chance of giving her life. Maybe you might think I should have had her put down, but she was a perfectly sweet and loving cat and a member of our family when she didn't suddenly go off the deep end. We had very few incidents after that but they did no damage. She was front declawed only, I flat out refuse to do a 4 paw.

I would never declaw a cat to 'protect' the other cats. If all else failed she would have soft claws applied, and if that failed she would find a home as an only kitty. In our case due to Spaz's extreme behavior we couldn't rehome her otherwise I have have tried, it would have broke my heart and I would have cried for months but if it made her happier and made her behavior improve I would have done it, but no one is willing to rehome a very aggressive cat.

That said I still find declawing barbaric and should only be used in special cases like Spaz's. It should be outlawed except for very extreme cases where it is the last resort other than having the animal out down.

In a way I regret that it had to come to that on the other hand I'm glad I got my cat back and she lived a pampered existence. However my MIL was watching her once and she got out and was never seen again. That I do feel guilty for and have never forgiven myself that not having claws might have led to her death and have cried so many time I have lost count or she might have been adopted by another family she would happily run up to anyone to play and be loved on. She was a great family pet after the declaw so maybe someone took her in. I doubt it but I hope that is what happened.

Attitude and Nuts are fully clawed and will remain that way until they cross the bridge.

Taryn

This thread has now be heavily edited and is now closed and being returned to the main forums.

Many people gave very useful advice. Thank you.

This thread is a perfect example of what we do not want to happen here on TCS or for TCS to become. Yes, this site is very anti-declaw. Declawing is outlawed in many countries, but is still allowed in North America. Most members think it is evil, barbaric and cruel and state that fact whenever someone mentions they are considering declawing their cat. Vivvie never posted prior to the declaw procedure that she was even considering it so was never told the cons of the surgery. She only posted about it after the fact when it was too late for us to educate her. Educate is an important work here. It is the backbone of TCS. The word berate is not, nor is it allowed. As was proven in this thread, you not only run off a current member, thereby denying their cat the knowledge of our members, but you also run off people that are searching for help and stumble upon this thread.

Unfortunately, the berating and rudeness have become a more common occurrence and this tone is not acceptable here and we will be watching for posts of this nature.

If you can not respond to a thread without berating or being rude, then don't. Let someone who can help out.