Declawing

babyharley

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Originally Posted by laureen227

babyharley's newest cat, Bayley, had to have some claws removed due to infection. also, if the person/owner has a some type of medical condition, where cat scratches could be life-threatening, [hemophilia, AIDS, etc.] i can see where a declawed cat would be better. however, there are plenty already available - even if that were the preference, one could simpley adopt an already declawed cat, like my Chip.


That was our option, if his infection was continuing to get worse- but luckily, it hasn't been, and he lost about 5 claws with the infection. The vet told us we could declaw him to remove the infection, if it got worse. But luckily, we didn't have to take that route


Glad to hear your not going to declaw your kitties!
 

sharper16

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I will admit when I was younger I thought declawing was just a routine procedure. Now that I am older and have done thorough research, I will not declaw my cats anymore. Good for you for educating yourself.

My sister has all 3 of her cats declawed and even though I tried to talk her out of it, she did it anyway. It doesn't help that the vets here in the US encourage declawing because they state that most people will get rid of their cats because they are destroying their furniture. They would rather encourage delawing than getting rid of the animals. I guess there are pros and cons. I hope the US bans declawing soon.
 

buzbyjlc10

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Originally Posted by sharper16

It doesn't help that the vets here in the US encourage declawing because they state that most people will get rid of their cats because they are destroying their furniture. They would rather encourage delawing than getting rid of the animals. I guess there are pros and cons. I hope the US bans declawing soon.
I do hope that the US bans the declaw soon as well, but they can't just ban it and that's it.... they need to educate the public about alternative behavior modifications/scratching preventatives so people DONT just boot their cats to the street... unfortunately, I don't have much faith in our country doing all that follow through
ugh!

At least they are trying to crack down on animal cruelty as can be seen in those animal cops shows on AP - even though a lot those people get off kind of easy, I always feel ok in the end when the animals are taken and given better homes!
 

roimata

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Our cats are declawed, My parents decision, I never thought anything about it...until now, NOW im upset with them for being so uneducated and doing that, I had no idea it was basically an amputation! I thought simply the nails were taken out. Thats horrible and id NEVER declaw any of my pets, expecially after what ive read.
 

goldenkitty45

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Yeah, the person wants to get rid of the cat for clawing the furniture - solution - just declaw.........months later the person NOW wants to dump the cat cause he's biting, hiding, or starts peeing anywhere BUT the litter pan.......SOME SOLUTION!



Ro,

Instead of being mad at your parents, take a more adult approach and explain to them that what they did was not the best thing to do to a cat and show them what really happens. Educate them as you've been educated!
 

roimata

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Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Ro,

Instead of being mad at your parents, take a more adult approach and explain to them that what they did was not the best thing to do to a cat and show them what really happens. Educate them as you've been educated!
Pshhhh believe me, they dont care, just like they didnt care about how I was mad and that they circumsised my brother, I tried to educate them about it, they didnt care o_o heh heh
 

dragoriana

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Originally Posted by Kibasgirl

I've heard nothing but bad about this, and for awhile now I've been wondering if all of that negativity is really true or not. To be honest, I'm an inexperienced cat owner with plenty of research to back me up. During my research, I found many articles about Declawing, all which came done quite harsh on the subject.

Before I make the choice to either declaw or not, I'd like to know the truth. Originally, since my kitten is indoors, I was planning on declawing, until I came across some articles. I've heard everything bad about it, and my question is: Declawing: Good, or Bad?
I know im late to the thread and everyone has replied. Declawing is bad. Alot of people assume it is just removing the claw by itself, but they amputate to the first knuckle. All ten (or more of your a poly). I have seen pictures of this procedure, it is quite disturbing and unecessary. If i found a kitty who was declawed i would still adopt, but i would NEVER let anyone do that.

Learn to trim their nails. Use soft paws. If they have an enclosure make sure htye have wood/logs to scratch on.
 

tatsukitty

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my sister's cat Biscuit is declawed. I don't know the settings for it, but he seems just fine. he is an indoor outdoor cat, much as we'd rather he'd stay indoors. he has no litter box problems, beats up the other cats if they annoy him. He snatched a bird clean out of the sky the other day. He walks just fine as well. his only problem, moving wise, it that e sort of writhes when you pet him, and goes boneless.
He still has his back claws, and he does alot of damage with those. I've got the scars.
I'm not too overly concerned with him, and it seems like a little overkill, with alot of the posts. But that's just my experience, and it might be different for someone else. I say, until we can truly get in a cat's mind, and understand them, we really don't have much of an idea of the overall effects of declawing your pet.
 

zissou'smom

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To answer an original point brought up, yes, a lot of the stuff online is quite harsh.

But so many non-cat-owners still believe that you can't have an indoor cat that is declawed, or there's nothing wrong with it. Everytime people hear I have a cat, if they don't also, one of their first questions is "Is she declawed?" after which they often try to convince me why she should be and are astonished that I have no desire to do so and we do just fine together inside with her claws.

