How old is your cat? I had a friends who used fingernail clippers on their cats from the time they were young, and while they didn’t exactly enjoy it (not that it was painful–think “giving a young child a bath”), they got used to it.
Please don’t declaw them. Our (indoor) cat ran away for two weeks once, and I’m glad that she still had her claws in case something happened out in the wild.
Claws are something everyone should consider before getting a cat. I think it’s on a list of questions that the SPCA usually gives people, such as “Can you afford food, vet care, etc.? Can you find someone to take care of it when you are away? Are you willing to deal with hairballs, furniture clawing, litter boxes?”
I’ve been considering declawing my cat for a little while, but am kind of hesitant. He doesn’t scratch where he shouldn’t, but he never picked up very good cleaning habits. He’ll regularly get feces under his claws, which then get infected, because he doesn’t clean well (this has nothing to do with a dirty litter box, we clean it daily, he just isn’t the brightest thing on 4 legs, and always manages to get poop crusted under his paws, no matter what we do).
Anyway, I’ve been considering declawing as an alternative to constantly having to treat his poor infected paws, but I’m concerned about some of the side effects that have been mentioned. However, the posts here seem to be either “Declawing is horrid, I’ve never done it, there’s all sorts of bad side effects”, and “Declawing is fine, I did it with no complications”. Has anyone out there done it, and had any of these bad complications? No “I heard of this one guy…” stories, I want to hear from those of you who have first-hand experience with this. Thanks,
Jeff
Jeff - for a real medical reason, it’s a different matter. If your vet genuinely believes your cat will be more comfortable and healthier not getting these regular infections - and that declawing will prevent them, and there are no other methods available - then perhaps you should go for it.
It’s people chopping the bones and tendons of a healthy animal to save some precious upholstery that I find sickmaking.
The question is: are you acting out of love for your animal? Or love for your furniture?
I haven’t actually contacted a vet on this yet, because I know that veterinary opinions (like doctors opinions) can vary wildly on controversial topics such as these. I’ve spoken to vets before who say that aside from some initial pain, they’ve never heard of any side effects. I’ve talked to some who say that every other cat they know that’s been declawed got infected and spontaneously combusted while peeing on the floor. What answer I get depends on where I go. I’ve gone to websites, and those opinions vary, too. So I’ve pretty much been reduced to anecdotal evidence. It would be nice if there was a resource somewhere that said, “Your cat has a X% chance of this happening, and a Y% chance of this happening, and…”, so I could make an informed decision. I guess I’ll have to settle for a less uninformed decision.
I have declawed a cat before, and I have had a bad experience. I don’t know if it was a bad vet or what, but about 10 years ago I took a very sweet little kitten to be declawed – she’d become a little menace to society. She came home with little casts on her paws and looked utterly miserable for days until we could cut them off again.
Since then, a few of her claws have grown back in – sometimes sideways. She bears up well, but we’ve had to take her to the vet about three times since the initial declawing, each time with a little kitty-cast afterward.
I don’t recommend declawing for a few of the reasons above – namely, if Kitty ever gets out of the house (I’ve had friends who’d never had pets leave doors wiiiiiide open for curious kitties to run out and see the world; found my little sweetheart crouching under a shrub nearby, thank God) s/he is utterly defenseless. Can’t even climb a tree properly, let alone defend him/herself against other animals. If you’re ever going to let the cat outside, don’t declaw it. If you’re not, I still recommend against it. You can usually train a cat pretty darn well, especially if you get it young. Treats help. So does a squirt gun.
When my cat was driving me crazy with her clawing, I asked my vet about declawing. He he gave me some good advice, pertinent to the current debate.
“There are too many cats in the world and not enough homes. If there is someone who would provide a good home for a cat, but doesn’t want to to deal with the problems that come with claws, then they should get the animal declawed. Declawing isn’t ideal, but it is better for the animal to be declawed, than for it to be put to sleep. If you are considering taking it back to the shelter because of the clawing problem, then do the cat a favor and get it declawed.”
I got her declawed 10 years ago. No complications, no litter box problems. Happy kitty, happy me.
Don’t like it. Don’t like it at all. My cat is very prehensile with her claws - she picks things up, examines them, grabs food and toys with them. You can’t ask a cat how it feels after having its main digits removed.
Unnecessary mutilation for human convenience. Bad excuse for bad training. 'Nuff said.
The other night my half-cat visited, and as I watched her tearing her little catnip chew toy to pieces, playing with my hand and foot with gentle scratching, and being able to jump and climb onto things with so much ease, I thought of this thread and was so glad she has her proper little claws.
Even when she scratched - for a matter of seconds - my new Persian tribal rug, I didn’t even worry. I thought - when I leave this country, move my stuff abroad and look at this carpet in the future - when time is long past and she is probably dead and gone, or at least very far away from me, I will look at those snags (not that there are any actually) and remember her, and how playful she was, and how much I loved her.
They were a pain to get on (he scratched the hell out of the vet who was applying them), and stayed on for less than 12 hours.
YMMV. I’m sure they work wonderfully for some.
My $.02…Furniture is probably not a good enough reason to declaw a cat - unless the alternative is taking the cat to the shelter or putting it to sleep. Another animal that gets clawed (which is how our first cat got declawed - I go into some detail in a previous thread on this topic) or a person who is getting clawed up (current cat clawed my baby once and was at the vet darn soon afterwards) is a good reason to declaw a cat.
