An aquaintence of facebook is getting her cat declawed. I want to send her some links.
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Info about how wrong it is to declaw?
- Thread starter kscatlady
- Start Date
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #2
Here's what I sent her, I hope I covered everything!
Hey Caitlin,
Congrats on the cat! I'm so happy you're getting him neutered too. I noticed you were getting him declawed. Please don't do that to him. Declawing is a very painful and unnecessary. It's amputation, the equivalent of amputating your finger to the first knuckle. Cats need their claws, even if they're indoors. Say he's trying to jump onto a bookcase and barely makes it, he uses his claws to pull himself up. Without them, he could fall and hurt himself.
Did you know that declawing is illegal in 22 countries? Some states here too, now I think.
There are many alternatives to declawing these days. Have you heard of soft paws/claws? They are vinyl caps you glue to the nail. Totally painless. See if you vet could put them on him while he's under for the neutering, and then you'll just have to replace them when one falls off.
Declawing also can cause behavior problems such as inappropriate urination, and cats often resort to biting when they can't use their claws. He could also stop using the litter box because they don't like how the little feels on their clawless paws.
Here is a video of declawing, if you are going to do it, then I think you need to see it.
If you want, I've found some many helpful people on these forums: www.thecatsite.com It's really great, informative place, but they are an anti-declaw site. My username is kscatlady! Maybe I'll see you there! I hope so!
Krysta
Hey Caitlin,
Congrats on the cat! I'm so happy you're getting him neutered too. I noticed you were getting him declawed. Please don't do that to him. Declawing is a very painful and unnecessary. It's amputation, the equivalent of amputating your finger to the first knuckle. Cats need their claws, even if they're indoors. Say he's trying to jump onto a bookcase and barely makes it, he uses his claws to pull himself up. Without them, he could fall and hurt himself.
Did you know that declawing is illegal in 22 countries? Some states here too, now I think.
There are many alternatives to declawing these days. Have you heard of soft paws/claws? They are vinyl caps you glue to the nail. Totally painless. See if you vet could put them on him while he's under for the neutering, and then you'll just have to replace them when one falls off.
Declawing also can cause behavior problems such as inappropriate urination, and cats often resort to biting when they can't use their claws. He could also stop using the litter box because they don't like how the little feels on their clawless paws.
Here is a video of declawing, if you are going to do it, then I think you need to see it.
If you want, I've found some many helpful people on these forums: www.thecatsite.com It's really great, informative place, but they are an anti-declaw site. My username is kscatlady! Maybe I'll see you there! I hope so!
Krysta
Here is a good one: http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/declaw.html
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #4
Here was her response. I'm removing her from my friends.
Krysta,
I am glad I am getting a cat too, I have wanted one for years. I am also glad that I am getting him neutered because I have been told that if I do it early enough it will stop him from possibly spraying.
I know declawing cats is mean, but I was raised with cats that don't have their front claws and I always liked not getting my legs punctured when they jumped into my lap. I feel bad for them, and I will probably feel HORRIBLE for having it done (like I did when Galan and I had our doberman's ears clipped, which was just brutal to see).
He already bites because his previous owner clips his claws so he uses his teeth as a defense instead (I have met him once and my arms are already marked up from his biting when he plays rough). My family's cats have never had a problem with litter boxes so I am hoping that that problem doesn't become a problem....
I will keep you posted when I get Frodo, so that I can ask questions since he is my first cat that I have gotten all to myself, so I will have questions. I will also keep that site in mind
Thanks for the video and the information!
Caitlin
Krysta,
I am glad I am getting a cat too, I have wanted one for years. I am also glad that I am getting him neutered because I have been told that if I do it early enough it will stop him from possibly spraying.
I know declawing cats is mean, but I was raised with cats that don't have their front claws and I always liked not getting my legs punctured when they jumped into my lap. I feel bad for them, and I will probably feel HORRIBLE for having it done (like I did when Galan and I had our doberman's ears clipped, which was just brutal to see).
He already bites because his previous owner clips his claws so he uses his teeth as a defense instead (I have met him once and my arms are already marked up from his biting when he plays rough). My family's cats have never had a problem with litter boxes so I am hoping that that problem doesn't become a problem....
I will keep you posted when I get Frodo, so that I can ask questions since he is my first cat that I have gotten all to myself, so I will have questions. I will also keep that site in mind
Caitlin
I can not post what I have to say because it is not repeatable.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #6
I just told her she should come to this site.
I can't put this any way other than this:
she is stupid.
I mean her ignorance astounds me. She KNOWS declawing is wrong and cruel and she's still doing it. I have NEVER had my legs punctured by a cat jumping in my lap, and that includes the outside ones who for obvious reasons have never nor will they ever have their claws clipped and have VERY sharp claws. Besides it's the back claws that do that anyways.
The cat doesn't bite because the owners clip her claws.
