i'm just wondering about declawing

i'm just wondering how others feel about declawing?? my cats are not declawed. i've heard many bad things about it and many animal rights groups are against it. what do you think??

Well........... I'm prochoice I guess you can say. I wouldn't do it for my kitties but I feel that I'd rather see a cat be declawed because their owner is at their last wits with the cat than see the cat wind up in a shelterand possibly euthanized there all because he was tearing up the furniture.

Sadly though it's a quick solution for some people and instead of trying other methods to deter the cat from clawing they opt to declaw.

Then there's the people who don't even give the cat a chance and declaw him before he does anything.



We do a lot of declaws at the clinic I work at and I can tell you some horror stories about how they turn out then I can tell you as many stories about how the cat was back on his feet the next day and acted as though he was never declawed.

Although there was one case that stuck in my head about a man who was a diabetic loved his cat but was going to get rid of him because when the cat would knead him it would cut him up and it would take so long to heal. He had the kitty declawed and everything turned out ok and he was able to keep the cat.

Are you thinking of declawing?

There is a link to a website around here somewhere that gives a very graphic description of the process. I don't have it, but I'm sure someone else will post it.

I wouldn't declaw because it is a cat's first line of self-defense. Even an indoor cat can get out and get scared. If a strange animal got too close, the cat needs to protect itself. Scratching and climbing trees are the first two things my cats do, and for both of those they use their claws.

I once had a cat that was declawed before we got her. Snowby had 2 issues that made her difficult to adopt out: She was very shy and she tended to nip. I believe both of those are related to the declawing. She was shy because she didn't want to attract attention to herself because she couldn't defend herself. And she nipped because she couldn't bat or scratch at minor nuisances to get across the idea that she wanted to be left alone. I think declawing can have a srong negative influence on a pet's personality.

Just my opinion.

Oh and I forgot to add that declawed cats who have been delawed because of their tendency to scratch people often resort to biting and let me tell you a cat's bite is a lot worse than it's scratch. aranoid2

no declawing is not even an option for me. i love my cats so much. i will just never buy really expensive furniture. just wondering what others thought on the subject. i do agree, i'd rather see a cat declawed than homeless. what makes me sick is when i go in pet smart and see a cat spayed and declawed and the owners don't want him because there moving or something. and the cat is not like the other ones. he is depressed. to love your cat is to make sacrifices. just as you do for your children.

You really opened up a can of worms with that question!

I am also against declawing. Unfortunately, (confession time) I was uninformed when we got our kittens and the vet recommended declawing Trent when we got him neutered. They didn't properly explain the procedure ("We just remove the shaft where the nail grows out of") and did not tell us about any possible future problems. His paws got infected and we almost lost him. If I had only known then what I know now, I would never have done that to him. Fortunately, he doesn't have any behavior or litter box problems. I will never have the procedure done to any other cats.

I agree that it is better to have the cats declawed than abandoned (or in the situation that Bad Habit described), but I also think that if the only issue is scratching where you don't want them to, you can work with the cat to change the behavior.

Oh please!!! To ANYONE who is even considering having this done to their cats....PLEASE don't!!! It is so cruel and unnecessary!! I wish someone would post a link to that website that shows how horrible it really is. Unfortunatley I don't have the link. There are some here who are better informed about it though, than I am, hopefully they will reply.

I added "about declawing" to your thread title, I hope that's okay, I thought maybe it would attract the attention of some of our members who are more informed about this, and could post a link about it.

I think it is SO important for people to realize how wrong this is, that's also why I didn't move the thread to the health section, I think people in the lounge need to be reminded occassionally about this, since we have so many new members who might not realize it is such a bad thing.

I feel Very strongly against Declawing. I would never have my kitties declawed, even if they scratch the furninture and can't adjust to a scratching post. We have 4 posts, but they still use the couch and chair to sharpen their claws. I let them do it, I don't care if they do, It's my parents. The only thing I don't wanht them scratching is the speakers on the TV. I think it is very cruel, they need their claws for defense, and they resort to biting, which isn't nice. Cats teeth are not that big, but bites can lead to serious infections and they hurt.

I'll probably get ripped to shreds for this, but both Cinnamon & Fluffy are declawed. Do we regret it? Yes.

Tigger- a lot of people have the procedure done before they are aware of what it really entails. The fact that you regret it now speaks volumes about your love for your kitties. Many people think, and are told by Vets that its a 'routine procedure' and, of course, trust the Vet. Why look into it further if your told its ok by a professional? I'm sure you'd never have done it had you known the consquences. You live, you learn. :rainbow:

Thats why sites like this are so awesome- people can come here and ask questions about it before they get it done and make an informed decision. I personally didn't know a thing about declawing or how it was done until i went to a link posted here a few months back. I was horrified and sicknened- and very glad I'd never thought about getting my furbabies done.

My only advice to anyone whos considering declawing is this : research, research, research. You'll change your mind.

Against, absolutely against!! If you do it, at least inform yourself about the procedure, the possible consequences and only then... take your decision....


Anne-Claire

(And think about that, if one day your cats should escape your appartment, they would be completely defenseless against toms...)

I am SO glad that hubby and I decided from the beginning that we wouldn't have our furbabies declawed. I never really knew exactly what was involved in the procedure until just now when I went to that site. I would NEVER want to put my babies through that much pain. We got our babies when they were 3 months old from the humane society and we weren't sure when when adopted them if we were going to have them declawed or not. One of the volunteers said that she didn't reccommend it and that since they were so young that we could train them. It took awhile for them to learn to scratch on the scratching post and Boo learned faster than Socks did. Thankfully, Socks has now learned to scratch on the post instead of hubby's expensive speakers!