Mixing Clawed & De-Clawed Cats

Every now and again I see a cat on petfinder.com that is really special... but it's declawed and so I move on because I have 6 cats with their claws and I figure it's not fair to mix the two.

Has anyone ever had experience mixing clawed and de-clawed cats? Is it as big a problem as I think it is?

(PS. I didn't know exactly where to post this, which is why I posted it here figuring it would get moved to the right place.)
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I do have SOME experience with this. As both of the cats that now live at my parents house (because they stayed once for a month each...and my mother proclaimed "you'd break your daddy's hear if you take them!") Anyhow, both the cats at my parents house are declawed...and my cat Dylan who is easily twice their size has all of his claws. (and quite a few pounds on each of them to boot)

He has at one point or another lived with each of these two cats individually...and each year at christmas visits them for two weeks as well.

I will say, that while Jasmine, the smallest of the three, and the only female...lived with Dylan...they used to fight A LOT and they were very brutal slap fests. They often walked past one another and pretended as if they were going to keep going...but as soon as they got up to each other bashed eachothers faces in with paw swats.

But, RARELY did Dylan ever bring his claws out. In fact I don't really think he ever did to either of the two declawed cats.

In fact Winston, the declawed male is most definitely the Alpha cat of the group. (he is a farely large Maine Coon--almost as big as Dylan)

I only worry about your situation because you have 6 cats with claws and would potentially be bringing 1 declawed into that scenario...that might be a very different situation.

I will say this much though...neighther of my two declawed kitties realize that they are...they still use a scratching post, and swat at the dogs at my parents house as if they are intending to inflict some damage!

So, if you did bring a declawed kitty in, he/she may well do just fine depending on age and attitude!

Good luck and do let me know what you decide, I would be very curious to hear how it all works out.

I have one of each. Sam is alpha, and larger, and doesn't even realize he has a potential disadvantage. He does tend to use his teeth and back feet more for defense, I think, but they have pretty fair fights. And the new cat that lives upstairs has all her claws, and he tells her what to do and when.

I think that it would make a difference if they were involved in a really serious knock down drag out fight, which you want to avoid anyway, claws or not. And you don't want to let a declawed cat outside.

When it does make a difference is in play behaviour. I had no idea until I got the second cat how much they use their claws to hold on to things. Now when Sam plays, if he puts his paw on something, I let him think that he has grabbed hold. He also scratches the posts and condo, but can't climb, he has to jump on to perches. (Although, he is so big, I am not sure that claws would help him anyway).

My cats are declawed, but they're living with Grandma and Grandpa and my parents' cats are not declawed. Mine can do everything the others do (plus jump really high which the others haven't figured out how to do). Occasionally you'll see Toes with a scratch on his nose because he's tried to mate with my Mom's female (he's fixed, but still tries). Otherwise they have no problems. In fact, the four cats paired off so it's one of mine with one of theirs when they go around in groups.

My friend show me this! http://declaw.lisaviolet.com/questions.html

We have a mix of both clawed and declawed cats and I can't say either type(for lack of a better word) is more aggressive than the other. IMO it depends on the personalities more than the claws.

Peaches had been declawed when I rescued her. Hallie and Jake have their claws intact. I have not noticed a problem between any of them. And in fact it hasn't stopped Peaches from keeping her Alpha cat position and being the boss. Henrietta had been declawed prior to her rescue too and Carmella's are in tact. I just haven't noticed this being a problem in my household.

Peaches (declawed) was a serious biter when I first adopted her. I had to sign a waver to relinquish the humane society of responsibility before I was allowed to adopt her. I'm glad I found her or she probably would have been put down for sure. She isn't a biter any longer. Although I have learned the warning signs I do believe she is much more mellow regarding this.

Henrietta (also declawed) was not a biter at all. She was always very mellow and easy going.

Carmella (has claws) is a pretty aggressive cat. She hisses and swipes all the time! But she's never tried to bite.

I tend to believe there are other factors besides being declawed. Such as how they are raised and how well they've been cared for. How much they trust etc. I'm sure declawing can have something to do with it but I don't think it's exclusive. At any rate.... I have no doubts, myself, about mixing clawed and declawed cats.

Thanks very much for all of your responses!!

The article and your posts brought up an interesting point that I should have known, but didn't think about it, which is that if a cat feels threatened by other cats they will act more defensively. I should know this already after having Amelia's nails clipped at the vet and watching her be very defensive for weeks after, but I didn't think about that.

Also, Size matters! So adopting a small de-clawed cat is not going to be a good idea for me as I have a rather large playful boy who will make that cat feel very threatened everyday just like he did with Amelia! And I don't want that!

Again, many thanks!!
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Buddy is declawed - Opie and Rowdy aren't. This has not stopped Buddy from trying to challenge Opie. Most of the time, Opie ignores Buddy but, once in while, Opie has enough and whomps the daylights out of Buddy. I've never seen a mark on Buddy (he's got a thick long coat) so, I'm not going to interfere - the boys can work it out, between themselves.