I think she is just too stupid to even think about owning anything. Like I said I just can't think of any better way to put it. She needs to learn a lot more before she even thinks about having a cat or any other living thing. She really sounds like she is into mutilating animals, there is no reason to clip a doberman's ears. I could never do that.
Trust me when I say I have had to carefully think about my words to make them repeatable. If I could say what I really thought it would involve a very long string of 4 letter words.
Taryn
she is stupid.
I mean her ignorance astounds me. She KNOWS declawing is wrong and cruel and she's still doing it. I have NEVER had my legs punctured by a cat jumping in my lap, and that includes the outside ones who for obvious reasons have never nor will they ever have their claws clipped and have VERY sharp claws. Besides it's the back claws that do that anyways.
The cat doesn't bite because the owners clip her claws.
I think she is just too stupid to even think about owning anything. Like I said I just can't think of any better way to put it. She needs to learn a lot more before she even thinks about having a cat or any other living thing. She really sounds like she is into mutilating animals, there is no reason to clip a doberman's ears. I could never do that.
Trust me when I say I have had to carefully think about my words to make them repeatable. If I could say what I really thought it would involve a very long string of 4 letter words.
Taryn
Some people just do not get it.
My Aunt was one of them.
I was a kid then but she wrecked 2 cats.
Randi fell and got hurt very bad because she had no claws to grave on with.
Tinkerbelle became very mean.
My Aunt was one of them.
I was a kid then but she wrecked 2 cats.
Randi fell and got hurt very bad because she had no claws to grave on with.
Tinkerbelle became very mean.
Jacky, I gotta say, I just love the things you say, and can NOT WAIT to meet you
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #10
Should I say anything else to her?
IMO that's too much... I think she just needs some more education... IMO this is her first cat, and is the typical naive first cat owner... who thinks this is the normal type of stuff you can do to a cat... She doesn't sound mean, or stupid to me. She just sound like she doesn't know any better.
My fear is, if she comes here, we pound her too hard, and she runs away. IMO she needs some guidance and education, and also most importantly, she needs alternatives... easy alternatives.
If she is still getting this kitty, what about telling her to adopt a kitty who is ALREADY declawed from a shelter, instead? There are sooo many declawed kitties in shelter who need a home....
this way she gets what she wants, saves a life at a shelter, PLUS doesn't mutilate another cat - everybody wins!
The one thing that came to mind instantly was "You think that cat bites NOW!!!" just wait. My Mom had her cat declawed....and has regretted it ever since. (Maybe because I tore her a new one) but also because she saw what it did to his personality. He is an indoor cat only, thankfully. He is also a really cool, friendly cat, but.............if he 'feels' threatened, he will turn and bite the hell out of you or anyone in his area. You really have to read Percy's body language. I can't tell you how sad it makes me to see him try to 'sharpen' his non-existent claws on every surface he can reach. My clawed boys don't do it as much as Percy does!
I agree with Carolina. If she thinks that any cat is going to "puncture" her legs when jumping on her lap, she is more misinformed than anything. I do find it sad that she KNOWS the de-clawing is horrible but still wants to do it. It's also concerning that she seems to think that NOT having him spray is the best reason to get him neutered. She sounds like a very ill-informed cat owner.
Maybe you could also let her know that she could very possibly have to deal with arthritis in the future, in addition to litterbox and safety issues. Let her know that most cats will not like having their claws clipped, but they learn to deal with it, and having their claws is essential to their being able to carry out their basic instincts and to simply being able to stretch their muscles.
I had to go through two "specialty" clippers before I realized Holland does just fine with human nail clippers, and she has gotten more patient with having it done as time has gone by.
This is one thing I will never understand - why is it so common for people to have their cats declawed but we never hear about this procedure being done on dogs?
Maybe you could also let her know that she could very possibly have to deal with arthritis in the future, in addition to litterbox and safety issues. Let her know that most cats will not like having their claws clipped, but they learn to deal with it, and having their claws is essential to their being able to carry out their basic instincts and to simply being able to stretch their muscles.
I had to go through two "specialty" clippers before I realized Holland does just fine with human nail clippers, and she has gotten more patient with having it done as time has gone by.
This is one thing I will never understand - why is it so common for people to have their cats declawed but we never hear about this procedure being done on dogs?
Like I said I just couldn't come up with a better way to put it. Misinformed is what I meant. I didn't honestly think she is stupid. I mean I ask questions here and always get answers and some of them are for things that most people might or should know(so I'm likely guilty of asking 'stupid questions' or being worried over something 'stupid') but I would never consider myself stupid. Attitude and Nuts are only my second and third cats and Spaz was more just 'there', I can't really explain it but she was never sick, never had any issues beyond her issues with attacking people for no reason with her claws bad enough to cause you to need stitches. She ended up having to be declawed after a couple years trying to solve it, it was that or euthanasia at that point, plus I was young and since my now ex-husband who was my boyfriend at the time had always had cats so he dealt with most cat related things. I fed her, did her litter box until I got pregnant and bought her food but I never needed any help or needed to ask any real questions.
