he clawing of the ankles thing would of stopped once mom and kitten made friends or got to the point kitten knew she wasn’t prey or threat …
When I was 11 and moved in with grandma her cat would do that in hallway…eventually, after making friends and a few smacks to the butt she stopped …
They were friends, always playing “fetch” with bottle caps. That’s why mom kept begging me to give the kitten another chance. But when you see a 92yo woman with blood running down into her shoes, it’s the last straw.
You know, all of my cats except one have been declawed, and none of them had behavioral issues. I know that there are ethical issues with declawing and y’all are free to hate on me for declawing some of my cats*, but unless there are studies showing that declawing leads to behavioral issues, y’all are just spreading propaganda.
*My latest two were declawed before I got them.
I totally agree. My current cat, a 13yo female, had been spayed and declawed as a kitten. She’s the happiest cat I’ve ever had, with absolutely no behavioral issues. Totally mellow, and never complains about anything.
Or could that be because of the declawing?
It’s typically the spaying/neutering that is said to “mellow” the cat (along with urine spraying and other aggressive behaviors), not declawing. (However, that is not completely consistent AFAIK, and individual cases may vary.)
Many cats will not develop behavioral or psychological problems as a result of declawing, though some do. I never heard any lore that declawing could reduce behavioral issues, only the opposite. I know of a case where declawing was psychiatrically indicated in a cat that was already suffering from severe mental problems, but that was because she was harming herself and her caretakers, not because it was supposed to somehow chill her out.
That is not the reason declawing is widely outlawed, though. The reason is that, with the exception of medical cases, one is talking about surgical amputation, with attendant risks (chronic pain, nerve damage, deformity, infection, etc etc as well as a risk of behavioral problems), with zero potential benefit for the patient, along with a 100% chance of leaving the cat defenseless and not being able to do some normal cat things. Informed consent is, naturally, not possible, but even if you yourself went to a surgeon and explained that you wanted the tips of your fingers with your nail beds removed, they wouldn’t do it. Similarly, they wouldn’t, e.g., shave a cat, unless there were a good reason like to remove matted fur, nor dye her fur blue, pierce her ears, and so on.
My cats that went outside were not declawed.
They all went missing.
Our cats that stay inside are declawed.
They are alive and well.
Hm? Claws do not make a cat wander outside, it’s the open doors and windows. There is a special type of fencing that is used to construct safe outdoor enclosures for cats; it has a top segment that swivels inward when the cat tries to climb it.