Declawing

I would guess less than 1% of the housecats in the U.S. are declawed now.  Perhaps well below that.  That's about the ratio of the cats we get in the shelter.  But, of course, more of them actually became available for adoption, because if they were declawed, we have evidence they were once somebody's baby. 

Just in passing, the number of cats that are microchipped is steadily climbing and that, too, is a lifesaver.  Even if we can't find the owner, we know that the cat was once owned, so it's not feral, no matter how it may look today.

Mani said:

Mrblanche... is that because they want declawed or because people will often take a cat that is in need?  I've noticed deaf cats, three-legged cats etc always seem to go quickly, but as always a good pre-adoption process is pretty essential to make sure it's for all the right reasons. 
We find the same with dogs.

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I wish that were true at the shelter where I volunteer. Cats with some physical defect get looked past, for a long time, so often. My own Constantine, the sweetest cat to every person and every cat (my current avitar) wasn't adopted after 20 months at the shelter. He was one of the volunteer's and staff's most favorites. He has an aura of good will. But he has a curled up ear, from a hematoma, and people couldn't get past that. There are always a number of cases like that.

We always have quite a few declawed cats, and people do come to the shelter looking for this. In the standard adoption papers packets, along with coupons, microchip company brochure, tips on general cat care and introductions, etc., is a sheet on the problems of declawing and tips on how to train cats to not claw furniture.

Sadly, at least where I live, there are a lot of people who won't have cats unless they are declawed. I would say 5-8% of the shelter's cats, at any one time, are declawed. Some even are 4 paw declawed. One of the reasons I avoid dealing with the public when I am volunteering is because of this issue. I can't be neutral about it.

Robin

Declawing is still standard around here. When my mother got a cat, her apartment manager reminded her that declawing a cat is written right into the lease agreement; that's just the way it is and they refuse to change it. Period. I know; I tried to talk to the manager about having the cat declawed and she all but threatened to evict my mom for breach of contract or something like that.

When we got Mollipop, and again with Tabby, when I called down to arrange for their spay, they asked me if I wanted the declaw with the spay. The two girls are not declawed.

We have seven cats and we had five of them declawed. (To be honest, I didn't know what it entailed and, now that I know? I feel terrible. I have to admit that. I just feel terrible.) Two of them will be 18 in July, two of them just turned 16, and the fifth will be 10 in November. Has it affected them? No. I can say that. It has not. They run, they jump, they leap, they carry on like crazy. There's never been any litter box issues. Nothing like that. They bunny-kick when playing; so do Molli and Tabby and they're not declawed. Yes, they bite at times....more like a love bite, followed immediately by licking. Again, so do Molli and Tabby. So I can say that the five that are declawed act no differently than do the two that are not declawed. I don't know; maybe we were just lucky. All five were done at the same time that they were either spayed or neutered and all as kittens.

I've never tried to hide the fact that most of our cats are declawed. To be honest, it's never really been an issue with my friends; in fact, many of them had their cats declawed as well. Only two people really made a big issue out of my cats and both people were angry with me at the time and I guess they figured that was a good way to get back at me.....by telling others that my cats were declawed. The problem is that I never hid it. I've always been honest about it, so I don't know what they were trying to prove.

That being said, I wouldn't advocate declaw. I just wouldn't. Knowing what is being done during the declaw to a cat that I've promised to love and care for is something that I now find horrible. (And we went through a lot with both Mollipop and Tabby; Molli, for some reason, decided to claw the drywall in the bedroom. Tabby likes to shred the couch and chair; we're really working with her to get her to use the sisal rope on the legs of their cat tree....and for the most part, it is working. Although it's pretty much too late for the chair. I've told both of them that they're just lucky they're just so darn cute. )

I'm not going to say choose between the cat and the boyfriend. But declaw is a serious decision that you're making. And that's my two cents.

I'm sorry you were offended by some peoples comments. I think this is a great site. The only fault is that we are all very protective & loving, that's all.  They just wanted to make sure you were well informed to make the best decision. 

Originally Posted by Mani  

there are so many jokes about such things amongst cat-lovers:t

"I got rid of my husband. The cat was allergic." ;

"My husband said it was him or the cat... I miss him sometimes." etc. 

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Some are not jokes!  LOL

I used to have an ad on one of those dating sites, lavalife I think. Anyway, one guy contacted me and I can't really remember if we talked on the phone or not.  But the one thing that stuck in my head about that contact was the fact that he told me he was allergic to cats.  I had specifically put in my ad that I had a cat and that my life partner beter like cats!  So anyway, this guy makes contact with me anyway because he loved my profile and felt that I was everything he dreamed of in a life partner.  He then proceeded to tell me that he was allergic to cats and that if I wanted to date him etc, I would have to get rid of my cat.

