Declawing against the LAW

Caspers Human

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I agree! Cats have claws. It's an essential characteristic. It's part of what makes a cat a cat.

There is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne called "The Birthmark."


It's about a scientist who marries a woman who is perfect in every way except that she has a birthmark on her face which he can't stand the sight of. As the story goes on, the scientist becomes more and more repulsed by his wife's birthmark until he concocts a potion to remove it. The wife drinks it and the birthmark begins to fade but, in the process it also kills her.

The moral of the story (among several) is that the birthmark was an essential characteristic of the woman. Destroying the birthmark means destroying that essential characteristic, thereby destroying the woman.

It's the same with a cat. It's claws are an essential characteristic which, if destroyed, also destroys the cat.

Besides... Owning a cat can be compared to playing rugby.
A person shouldn't step onto a rugby pitch if they don't accept the risk of getting injured.

By extending that logic, a person shouldn't own a cat if they don't accept the risk of getting clawed, once in a while.
 

Bubblesmom2014

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I have a cat that claws my walls and will not use a scratching post no matter what I do. I have never believed in declawing a cat. I bought nail caps to put on her. I’m going to ask the vet to help put them on for me.
 

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There has never been a better time to push for a declawing ban.

The percentage of pet owners may currently be the highest in history. (Translates to votes for the politicians who supoort the ban).

More people than realize the value of and are bonded to a cat, due to covid.

The ban would not be overly controversial (which politicians like), this would make it a low hanging fruit for easy political support (which politicians also like). Promotion of the ban would involve politicians cuddling with cats, which people like to see, (and politicians like to be liked).

Align yourself with animal rights groups and work with them to promote the ban.

My boys are not declawed. The practice is ancient and barbaric.

When I was a child our family, as did many, had one of our cats declawed. I now see the horrific trauma we put our beloved family member thru. That trauma never ended for that poor cat. Every day for her entire life she suffered physically and mentally from the maiming we caused. She had a painful and miserable life and we caused that with our ignorance and because we followed what was considered normal at the time. No one in our family has ever declawed a cat since....that was almost 50 years ago.

I manage rental properties. I tell applicants that a cat is ok, but IT MUST NOT BE DECLAWED! Spayed or neutered, but NOT declawed. If an applicant tells me they will declaw their cat to move in, I will not accept them.
 
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JulietteTruong

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There's also so many things you can do to protect your furniture that don't harm your cat. A friend bought fitted couch covers along with a couple of different scratching posts before she even brought home her cats.
They also make special clear “tapes” that you attach to certain parts of furnitures that deters scratching. You can get them on Amazon.

There are also all sorts of stylish scratching posts too. If you provide adequate scratching surfaces, it reduces the need for cats to scratch things.

I like seeing my kitty scratch her posts. Cats do it to stretch their muscles. And it helps shed their claws. It relaxes them. They get a sense of control over their space from it, and feel more at home. Why would anybody want to deprive them of that? 😏

Cats are part of the family once you take them into your home. They’re more important than furniture!
 

Caspers Human

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There are always a few recalcitrant cats that don't seem to want to stop scratching where they shouldn't.
There are people, right here in this thread, who know cats like that. However, those cats are in the minority.
Most cats can be taught (shown, redirected, distracted, etc.) where scratching is allowed and where it's not.

In my experience, most people who have trouble with cats scratching where they shouldn't are people who don't understand cats.

Sometimes, all it takes is to do a little bit of thinking. Maybe the cat doesn't like the kind of scratching post that their human bought. Maybe the post is good but it isn't in a good place for the cat. You can't put a scratching post in a high-traffic area and expect the cat to use it. You've got to consider things like that or else the cat won't use their post.

Other times, it's behavioral and the cat scratches on furniture as a way of acting out. Sometimes, you have to think of a cat as having the emotional state of a two year old kid who has temper tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. You often have to deal with them, both, in the same way. You have to teach them by steering them away from bad behaviors and rewarding them when they behave well.

