Thoughts on Declawing

I'm curious what everyone thinks of declawing a cat. Our first four cats were declawed. The last two have not been declawed after it was thoroughly explained to me how inhumane it is to declaw a cat, and that it can cause behavior problems in the unhappy animal, causing its owners grief in dealing with these problems.

Honestly, I'm kind of torn on this. I used to declaw cats, and if it is done properly, to a young cat, I've never seen any problems, in cats that lived to a ripe old age. I don't think its a good idea to do to any older cat, even a year old. None of the the cats I have now are declawed, I gave in to the propaganda, thinking I don't have any hard evidence that it isn't harmful, and it really isn't that hard to deal with controlling the animals behavior, so it really isn't necessary.

There were already threads about declawing.

Here and here.

Interesting posts on the subject, Admin, but I never got to see them until now. Thanks for the links.

Fishbone, I'm also torn on the subject. My husband is adamant that our next kitten will be declawed. The two youngest cats which were NOT declawed have destroyed expensive leather furniture, drapes, carpeting and put scratches on the wood floors. The Tonkinese has scarred the faces of the Bengal (clawless) and the DSH, plus my own feet and legs and other places I won't mention. I try to keep their claws clipped, but it's difficult at best, especially when the Tonk bites, kicks and scratches during "manicure" time. The DSH runs away and hides as soon as he sees the clippers.
The cats we declawed before these two who have full claws, were done as kittens. There wasn't any problem as they were quite little and got quickly over the surgery and life went on with them playing and functioning fine without claws. They grasped toys with their toes, they "marked" all their favorite places with their toes and scratched various items as if they had claws. They were happy and loved and well cared for by us as indoor only cats.
Now there DID come problems when the first cat we had was front declawed as a baby, but then back declawed (ripped scratches in the wall from getting up in the windows) when he was older and heavier. THEN we did see behavior issues with that poor darling! I'd never declaw an older cat again. It needs doing when they're as young as possible, if it's to be done at all.
I just don't know if it's the right thing to do in the future for us...
I know the hype is that it's inhumane and cruel and can cause behavioral problems, which is why our two youngest have not been declawed, but a lot of it is just that - "hype", in my opinion, anyway.

I am speaking as a cat-lover here. And I speak from my heart. So please try not to be offended.

The way I see it, if you cannot put up with the scratches, then you should not be keeping cats in the first place. It goes in the same category as cat feces. People who cannot stand the smell of cat feces should not be keeping cats either. I am totally against the idea of declawing. Claws mean a lot of things to cats. I am talking about normal cats, not cats which are just breathing stuffed toys. I am talking about cats that run and jump and climb.

No like scratchee scratchee, no keep kittee kittee. Okie?

I'm sure neutering isn't the happiest, most comfortable thing for a cat to be put through either, but most of us do it to keep our homes from being sprayed with urine, right? The cat gets over it and he is provided with a good, loving home and is well taken care of. Would he prefer to live in the wild, doing all the "natural" cat activities, rather than having "unnecessary" & "unnatural" surgery to satisfy his human family? My cats run and jump just fine. They don't climb because they are kept indoors as I care for their health, safety and well being, more than I say others who let their cats roam the neighborhood care about their own cats. In my opinion, cats that are allowed to roam around outside are certainly going to be exposed to all kinds of dangers. There's plenty of articles to back up my point of view on this. I could say that people who let their cats roam the neighborhood shouldn't have a cat because they're not taking the cat's health and safety seriously, and must not love their pet enough to keep them indoors.
My cats have the best of everything. I've spent many thousands of dollars on a cat to keep it alive as long as possible during kidney failure. How many other cat owners would spend $7,000 on their cat for just an extra year of life? Mine want for nothing and are spoiled rotten and loved as dearly as children. So I'm a cat lover too. Whether I declaw a kitten or not, my cats are well loved and not "breathing stuffed toys."

I would have said neutering is more commonly done to prevent your cats having lots of kittens? All my parents cats were neutered mainly because they didn't want them suddenly bringing several smaller versions into the world and since there are a lot of problems with people dumping unwanted animals after realising how much trouble they are, I'd say that neutering is a solution with more pros than cons.