I told him "bye-bye" immediately.  Do you know that he was deeply offended that I chose my cats over him?! He told me that he can't believe I chose a cat over him.

The last date I had the guy claimed to love cats. Yet Chynna was being a love bug and wanting to snuggle up to him. She was sitting on the back of the couch near where he was and tapping him lightly on the hand for him to pet her. He ignored her. Not once did he "talk" to her, or touch her.  That to me told me that he didn't like cats as much as he claimed to, if at all, and that he just said that so I would go out with him.  There were a number of reasons I didn't go out with him again, but his lack of affection towards my kitty was a big one.

To me pets are like children.  You have to be on the same page with each other about them, otherwise it just won't work out.  I could never see myself paired up with someone who didn't have the same love and respect for animals that I do.  Just like I couldn't see me in a relationship when I was younger, with a guy who wanted to have childrend, because I didn't want to have any.

mrblanche said:

I would guess less than 1% of the housecats in the U.S. are declawed now.  Perhaps well below that. 

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Really? Wow. I guess it depends on the area. At LEAST half the spayed/neutered cats I know (inside or outside) are de-clawed (except for those belonging to my family members). And those that aren't only got to keep their claws because I talked their owners out of it. I once went through the Humane Society's website trying to figure out how many of the spayed/neutered cats were also de-clawed, and I came up with 60% that time. It's harder to tell now which ones were surrendered already spayed/neutered because the shelter has a vet now and some of them get altered on intake. So no way to tell if they were spayed/neutered at the shelter or before surrender (and of course unaltered cats have higher rates of surrender). But they usually have plenty of de-clawed cats available, and they don't seem to get adopted any faster. It's only when it's a novelty that it helps adoptions. ETA: I just looked up their website, and of the 62 available cats listed, 10 are de-clawed. 3 on all 4 paws and 7 on the front paws.

I have to keep on top of my vet whenever I bring a cat in for spay/neuter because he told me that he "hardly ever" does a spay/neuter without a de-claw, and I'm afraid he'll forget and de-claw one of mine. A friend brought her cat in to be neutered (after I talked her out of de-clawing), and the receptionist absolutely bullied her trying to get her to consent to a de-claw (and this is pretty standard procedure among a lot of the vet's offices in the area. If not outright bullying, at the very least a "would you like fries with that" kind of upsell). Many people I've spoken to think you CAN'T get a cat spayed/neutered without also de-clawing. There used to be a vet who would do de-claws at 8 weeks but would refuse to spay/neuter until 6 months, so there were a lot of stray de-clawed tomcats and de-clawed pregnant females around. Fortunately he left and most of the other vets do them at the same time (it's bad enough that a cat is de-clawed, but she shouldn't have to try to feed a litter with no claws!). One vet in the area tells clients that front-paw-only de-claws are for outdoor or indoor/outdoor cats, and all-4-paw de-claws are for housecats. I'd like to believe that fewer people are de-clawing their cats (less than 1% would be awesome!), but I just don't see it.

ETA: one thing I found online estimated that, currently, 25% of spayed/neutered cats in the U.S. are also de-clawed. But it was Wikipedia so I don't know how accurate it is. I saw an AVMA survey a few years ago saying that it was 48%. . .but that may have changed by now.

Looks to me like the OP has vanished and the people in the US are simply swapping declaw stories.

OrientalSlave said:

Looks to me like the OP has vanished and the people in the US are simply swapping declaw stories.

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Yes, that may be, but what's wrong with that? It's a conversation. It's a subject that many of us feel passionate about. And it's nice to "talk" to others about it.



Robin

I, for one, am following this whole thread closely. It is quite an eye-opener for me.

I'm astounded that all four paws are an option!!

And it is really valuable to hear from people who have had it done - it can't be easy to talk about it.

Are the vets driven by money or do they truly believe this is the right way to go ?(I guess it's a mixture of both, but I'm appalled that vets are more interested in the dollar than the animals)

Anne said:

I didn't see anyone telling you to choose between the two at any point.

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Not to be pedantic, but, yes, someone did say those exact words.

CheshireCat said:

IMO If you care about these cats you have two options

1.  Rehome the cats

2.  Dump the boyfriend

Personally I would choose number 2

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Its illegal  in my part of the world. In fact i had not heard of this procedure  until i came across this site.

CATS HAVE CLAWS - THATS WHAT MAKES THEM CATS.......

I  find many American things odd - including maiming a pet to make living easier - ie " i want a cuddly fur thing" EWW it has claws (and teeth)  - oh ok lets get rid of these things to make MY LIFE EASIER.

