(01-26-2014, 10:21 AM)Cat Servant Wrote: Declawing is amputation of part of the cat's toes. It is very painful. Cats can easily be trained to use scratching posts and not your furniture. I know plenty of people with cats with claws and they do not "tear up their furniture and rip up their skin."
Declawing causes behavioral problems. Many declawed cats bite. Many won't use the litter box. And, let's face it, who on earth would put up with that if they won't tolerate the occasional scratch or take the time to train their cat?
People who love cats and care about their well-being are not going to do something they know is harmful. I don't think the majority of people who declaw their cats know what they are doing. I've heard and read of way too many who would never do it again after the first time, and I've known of plenty to change their mind if they were educated about it in time.
After being in the veterinary field for years, I am well versed in the procedures involving a feline declaw. I am also well aware of that a cats claw does to elderly skin. You have made your point and I have made mine.
Let me correct you..
**Declawing may or may not cause behavioral issues
**Some cats are can be trained to refrain from clawing up people and furniture HOWEVER it is in their nature to claw and they use their claws to grasp when they are jumping. Most people have no idea how to train a cat therefore your statement is only correct assuming everyone can monitor and train their cat...bottom line is that everyone can't.
**Assuming that people do not know that a declaw is an amputation is the owners fault. You talk about people caring so much about their pets but they do not do their homework in regards to a declaw...Yep...that's love. Why isn't the responsible pet owner arming themselves? It is their responsibility to be aware of what they are doing to an animal..VERY BAD POINT YOU ARE MAKING! Your point only proves that they have no clue as to what they are doing...Hmmm...
Here is the bottom line. I do not oppose declawing and I do not promote it but I do not appreciate people guilting pet owners into NOT declawing a pet when it could mean keeping a good home and not keeping a good home.
Your citing is skewed and views are not fair nor are they balanced and nor do I see you offering both sides of a story so people can make an educated decision on their own Instead you are using one sided statistics to guilt people.
http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-hea...lawing/205
I don't honestly care what your position is as long as you are educating an owner with fair and balanced education instead of guilting someone to death because of YOUR views and personal opinions.
We all have opinions that we express here. Why don't you arm people with both sides? Let them make a choice and use real statistic instead of opinions.
Oh dang, I am so cruel. I declawed my kitten at 9 weeks. Oh wait...I amputated its toes at 9 weeks. Guess what the other option was? Hmmm...for a kitten that was in a taped box left on the doorstep of a vet clinic, the only other option was euthanasia. Black cats and dogs are not easily adopted. Our rescues and shelters were full. Whats more cruel, taking a precious little kitten and killing it because people were irresponsible and let their cat get pregnant and now have to dump kittens and the kittens will not be accepted because THEY ARE BLACK... OR declawing a kitten, so it can come into my home and not scratch my children and my furniture and my dogs?
Your cats are hunters right? That is mentioned in your bio. Squirrels, birds and lizards...Guess cats that have claws like to kill/hunt stuff, because they can. It makes me a bit sad to think of the damage YOUR CATS CLAWS do to other animals. Hmmm...you said it. Not me.
My cat healed within a week. Suffered NONE of the issues that you insist will happen. Yep - no behavior issues, doesn't bite, uses the litter box...yadda...yadda. Oh wait...9 years later he is still fine and dandy!!
Educate people. Let them make a choice. Don't guilt people. That's all I am saying...and back up your facts in a fair and balanced way - not in a skewed way that demonizes someones potential choice! You need to understand the difference.
~~Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't. ~Pete Seeger
~~Education: the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent. ~John Maynard Keynes
~~