I think it's stupid how it seems like most of the people who want to declaw their cats are often the same people who don't understand cats and don't know how to take care of them and train them the right way.

People like that should just find the cat a new home and give it away. :(
 

Caspers Human

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If an applicant tells me they will declaw their cat to move in, I will not accept them.
Be careful about that. Depending on where you live, that could get you into some legal hot water.

Many cities have anti-discrimination laws and an unscrupulous or closed-minded person could twist those laws and claim that you are discriminating against them.

I'm not saying that requiring cats with intact claws is discriminatory. I'm saying that some people have a tendency to twist things around.

If I were you, I'd find an expert like a lawyer or a professional property manager who knows the ins and outs of the laws in the area where you live and get some advice on what you should say and how you should say it.

While I agree with you, I know that there are some people who will do things like this just to get back at people.

Some people act so much like grade school children!
 

Bubblesmom2014

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They also make special clear “tapes” that you attach to certain parts of furnitures that deters scratching. You can get them on Amazon.

There are also all sorts of stylish scratching posts too. If you provide adequate scratching surfaces, it reduces the need for cats to scratch things.

I like seeing my kitty scratch her posts. Cats do it to stretch their muscles. And it helps shed their claws. It relaxes them. They get a sense of control over their space from it, and feel more at home. Why would anybody want to deprive them of that? 😏

Cats are part of the family once you take them into your home. They’re more important than furniture!
I have bought several different types of scratching posts and Athena ( grey kitty) will just walk right past them. While she’s scratching the corners of the walls she’s looking at me like what now mom? When I tell her to stop, my dog will bark at her and chase her away from what she’s doing. It’s her way of telling grey kitty she’s not allowed to do that and my dog know she’s not allowed. Lol With the cat caps, she can still retract and extend her claws, just won’t be able to scratch my walls and such
 

Caspers Human

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While she’s scratching the corners of the walls she’s looking at me like what now mom?
Casper used to do that exact thing when he scratched where he wasn't supposed to. I think it's an attention-getting behavior because, once we paid attention to Casper, he would stop.

It also took a little bit of detective work to find the places where Casper likes his scratchers best.

Once we did those things, Casper stopped scratching in places where he isn't allowed.
 

Talien

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There has never been a better time to push for a declawing ban.

The percentage of pet owners may currently be the highest in history. (Translates to votes for the politicians who supoort the ban).

More people than realize the value of and are bonded to a cat, due to covid.

The ban would not be overly controversial (which politicians like), this would make it a low hanging fruit for easy political support (which politicians also like). Promotion of the ban would involve politicians cuddling with cats, which people like to see, (and politicians like to be liked).
You would think so, but there was a bill proposed in michigan last year to make declawing illegal. It sat for a long time, and as far as I know never actually went anywhere. I have not been able to find out any info on what the end result was, there's lots of articles and news stories talking about the bill being proposed but nothing about what happened with it. I can only presume it died, because if it had been passed it would have been covered.
 

Purr-fect

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Be careful about that. Depending on where you live, that could get you into some legal hot water.

Many cities have anti-discrimination laws and an unscrupulous or closed-minded person could twist those laws and claim that you are discriminating against them.

I'm not saying that requiring cats with intact claws is discriminatory. I'm saying that some people have a tendency to twist things around.

If I were you, I'd find an expert like a lawyer or a professional property manager who knows the ins and outs of the laws in the area where you live and get some advice on what you should say and how you should
Being in the business for over 30 years. Studied the local housing policy and the local tenancies act. Frankly most lawyers ive met dont seem to be anywhere near experts, nor the property managers that ive dealt with. And you are absolutely right. People do twist things around and it can be argued they are encouraged to do so.