Anti-declawing is operating against quite a bit of well-ingrained myth, I've even had VET TECHS tell me it's no worse than trimming their nails.

I'm very glad you've decided to go with keeping your baby whole-footed. If you come across scratching problems or anything else we are always here for advice!
 

zissou'smom

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Originally Posted by tatsukitty

my sister's cat Biscuit is declawed. I don't know the settings for it, but he seems just fine. he is an indoor outdoor cat, much as we'd rather he'd stay indoors. he has no litter box problems, beats up the other cats if they annoy him. He snatched a bird clean out of the sky the other day. He walks just fine as well. his only problem, moving wise, it that e sort of writhes when you pet him, and goes boneless.
He still has his back claws, and he does alot of damage with those. I've got the scars.
I'm not too overly concerned with him, and it seems like a little overkill, with alot of the posts. But that's just my experience, and it might be different for someone else. I say, until we can truly get in a cat's mind, and understand them, we really don't have much of an idea of the overall effects of declawing your pet.
The official stance of TCS has already been posted. I am quite glad that your sister's cat has not yet experienced any bad effects that you know of from the declaw, but it isn't a good idea that they let him outside.

Call a nearby shelter and ask them how they feel about declawing. A disproportionate number of declawed cats are surrendered for behavioral problems or health problems. After being forced to walk completely unnaturally for a lifetime, many develop joint or bone problems.

No, we can't get inside a cat's mind, but from simple observation of more than a single cat it is painfully apparent that NO cat would ask that you cut off all its fingers for no good reason.
 

ddcats

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Declawing is the cruelest and most selfish thing to do to a cat.


Anyone who declaws their cat should have their ten fingernails removed permenately.

Sorry to sound so harsh; but; someone dumped a declawed cat on my doorstep and she has behavior problems, not to mention she is petrified of my other cat who has claws.

Stores have plenty of cat furniture, or yard sales have old chairs that cats would love to claw up.
 

urbantigers

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Originally Posted by tatsukitty

my sister's cat Biscuit is declawed. I don't know the settings for it, but he seems just fine. he is an indoor outdoor cat, much as we'd rather he'd stay indoors. he has no litter box problems, beats up the other cats if they annoy him. He snatched a bird clean out of the sky the other day. He walks just fine as well. his only problem, moving wise, it that e sort of writhes when you pet him, and goes boneless.
He still has his back claws, and he does alot of damage with those. I've got the scars.
I'm not too overly concerned with him, and it seems like a little overkill, with alot of the posts. But that's just my experience, and it might be different for someone else. I say, until we can truly get in a cat's mind, and understand them, we really don't have much of an idea of the overall effects of declawing your pet.
tatsukitty - the opposition a lot of us have to declawing is based more on the ethical aspect of removing a cat's claws purely for our own benefit. Even if it could be proved that not a single cat suffered any pain or discomfort during and after decalwing, and exhibitied no behavioural problems, I'd still think it was wrong to do that to a cat for the owner's convenience. Everything else we do for our cats - eg keeping indoors, neutering - has some benefit for the cat. But declawing only benefits the owner and is therefore, imo, totally unethical.
 

sooty_94

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Originally Posted by Kibasgirl

I've heard nothing but bad about this, and for awhile now I've been wondering if all of that negativity is really true or not. To be honest, I'm an inexperienced cat owner with plenty of research to back me up. During my research, I found many articles about Declawing, all which came done quite harsh on the subject.

Before I make the choice to either declaw or not, I'd like to know the truth. Originally, since my kitten is indoors, I was planning on declawing, until I came across some articles. I've heard everything bad about it, and my question is: Declawing: Good, or Bad?
I'd say BAD. But that is just my personal opinion. My cat seems to enjoy sharpening her claws on me (even though it can geta little annoying
) but I think it is good for cats to keep their claws. That sounds strange i've never heard of declawing before. I would think cats need their claws to dig holes and things.
 

bonnie1965

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Sooty, I think it is because you live in Australia. I believe it is outlawed there. Such a civilized country compared to ours
 

diego

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I thought it better to revive a dead thread than to start a new one.
So declawing is actually different from cutting the points off the nails? I always just called it declawing when I cut their nails. They actually remove the complete claw? so that they never grow again? that makes my skin crawl just thinking of it.
Trimming their claws is ok isn't it? of course making sure you don't cut the quick, which I have never done.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by DIEGO

I thought it better to revive a dead thread than to start a new one.
So declawing is actually different from cutting the points off the nails? I always just called it declawing when I cut their nails. They actually remove the complete claw? so that they never grow again? that makes my skin crawl just thinking of it.
Trimming their claws is ok isn't it? of course making sure you don't cut the quick, which I have never done.
what you do is like cutting your own fingernails. what declawing is is like cutting off your fingers at the first knuckle.
 
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