Here's another Declawing: A rational Look
Well, whatever her age, she's pretty stinkin' cute!Originally Posted by Mrs.Harris
I adopted her from a local shelter, they said she is 1 year and 4 months, but I don't know if that is correct.
Since she is already an adult, please try to exhaust your other options first. The soft claws and a good sturdy well placed post should really help.Originally Posted by Mrs.Harris
I adopted her from a local shelter, they said she is 1 year and 4 months, but I don't know if that is correct.
You love her so much you are willing to have her finger tips chopped offOriginally Posted by Mrs.Harris
I love her she will not be re-homed. Simple as that.
OK and what happens when he gets to his wits end about her biting? he will want you to rehome Layla. So you will cause her excruciating pain, leave her defenseless and then get rid of her.Originally Posted by Mrs.Harris
. My husband is at his wits end and is demanding that she be declawed.
"Most" vets do not educate about declawing. They just upsell spay/neuter as though someone were buying fries with a burger. "oh a spay? Would you like a declaw with that?" A few vets actually care and will take steps to teach, most don't though. Just more profit for them. We really need to try harder to make mutilation illegal.Originally Posted by elvenchic_13
Declawing is basically evil. It is mutilation. It is basically like cutting off your fingers at the first joint. Does your husband know this? Most vets make people watch a horrible video about declawing before they will even consider doing it. Try finding this video online, renting one, or asking the vet to borrow it and make your husband watch it. It will make you sick and if any person can watch a video on the truth of declawing and still declaw, then they do not need a cat. Just because an animals natural habits are annoying or unfavorable to a person doesn't mean the cat needs ti have its "fingers" chopped off to pay for it. I'm sure your cat would rather go to a new home than have it's claws mutilated and then have to resort to biting and peeing and pooping all over the house.
This is where I was really caught off guard. I was at 4 vet's offices before I found what was a good fit for me and my cat. There was nothing ahead of time except signing a standard "I understandblahblahblah form". And when I returned when he had trouble I was told larger cats frequently do and need longer courses of meds. So then why don't they send them home with those instructions???Originally Posted by Bonnie1965
"Most" vets do not educate about declawing. They just upsell spay/neuter as though someone were buying fries with a burger. "oh a spay? Would you like a declaw with that?" A few vets actually care and will take steps to teach, most don't though. Just more profit for them. We really need to try harder to make mutilation illegal.
I wasn't totally ignorant of the procedure, and anyway ultimately I'm responsible for my actions concerning my pet. To be truthful when weighing the decision I had a really hard time believing the anti-declaw info. Declawing is the norm where I live and most of my friends upon hearing my kitten was going in for neutering at ten weeks of age responded with "Are you getting him declawed too? It's much easier for them when they're young". I know scores of people who have had cats declawed who claim no problems, including my brother's cat who is one of the lovliest and most capable indoor/outdoor cats I've known. Compared to what I was being assured of by people I know (a day or two of tenderness at most) the anti-claw info came off to me as people who were very passionate about the topic and were describing what seemed to me (in light of what I was hearing) as rare exceptional situations and not the norm. I've always had a hard time finding such passion/extremes believable.Originally Posted by hissy
Pippen, your post broke my heart. I know you feel responsible, but it wasn't you. It was the vet that did the job, the pain the cat had to endure as well as the age of the cat when the procedure was done that turned your cat into a different being. I have a friend who only rescues declawed cats from shelters. She works with them gently, tries to socialize the trauma from them then when they are ready, they go into retirement communities, hospices, and nursing homes. She has only had a few that were 4 paw declawed and she has had to keep both because of behavior issues. No vet worth his salt would ever 4-paw declaw.
There is a lot of hype around declawing. Lynch mobs would form here in the past when someone suggested they were thinking about it. But the bottom line is there are some cats who cannot travel through the pain, they cannot understand why a human would hurt them like that and so they react for their own survival. Left without claws, leaves them with only one defense their teeth. If declawing were such an answer then why do so many declawed cats end up in shelters and rescue centers?
Most vets here do not show such videos, as I posted a while back, my old vet recently had an advert in the paper, and leaflet through the door offering reduced price 'speuter and declawing packages' for kitten season.Originally Posted by elvenchic_13
Most vets make people watch a horrible video about declawing before they will even consider doing it. .... I'm sure your cat would rather go to a new home than have it's claws mutilated and then have to resort to biting and peeing and pooping all over the house.
As I said above, you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. The OP came here before doing it, and unlike some newbies has agreed to try different things... some people are not aware of alternatives, especially if their vets offer packages to have speuter and declaws done at one time (because its better to only put the cat under once).Originally Posted by Fenleebe
This doesn't seem like a decision that was well thought out, if alternative options were not chosen.
Well, years later, we broke up and the cat's still here, with no claws, she bites, she hisses if the wind blows by, she eliminates inappropriately at times and she spends most of her time hiding in a closet.
So let me ask you, you want to keep her so much because you love her. Who's going to love her when your husband wants to get rid of her because she's biting and pooping around your house??
Oh, she's arthritic now in her paws too.