 I HAVE THE FUR THING, IT FITS INTO MY HOME!!!!!!!!! NO NASTY ANYTHING.

Only in America......

God bless you all...

The boyfriend would be gone.

Declawing to cats is purely barbaric and evil. It is only for the benefit of the owner.

Cats claw things- it is a fact of life, it makes them cats.

Training, redirection, and most importantly - keeping the nails trimmed. Unfortunately, Smokie came to me declawed and has a lot of issues from it. I got bandit as a 6 month old kitten, and he will never be declawed. We trim and file nails- it's fine. I don't have expensive fancy furniture- even if Bandit destroys the couch, i'm out what- $15. Maybe

Yup, never trimmed a cats claws either..... Why????

Never seen the need myself.

My couch cost $3000 and it is only 4 years old. And I like it, and I don't want it destroyed.

I don't cut, trim, or file my cats nails, none of them, and I've had a lot of cats over the last 50+ yeats. I don't see any reason for it. And I want my cats to have all their defenses, should they ever get accidentally out.

The point is that one can very well have cats with claws, and have good furniture.

And it is not even very hard to train them to not claw the furniture.

Robin

Turks rule! said:

Yup, never trimmed a cats claws either..... Why????

Never seen the need myself.

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If nails aren't trimmed, they can curl under and easily get snagged on things. Blankets, etc then the nail can be ripped off., If they claw, it isn't as bad because of the dull nails Sharper claws cause more damage to furniture etc.

Respectfully, I want to say that in the over 51 years I have had cats, I have NEVER seen a cat be injured because their claws were untrimmed.

I think this is another big myth.

Sells a lot of cat nail trimming gadgets, I suppose.

Cats evolved to have claws and get along quite well with them.

My cats get snagged in things, briefly. They always get free without my help.


Robin

I can only speak for myself, but I trim my cats' claws because they are both kneaders, and if I don't trim them every couple of weeks, I simply can't have them sit on my lap without a blanket. Fine in winter, not so much in summer! Daymon isn't yet comfortable having his claws trimmed, so I try to get one whenever I can, but I haven't yet managed to have them all trimmed at once. Just last night he jumped onto my lap and I didn't have the fleece nearby. He kneads, and it is too painful. Since I refuse to not allow them on my lap, they get their claws trimmed.

Amen! me too. But also because Angel has allergies & does a lot of scratching & trying to prevent him from scratching himself & doing to much harm. Finally just discovered Allergypet.com & am soon going to be getting him some stuff from there. Finally something that sounds like it will work! (He's got a couple of little raw spots on his tummy from chewing right now, one of his little nippies too  ).

 

Mystik Spiral said:

I can only speak for myself, but I trim my cats' claws because they are both kneaders, and if I don't trim them every couple of weeks, I simply can't have them sit on my lap without a blanket. Fine in winter, not so much in summer! Daymon isn't yet comfortable having his claws trimmed, so I try to get one whenever I can, but I haven't yet managed to have them all trimmed at once. Just last night he jumped onto my lap and I didn't have the fleece nearby. He kneads, and it is too painful. Since I refuse to not allow them on my lap, they get their claws trimmed.

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Mystik Spiral said:

I can only speak for myself, but I trim my cats' claws because they are both kneaders, and if I don't trim them every couple of weeks, I simply can't have them sit on my lap without a blanket. Fine in winter, not so much in summer! Daymon isn't yet comfortable having his claws trimmed, so I try to get one whenever I can, but I haven't yet managed to have them all trimmed at once. Just last night he jumped onto my lap and I didn't have the fleece nearby. He kneads, and it is too painful. Since I refuse to not allow them on my lap, they get their claws trimmed.

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That's the main reason why we trim, too. Molli's claws have actually gotten caught in my skin and have drawn blood. She has put holes into my shirts and my sweaters. She's gotten her claws caught in the blankets and in the flannel sheets. When she kneads my arm at night and her claws haven't been trimmed for awhile, my arms get little marks from her claws. Trimming her claws isn't easy by any stretch, but we manage. You can hear her yelling on Pluto; she acts like we're killing her and we've never even gotten too close *knock on wood*. We have yet to get all of Molli's claws at the same time, too, but we try. We can usually get four or five; then she's done for awhile.

Tabby is wonderful when we trim hers. She just lies in my arms and Rick clip, clip, clips. She watches us, but she never squirms. We think it's because we had to work with her ears for so many months and now she's pretty much used to whatever we do with her.

I love having my cats knead. It's comforting for them and I would never deny them that.

Sterling likes to cuddle on your right arm while you're sleeping.  If I didn't trim those claws, no one would get any sleep!