Some people seem to think this is OK and others think it one of the worst things you can do to a cat and is akin to cutting the last joint of a humans finger(s) off.
Is this true?
YES!!!
Just my opinion, but I had my cat’s front claws removed and she seems fine. Of course most cats are wierd anyway, so who can tell the difference.
I might worry if it was an adult cat, but for a kitten, I think they are just clueless.
You’ll want to run a search. We’ve gone around with this before, and IIRC it got a bit ugly.
Here’s some information on various alternatives to declawing, exact information on three different types of common declawing surgeries, two other new declawing techniques, and a short discussion of 10 “myths and rumors” about declawing (several of which I’m sure you’ll run into if you are searching the web for declawing information).
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/declawing_and_its_alternatives.html[\url]
To specifically answer your question, comparing declawing to “cutting the last joint of a humans finger(s)off” is a bit of an oversimplification. I don’t know of any cats who can play the piano… in other words, cats do not have dexterity in their “fingers” like humans do. However, if for some medical reason (frostbite or something) you had to lose just the ends of all your fingers after the last joint, just how handicapped would you be? Probably not very. With some retraining, you could still play the piano!
I work at an animal hospital (my wife is a veterinarian), and I’ve learned that there are some “animal rights” people who are as wacky as as the religious fundamentalists highlighted in the news recently. I’m sure you will run across websites comparing declawing to Nazi war camp torture, and these people just cannot be reasoned with. Personally, I would not subject a cat to any kind of surgery if it wasn’t needed, but if a cat’s owner is going to be constantly “pissed off” at it because of innapropriate scratching behaviors, that cat’s overall quality of life is going to be much better without it’s claws. After a couple of days of soreness after the surgery, if it’s anything like our cats, it won’t even know the difference. We have four cats, three of which have been declawed (the fourth doesn’t claw up stuff at all so he doesn’t need to be), and they are all quite happy, contented, just as playful as before, etc., and even scratch on stuff as cats do just like before, as if they still had there claws. They don’t know the difference, but we sure do!
Whoops! Hit “Submit” instead of “Preview,” and I screwed up the hyperlink. To save anyone who wanted to check out our great website from cutting and pasting, I’ll try again:
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/declawing_and_its_alternatives.html
Yep. I didn’t used to know this, but it turns out this is a Great Debate. Off to there.
I’ve heard that the bone which is removed in declawing doesn’t serve any purpose other than to hold the claw.
Yes, it’s true. The “declawing” process removes the entire distal phalange and is therefore akin to chopping off an entire joint.
Declawing is inhumane. If you don’t want a cat shredding your furniture, get a dog. (Or learn how to train your cats not to claw up your furniture.) Pets are not mere possessions which you are free to chop up and alter to suit your needs.
If you have to mutilate the poor thing get a freaking snake or fish. Hamsters are cute. I have four cats at present, never have had any declawed. Ooh, they claw stuff, get over it.
So what about spaying and neutering? It seems this would fall solidly into the surgically “altering” category.
Good one, I’m glad I said “mutilate.” Use a Golden Rule approach. People get their tubes tied = OK. People do not get their fingers cut off = bad.
I have only anecdotal “evidence” against it: the only two cats I ever encountered that had a tendency to bite were both declawed (both had been declawed when already almost fully grown). Have encountered others where it seemed to be no problem (strangely enough, all were adopted and the previous owners were the one who had the felines declawed).
I would question why someone would want to do it though. The usual justification I hear is that people are worried about the cats damaging furniture, carpets, etc. Having had several cats, I have never found it to be terribly difficult to train them that the couch is NOT the scratching post (“Kitty, see this spritz bottle…?”). It strikes me as a completely unnecessary procedure. The occasional rent or tear from a snagged claw doesn’t seem worth the risk of doing damage. If it does worry you, talk to your vet about being trained to clip the claws…
Spaying and neutering take away the desire to mate as well as the ability. Declawing just takes away the ability to scratch. A declawed cat still instinctively wants to scratch to mark his territory, so he gets frustrated.
Well here’s a question for those against cat declawing-
Which would be better: declawing a cat and keeping it, or not declawing the cat and putting it up for adoption because of the claws?
Because in my case, I want to update my furniture. There’s no way my new sofa and my older cat will be able to work together- something has to give.
So, what should it be? Adoption, or de-clawing?
I used to live with 2 cats.
They kept their claws.
They never ever scratched anything!
The male we let outside all the time, the female stayed in, and we never saw anything with scratches.
Is it humane?
I don’t know.
I think we may not know until cats can talk and tell us.
Do all cats scratch furniture?
I know some do, but whats the percentage?
can they be trained not to?
So, you support plastic surgery for pets? Oh, look, Fido needs a little nip and tuck. I find this “golden rule” lacking.
I think some people are a little simplistic. When my husband moved in with me he brought his cat. My cat had some issues with this. After his cat made three trips to the emergency vet, we were given the choice, put one cat up for adoption, or declaw the aggessor. We tried the little plastic nails - they came off and the submissive cat made another trip to the vet, we tried clipping claws, submissive cat made another trip to the vet. Since we would never have given his cat away (he was a wonderful cat, passed away recently) and my cat was not adoptable (bitch cat from hell, and ten years old), putting her up for adoption really meant letting someone else decide to put her to sleep. We decided to declaw her. She lived several more years before litterbox avoidance and the coming of children forced us to make the decision to put her down.
Can cats be trained not to scatch? Yes. Is it always successful? No. Our wonderful cat scratched up furniture until he was too sick not to, and we tried everything to get him to stop.
My current cat is also declawed. He scratched my child. Yes, he still has back claws and teeth, but my kids haven’t been hurt by this cat since. My other choice was the “adoption” route again. Again with an mature cat that quite honestly, wouldn’t be adopted.
So, CnoteChris, I vote for declawing. Because adoption for an older cat is a nice story we tell owners before we put their cats to sleep.
One of my sisters is a DVM, and declawing is the one proceedure she actively loathes. It’s not the removal of the claw, so much as the post-surgical pain the animal suffers. Until the wounds heal, the animals are in excruciating pain, and there is relatively little that can be done to manage it.
I agree.