Declawing - I probably wouldn't get it done. I've been around cats all my life and never been scratched more than a handful of times. Hell, I think having animals that can give a bit of a warning scratch might be a good thing for kids when learning to respect other creatures. I do like the idea of a kitty with soft little paws that can't hurt you, but... that doesn't seem like a good enough reason for me to get it done, just because it'd be quite nice

(06-22-2012, 10:29 PM)laurasav Wrote: I'm sure neutering isn't the happiest, most comfortable thing for a cat to be put through either, but most of us do it to keep our homes from being sprayed with urine, right? The cat gets over it and he is provided with a good, loving home and is well taken care of. Would he prefer to live in the wild, doing all the "natural" cat activities, rather than having "unnecessary" & "unnatural" surgery to satisfy his human family? My cats run and jump just fine. They don't climb because they are kept indoors as I care for their health, safety and well being, more than I say others who let their cats roam the neighborhood care about their own cats. In my opinion, cats that are allowed to roam around outside are certainly going to be exposed to all kinds of dangers. There's plenty of articles to back up my point of view on this. I could say that people who let their cats roam the neighborhood shouldn't have a cat because they're not taking the cat's health and safety seriously, and must not love their pet enough to keep them indoors.
My cats have the best of everything. I've spent many thousands of dollars on a cat to keep it alive as long as possible during kidney failure. How many other cat owners would spend $7,000 on their cat for just an extra year of life? Mine want for nothing and are spoiled rotten and loved as dearly as children. So I'm a cat lover too. Whether I declaw a kitten or not, my cats are well loved and not "breathing stuffed toys."

Good to know that you love your cats that much. Actually a lot more than I love mine, if love is measured with money. The reason why I gave my view on the matter is because you asked. I do know my view is not exactly what some people would consider as a "nice" view which is why I prefaced my post the way I did.

So please feel free to love your cats your way. It's supposed to be a free world.

HK86, I'm speaking about neutering indoor cats, as only an indoor cat should be considered for declawing. If you have a cat that goes outdoors, it should never be declawed. So this whole post is really for those people who care enough to keep their cats safely indoors. A male cat living indoors, intact, will certainly be spraying & so I was referring to that only. We neuter an indoor male cat to keep it from spraying - it's for OUR convenience, not HIS. Just saying... :-)

I don't like declawing, but if declawing gets more cats into homes and out of shelters, I can deal with the idea. I just started working at an animal shelter last week, and as much as I enjoy working with the animals, it's heartbreaking to see so many of them without homes (think of those ASPCA commercials, but fortunately without the sad music). I do my best to educate people on the alternatives such as claw clipping and the Soft Paws claw caps and very much prefer those alternatives, but again, my main priority is getting these cats into homes.

I do have my share of scratches from working with the kitties, but that's part of the job, lol! Mostly they're just playing and get a little too excited (since they don't get nearly as much attention as they would like).

I believe it's absolutely cruel. I think this question was asked a couple of weeks ago, and my opinions have stayed the same. It's mean, it's not needed and it hurts the cat(s). It's best to avoid it because there are alternatives if your cat is scratching everything up, such as tape and sprays.

I agree with Victors basic point, which also is why I gave up the practice. It's a cat. It's going to scratch. We have an old wooden stool, and have gotten our cats to scratch that. It's really not that hard to get the cats to scratch in a certain place. Start with some catnip, and keep a water bottle around to squirt them when they scratch in a place you don't want. Then move then to where you do.

I'm not a fan of it. I like the fact that they can't destroy things as easy but it just doesn't feel right to me. We didn't have are cats done.

We also let ours out so this could be a safety issue for the cat while outside. But even with an indoor cat, I just wouldn't feel right.

James

Yeah, I feel as though it is not really humane to have cats declawed. Many vets that I know of will only do it as a last resort - for example, if the owners will get rid of the cat unless the vet agrees. It is rather painful for the cats during the healing process.

Also, if the cat every got out of the house and got into an altercation with another cat, they would be severely limited when it comes to defending themselves. That is why I would not consider declawing my cat, ever. A well-disciplined cat has no need to be declared.

I would never ever declaw a cat. Or any animal at that matter. I think it's wrong. They have any rights to have claws just like we have fingers.

If done by the right vet, in my opinion, declawing is humane. My cat was declawed when he was a kitten when we got him. Outdoor cats probably shouldn't be declawed, but that's my opinion. Indoor cats don't use their front claws for anything. Cats use their back claws for mostly everything they do, like jumping and running, and if it does come down to self-defense, cats can bite hard.

(06-30-2012, 04:56 AM)andrew320 Wrote: I believe it's absolutely cruel. I think this question was asked a couple of weeks ago, and my opinions have stayed the same. It's mean, it's not needed and it hurts the cat(s). It's best to avoid it because there are alternatives if your cat is scratching everything up, such as tape and sprays.

This is true. I wouldn't want someone to remove my nails, so I wouldn't do it to an animal. My cat Delores scratched up some of my stuff but making her a new scratching post solved the problem. It would have been unnecessary and mean to declaw her.

I thought I read somewhere that vets now offer some kind of rubber nail covers now or something - so it's no permanent harm to the cat.

(07-24-2012, 11:02 PM)ohiotom76 Wrote: I thought I read somewhere that vets now offer some kind of rubber nail covers now or something - so it's no permanent harm to the cat.

That's been around for awhile now. I have never looked into it. I would assume they are removable, otherwise they could cause all kinds of problems I would think, healthwise. Has anyone here ever had them put on? I am curious myself.