Starting a thread about a subject that’s spawned several massive flame wars is not appropriate for MPSIMS.
Lady Venom wishes to believe that she had no choice. That is incorrect. She had many choices available to her, among them keeping the cat and living with damaged furniture, having the cat declawed, and returning the cat to the shelter.
Her priorities lead her to the decision to declaw the cat. Fine. We could debate the correctness of that decision endlessly.
But, she came to the Straight Dope looking for reassurance. She wanted to be told soothing lies that the choice she made was the only one possible. She had choices – she made a choice – that is the end of it.
She will now be praised by those who agree with the decision, and condemned by those who don’t. Not expecting the later consequence is simply foolish.
Oh really? Funny that we manage to have perfectly civil discussions in MPSIMS about vegetarianism, religion, politics, homosexuality, child-rearing tactics, and so forth*, but Junior Woodchuck Mod TVAA is so wise as to decree that comfort over declawing of cats is something that is clearly inappropriate for the forum. :putz:
*Clue for the clue-impaired: These topics also occasionally inspire flame wars as well.
A post asking for people to reassure the poster she made the right choice is appropriate for MPSIMS?
No way.
(And by the way… if this thread really was appropriate, why was it moved to the Pit in the first place? As the mod. mentioned, this isn’t the first such thread that’s had to be moved here…)
It was moved, TVAA because over the top, flaming defenders of cat paws everywhere came flying into a relatively mild MPSIMS post and called the OP names and accused her of crimes against felines that would throw her into the eighth circle of hell.
She said in the OP that she already felt bad about it…and she was looking for support. Instead she got vicious propaganda and hate.
I’ve never liked declawing my kitties ever since we had sooo much trouble with our first. Her claws KEPT GROWING BACK. We didn’t know how horrible a procedure it was beforehand – we’d never had a cat before – and we were horrified when three little bent stumplings started growing back. Eeich.
That said, do I regret it? Before we declawed her, Kitty managed to severely damage several family heirlooms, including a mahogany rocking horse and a beautiful dollhouse, both of which were made by my grandfather, the last of these just before he passed away. She dragged the little dolls out of the dollhouse as well (yes, we kept it high up, but kitties are known for being able to jump!), gnawing their limbs off and ruining their hair. She also began to shred the carpet. We had given her scratching posts, we’d tried the water gun, and this was before SoftClaws.
Kitty #2 my parents declawed, same reasons, but she’s suffered no ill effects. Kitty #3 was born on our back porch; she’s always been an outdoor cat, so she’s kept her claws. My folks (they have all the kitties now) don’t have much trouble with her, except on the carpet. She loves Berber carpet. Kitty #4, declawed.
If I get a cat of my own…well, it honestly depends. I don’t know what I’ll do. I hate the procedure, but I didn’t have a say in it happening to the family cats. But it will be the absolute last option, regardless.
And the grumpy folks? I know how you feel. This is a very painful issue, especially for folks who look on their kitties the way some folks look on their children. Please try to understand that some cats are much, much harder to train than others – and I would call some individual cats near-impossible to train. They do not love their cats less; they do not love their furniture more.
So which is it you’re opposed to? Surgery to repair a deformity (surely you’ve been witness to children who are abused DAILY for jug ears) or elective, vain , toddler cosmetic surgery? And how does either apply to Lady Venoma’s situation?
Someday, and I hope it’s soon, we’re going to have face the cold, brutal reality that cats are cats and toddlers and toddlers and no matter how you slice it…THEY ARE DIFFERENT.
Will you next argue that the cat’s claws were a deformity?
One toddler is different from another, and one cat is different from another, and a toddler is different from a cat… so?
No matter what way you slice them, they’re both creatures that we make decisions for and about… and they’re found wanting and deserving of being surgically altered.
I have Javascript disabled, so I had to hand-code it, misremembered, and didn’t preview. That’s fine, I always felt strange seeing “Putz!” used by someone but the original anyway.
As for your post before it:
[quote]
A post asking for people to reassure the poster she made the right choice is appropriate for MPSIMS?
No way.**
Yes way, and if you didn’t notice in your attempt to dictate where certain topics may never be posted, it got moved only after the flaming started. Like I stated before, plenty of controversial topics that provoke flame wars have had very productive and polite threads in MPSIMS as well. Quoting UncleBeer from his “I’m moving this” post: “This is obviously a heated subject for some of you, but I would like to post a reminder that no matter the topic, you are all required to be civil to each other in this forum.” The last “this forum” is referring to MPSIMS. No rebukes about subject matter from the mods, but rebukes over the tone and words used by certain posters.
TVAA, if a cat is sick beyond repair do you think it’s humane or inhumane to put it to sleep?
If a cat is a stray and waiting to be adopted, should it be spayed or neutered?
What about rabies vaccinations? Or distemper or kennel cough? Should we not give those to cats because in real nature they wouldn’t receive them?
Would you spay or neuter or euthanize a child?
NO…because cats and people are different. We make decisions for cats because they cannot be or ‘refuse to be’ trained and they are domesticated animals in our charge. Lady Venoma is not having her cat declawed out of vanity or because she feels claws are a deformity, but rather because a cat, which she loves, does not understand that destroying thousands of dollars worth of furniture is inappropriate. THIS CANNOT BE EXPLAINED TO A CAT.