Grrr this makes me so mad!

We had friends around for dinner last night, and one of them was saying (while I was in the kitchen and couldn't hear what was being said...) that she declawed her cat - apparently because it mauled her flatmates textbook. And now the cat is kingpin in the neighbourhood, and beats up other cats. Which means they let the cat outdoors (!!!).

Oh man I wish I was there when she said that. My husband just told me about this. This girl was really nice, so I probably wouldn't have gone nuts at her, but she's obviously uneducated, and I would have just explained to her what declawing does to a cat, and why they should be indoors!

I wish there was more education on this sort of thing...

I am the first to admit I was uneducated about it before I joined this site. My childhood cat had a spay and declaw at the same time, as that was the norm back then. Molly was a stray that had already been spayed. When we adopted Abby from the shelter, I actually had to sign a declaw contract. By then I had been lurking on TCS and realized what a declaw entails.

We get many new people on this site asking about declawing because it is the norm at many vet offices. TCS does a great job on educating people about this surgery and has saved many a kitty paw.

Both of my inlaws' cats were declawed ten years ago. That is something they had regretted very much.

I was talking to a girl who WORKS at a vet clinic and she told me all cats should be declawed. And then asked me if I needed long fingernails and said it's the same as declawing. And offered me a discount.

Need I say I had to bite my tongue and count to 100 before explaining to her that it's actually a removal of the last joint of their paws and causes all sorts of problems? Need I say that she wouldn't listen to anything and kept defending it?

I was so upset I had to leave for a while (claimed I had to go to the bathroom) and change the subject when I got back. If people who actually see cats just after a declaw think this, what is there to do???