Do you believe in declawing cats?

Question

I don't. I think that it is taking away one of the cat's natural defenses and it is cruel. Thoughts?

Answer 1

If the cat is going to be spending any time at all outdoors they're claws are thier main defense against dogs and other dangers. But my cat is an all indoor cat so we declawed her and she's just fine. She still bites if someone bothers her and it sure hurts so she's not completely helpless.

Answer 2

Cats have a natural inclination to sharpen their claws; unfortunately, they do this by scratching on carpets, woodwork and furniture. Since these acts can potentially destroy a home, many people make the decision to declaw their cats with the hope that it will prevent or solve destructive scratching behaviors. Other cats may also be prone to scratching their owners during play, and if you have small children, this may be of concern. It is in your and your catcatcat's best interest to make the decision to declaw a catcatcat an informed one.

Before you decide to declaw your catcatcat you should educate yourself of the consequences that the procedure may have on your catcatcat’s overall health, including the catcatcat’s psychological well being and the behavioral problems that are often a direct result of removing the catcatcat’s nails. Veterinary research suggests that 33% of declawed cats experience at least one behavioral problem after being declawed.

The procedure used to declaw a catcatcat, also called an onychectomy, is considered a major surgery that involves putting the catcatcat under anesthesia. Once the catcatcat is anesthetized, the veterinarian not only removes the catcatcat’s nails but also the bone that the claw is embedded in. This procedure has been compared to having the last knuckle of each of your ten fingers amputated. During this process, nerves and tendons in the paws are also severed. After the declaw surgery, the catcatcat’s front paws will be tightly bandaged for several weeks while the wounds heal.

The declaw surgery is painful for the animal, and many countries outside of the United States find declawingdeclawingdeclawing cruel and inhumane. As result, declawingdeclawingdeclawing a catcatcat is illegal and punishable by law in these countries. In the United States declawingdeclawingdeclawing is permitted, however some veterinarians refuse to declaw a catcatcat.

Aside from the initial pain of removing the claws, the catcatcat’s quality of life is affected permanently. After a catcatcat is declawed he is unable to scratch, climb trees, and flex and stretch his body naturally. Use of his claws to balance and break falls becomes difficult after declawingdeclawingdeclawing.

The most important consideration to make before you declaw a catcatcat is to realize that a catcatcat’s claws are, other than its teeth, the only form of defense against predators. If you declaw your catcatcat, she should remain indoors for the duration of her life. A declawed catcatcat is less able to escape from dogs, raccoons and coyotes. Even when you intend to keep your catcatcat indoors, there is the potential that it may accidentally get outside.

It is understandable that pet owners do not wish to have their possessions destroyed by their catcatcat, but there are some alternatives to consider before making the decision to declaw your catcatcat:

You should always supply your catcatcat with a quality scratching post. There are many different kinds of scratching posts available, including carpet covered posts that match your décor and cardboard scratching posts that have catnip in them. It may take some training and encouragement to convince your catcatcat to only scratch on the post but in the long term it will be well worth it for both of you.

Teach your catcatcat not to scratch furniture, woodwork etc. by keeping a small water gun handy. When your catcatcat begins to scratch on forbidden objects, give him a squirt of water and say "no" loudly. Reward your catcatcat with praise and/or a treat when he scratches in the designated areas.

If after an honest effort, your catcatcat is still being destructive, you can try using acrylic shields. These are soft caps that are placed over the catcatcat’s nails that protect your furniture and other possession from destructive scratching.  

Answer 3

It's not just taking away their defense, it's taking away their toes.

I have six indoor only cats, all with claws.  They don't hurt each other and they don't hurt us.  We made them a nice big cat tree (you can find lots of designs online and some are pretty easy to build) and plan to make them another one.  It takes a little while to train them, but it's not that tough.

I had two who were declawed when I was growing up and they were never as happy and affectionate as the group I have now.  It's really a sad thing.  That was a long time ago and we didn't know what it really meant.  Even just seeing them deal with it made us all never want to do it again, and that was before we figured out just how terrible declawing/detoeing really is.  