In my area we are allowed to advertise "no pets". I generously allow cats (we have no damage deposits allowed and I have suffered the damage irresponsible owners let their pets do.) I insist anyone bringing a cat in must Not declaw it. If it has already been declawed, I chose not to reject because of that. If an applicant TELLS me they will declaw, I wont accept them.

Sadly our laws are so biased that the applicant can simply lie with no repercussions, claim they have no pets and then get as many as they want (within city laws) afterwards.

But thats a topic for another forum.
 

Caspers Human

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Consider this... Declawed cats can become averse to the litter box because digging hurts their paws and, so, they often go outside the box. This is a well known fact.

You, as a landlord (or landlord's agent), would suffer damage to your property if a cat pi$$ed all over the place. Therefore, you might legally be able to exclude declawed cats. You might be able to exclude un-neutered or un-spayed cats on the same grounds. Intact cats are well known to spray or urinate inappropriately.

I'd say that you are in a legally defensible position.

You seem to be as knowledgeable as anybody but I still think that professional advice is warranted.
 
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Barbcbrose

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Thanks Juliette, you got me going.... in 1987 I lived in L.A. and adopted a beautiful himalayan bread cat. She was gorgeous and so loving, one years old. The owners were giving her up, because she would pee everywhere. Especially important areas like the bed, etc. and they could not find a solution, so they gave her to me. I had her for a long time at first she did not pee, but then she did, here and there. I tried everything! I do healing work and am intuitive, so one day I was desperate and began communicating with her. Her answer was in pictures: "She was angry because she had been declawed. She missed climbing trees, being free in nature." She loved it when I took her outside to play in the garden and run around. I could not do so with her claws broken. As wild as this sounds, its a true story. SHe was so full of love... declawing is the worst and if I it were for me and I could find a way I would do a revolution to BANN it for good. Worldwide...
 

Tik cat's mum

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I still find it hard to believe that this isn't illegal in the states. I know different states different laws but to me it's a cruelty against animals act. I feel the same way about tail docking dog's, they use thier tails to communicate. Both of these are now illegal in the UK. I find it hard to believe reading on here and knowing that most people in the states love their animals that the laws haven't been put in place across the country.
 

Caspers Human

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I can accept cropping the tail on certain breeds of dogs where it has been a tradition but only on certain conditions.

It was done, originally, on certain breeds of hunting dogs so that their tails wouldn't flag and scare off game.
It was also done on dogs that ran through brush so that their tails wouldn't get caught up in briars. The same goes for cropping ears.

Legend also has it that, in olden times, poachers would crop dogs tails to prevent game wardens from seeing the dogs and killing them.
In those days, anybody but the king or his nobles who hunted was considered a poacher. People had to eat and, often, game was one of the few sources of meat. Farmers wouldn't want to butcher their cows because that's where they got milk. Sometimes, hunting was the only way to feed a family.

At least, this is what I was told, long ago. Take it for what it's worth and leave the rest.

I'm not in favor of it, per se, but, in the breeds where it's traditional AND if the dog is going to hunt, I would accept it even though I prefer not. If the dog is not going to hunt, I'm NOT in favor.

Declawing a cat? There is no tradition of it, even if those reasons are only legend.

Back in the olden days, if you had a cat, you wanted it to have claws. Most people kept cats to catch mice. How can a cat do its job without claws?

Just to reiterate... There can be reasons to dock a dog, even if they are only historical. Personally, I don't care for it but if you want to stick to tradition, I'll give.

There is noting in history that justifies declawing a cat.
 

Willowy

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I don't consider tradition a good reason for anything---almost all abuse is a tradition, plus most of those reasons are defunct; like they believed that if you bit a puppy's tail off, the dog wouldn't get rabies, which is ridiculous and now we have vaccines anyway---and if we accept the reason of human convenience/preference as a good reason to dock/crop a dog, then we'd have to accept human convenience/preference as a good reason to de-claw a cat. Although I will say that de-clawing is far more crippling than docking or cropping; dogs don't walk on their ears or tails.
 
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