I'm a dog person and I am a large dog person, to me any dog under 50 lbs is an 'overgrown rat.' OK I really don't think that way but I've met more mean little dogs(I used to volunteer at an animal shelter when I was a teen) than I ever have big ones. I know at least 90% of the time the fault lies with the owner(just watch AFV and you'll know what I mean) but they are also already a lot more likely to snap or bite without their owners making it worse and not discouraging(and even in some cases encouraging) said behavior. My dad is deathly allergic to cats so I have no experience with them so I come here when I need a question answered.
I want to be an informed cat owner. She doesn't seem to want to be an informed owner and her knowing that declawing is cruel and wanted to do it anyways(not to mention having her dogs ears trimmed) just points to not caring about an animals pain and maybe immaturity or even cruelly that she doesn't seem to really care about the animals feelings and that fact that it will hurt the cat and cause problems down the road. Not to mention the cat already bites and declawing might make it worse. Spaz didn't bite before or after being declawed I think she thought she still had claws or we weren't threatening enough that she felt the need to defend herself. I mean like I said she needs more education before she takes on taking care of any living creature, it's almost like she doesn't care or even want the cat. I mean what is she going to do if the cat has some behavioral issues, which it just might(and sounds like it already does with the biting) she just sounds like she would be someone to just dump it at a shelter.
Nothing that you will say will change her mind and I honestly find it disgusting and sad especially since she knows it's cruel and painful and is still going to do it. When I took Attitude in to be spayed they had her down to also have a front declaw(I have zero idea why since declawing never came up in ANY conversation I ever had with them) and I told them in no uncertain words that they were not going to touch her claws for any reason(I clip them myself so they didn't even need to be trimmed.)
Like I said I couldn't figure out exactly how to convey what I thought so I used to word stupid because I couldn't think of the word misinformed, even though she is informed about the declawing and DOESN'T CARE, that to me is stupidity and is really disgusting. The fact that experienced cat owners are giving advice/information and she is choosing to ignore it is also in a way immature more than anything else or just straight up not caring about her pet's pain. I mean she's not really misinformed as much as she doesn't care but there is a definitely elements of her not being properly informed like the puncture her legs thing when they jump up(like I said that would involve the back legs anyways) and that the cat bites because her current owners clip her claws. The cat still has it's claws as defense it doesn't care that they are blunted they still use them as any cat does whether their claws are clipped or not.
Like I said she need to learn a lot more before she should be able to take care of any living thing. I just couldn't come up with misinformed so I used stupidity since that was the best way I could describe it but I never meant that she was actually stupid I just couldn't come up with a better word to describe it when I made my first post.
Taryn
I just wish that declawing would be illegal here in the US like it is in so many European countries. I honestly think that because it's so common people don't really think twice about it, and truly don't realize how cruel and crippling the procedure is. If I hadn't witnessed a kitten's declawing when I was in 7th grade I wouldn't have had any idea how horrible it is when I adopted Holland. I didn't find this site until I'd had her for several months. Which is not to say I would have EVER had her declawed, but I can understand that misinformed owners are led to believe that it's a "normal" procedure and that once the paws heal there won't be any more issues. We all know that's not the case, but the general public often doesn't realize it.
Krysta, the best you can do is give this woman links to this site and declawing sites and inform her of what is truly involved in a declawing. Once she realizes how horrific it is, if she still chooses to go through with the procedure, then I wonder how fit she is to be a cat owner. And as someone else suggested, there are plenty of already declawed cats waiting for adoption. I have friends who prefer declawed cats, but they adopt them from local shelters, they would NEVER have the procedure done themselves.
Krysta, the best you can do is give this woman links to this site and declawing sites and inform her of what is truly involved in a declawing. Once she realizes how horrific it is, if she still chooses to go through with the procedure, then I wonder how fit she is to be a cat owner. And as someone else suggested, there are plenty of already declawed cats waiting for adoption. I have friends who prefer declawed cats, but they adopt them from local shelters, they would NEVER have the procedure done themselves.
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Doesn't sound like there is much you can do, if she's already aware of what declawing is but still wants to go ahead you probably can't talk her out of it. At least you tried, and I hope she does change her mind and kitty gets to keep his claws.
Wow that is scary. So glad it's not an issue over here, hope one day the US finally catches up with the rest of the world.
The world should defriend a person like that. Anti declaw is one of the only areas of new animal legislation I AM in favour of, and what she is planning on doing is especially traumatic to an adult cat, as opposed to a kitten.
I have nothing to say to her. Her reply disgusted me. Now i'm going to be thinking about that poor cat for the rest of the day!
I have nothing to say to her. Her reply disgusted me. Now i'm going to be thinking about that poor cat for the rest of the day!
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- #19
The problem is, she's had cats before, growing up and they were declawed. She must have been pretty lucky with them, and so she thinks this cat will be fine.
can she adopt a declawed cat, from a shelter, instead?