Pets are family and family is more important than furniture. If I had a child who kicked a lot I would not remove their foot, so I would also not remove my cats' claws.  

Answer 4

I Think it is completely wrong and cruel, even worse to outside cats because they can't defend themselves.

anyone who wants to get their cat declawed should go get there fingernails removed completely and see what it's like.

Answer 5

well declawing a cat means your cutting a cats bone its a slow and painful process for a cat. But if you dont it will claw furniture. I wouldnt declaw a cat because its means you cut a catsbone. Oh yeah , its illegal in most of the world.

Answer 6

I dont believe in it if the cat runs away how is it gonna live without the claws for defence and killing small animals to eat and survive!

Answer 7

First of all, it really depends on why you want or need it done and whether there are other solutions. I understand the cruelty arguments, but think about things this way. Why did you get a cat? To have a loving friend to come be with you when you are calm or sad? Or someone to play with and so forth. Dogs were bred to be playmates and are much better about getting rough with their owners.

I have 2 cats both front declawed and I know one that is fully declawed. Before you start screaming, get some facts.

My aunt was the original owner of Napoleon, my 17 year old baby. 15 years ago there weren't a lot of options for cats with sharp claws, it was trim or declaw. Declaw was even fairly new back then, almost unheard of. My aunt had bought the kitten at a cat show and was replacing her Himalayan who had very recently passed on. An impulse buy. Unfortunately her health was significantly failing due to lupus, so she didn't plan on getting any more cats, since she didn't figure on living that long. Because of her health when Nappy scratched her, she would bleed for HOURS. Yep, lot of blood thinners and other meds to really s***w her up. I remember her agonizing for months on what to do, causing several flairups, nearly putting her in the hospital. She wanted to keep the cat, but the claws were such a health risk that she was afraid she wouldn't be able to. In the end her vet told her about De clawing, which was the only way she was going to be able to keep her cat. She finally had it done, and cried for months over it. Of course the cat decided that she needed some serious loving and would sit on her lap for hours at a time.

17 and doesn't seem to mind the lack of claws.

When we adopted our kitten, he was twice the size of our old cat and they were getting into massive fights. The kitten was going to kill my old baby, since the old one had no defenses against the younger cat. So we discussed it and decided to even the odds by having the kitten laser declawed. He came home with stitches and a cone on and was perfectly happy. Not seemingly in any pain at all. I would think that a cat in a pain would hide, avoid playing, not walk to much, etc. Mine was bounding all over the house 5 minutes after he got home. He was simply pissed that he couldn't get his toys inside his cone to bite them properly, or wash his whiskers.

At the moment the cat has pink eye (don't know how he got it, but I doing what I can to get rid of it fast, poor baby) and has to wear a cone again. If you ask me its the cones that are cruel, not the operations.

Would I declaw another kitten? I mean if my old cat died and then I needed to get another cat? Probably not. I wasn't actually planning to do that with this cat, but it was necessary to protect my older baby. And having gotten the cat from a shelter that had had him for quite a while, if I had given him up again, he would have most likely been put down.

The other cat who was full declawed had a bad skin condition that would cause her to scratch her head until it bled. Nasty lesions on her head in front of both ears. They tried clipping her nails, changing her diet (she refused to eat the prescription foods) putting her on meds (regurgitates at will, very talented kitty), nothing worked. Cone? Forget it, she had that off 4 times before the technician in the vets office could leave the room. So the family discussed it and in the end did a full declaw. Now the cat is perfectly fat and HAPPY.

All of the aforementioned cats are permanent indoor cats and are not EVER going to be placed in situations that require natural defense. Meaning no dogs, other cats, etc. We took away their ability to defend themselves, so now we take responsibility for their defense.

Declawing a cat is not something you should decide to do in 5 minutes. You really need to think about it and understand that you are making a 25 year commitment to this animal. That you will care for them for the rest of their lives. I will starve and go homeless before my cats are turned out to a shelter or the outside. Its that simple.

Answer 8

i agree that it is cruel. at least leave them something. yea, and its their only natural defense besides running.