My cat, a stray who was going to end up at the pound or in the jaws of the neighborhood pit bull (sadistic cat-hating owner–no I’m not kidding) was clawing me to death to the point that I had to declaw him. I grew up with cats and I have never believed in declawing them but it was a case of “either your claws go or you do.”
And honestly, he was back to fighting form within 24 hours. I gave him pain meds for several days, as recommended, and I tried to keep him from jumping off of stuff, but it was if he didn’t know anything had happened. I’ve seen cats take longer to recover from neutering than he did to recover from his declawing.
My vet did say that they DO NOT recommend declawing a cat over ten pounds, b/c the stress on their paws will be too great while healing, unless you confine them to a cage…which is unrealistic. I asked her also how she felt about declawing, and she said she has declawed two of her own cats.
I don’t think it’s an ideal solution to a cat’s claws in all cases, but I don’t regret doing it and I don’t think it was horribly cruel and unfair to him.
I think declawing is justified in an extreme case like this, but it’s a pretty bullshit thing to do just because there are some scratches on your couch.
As a child, we had a cat that my mother had declawed. This was back in the seventies, and I don’t know-would that have been the first time it was done?
She said later that she wished she had researched more about it. The cat was okay, but since it was only her front paws, she used to use her back legs and bite.
And even more sickening: Debarking.
The wiki link says problem barking can lead to legal troubles. I’d just make the dog wear a vest that says “CAR ALARM SERVICE DOG”. That way if he’s going off at all hours of the night, the police wouldn’t make you do anything. Problem solved without surgery!
I’ve known a number of de-clawed cats (front paws only in all cases), and lived with a couple with fully-functional people-pokers. The de-clawed ones would flex their paws the same way they would if they still had claws. And one of them (a large indoor/outdoor cat that lived well into his teens) was, I’m told, quite capable of keeping the neighbours’ dogs out of the yard. I would think that it would be easier for a cat and his person to enjoy each other’s company if the human companion doesn’t have to worry about about sharp things in her arm every time she’s holding a happy feline.
I don’t think it’s particularly cruel, in that it doesn’t seem to impair any necessary functions (although tree-climbing is right out). But neither am I about to argue with anyone who thinks it is–you all have good reasons for it. And I don’t know if I would do it to my own cat unless there were severe problems, but I’m lazy like that.
I can certainly see the argument against de-clawing, but what I can’t see is the POV that the cat would be better off in a shelter, paws intact, than in his known and loving home with mutilated paws.
As to whether I value my home and furnishings more highly than I do my pets: Hell yes, I do. That’s why I only have non-destructive pets and if I had destructive pets, I would take whatever steps I needed to make them non-destructive (starting with the least drastic option first, of course). Only if I could not successfully make them non-destructive would I give them away, but would I give them away at that point? Yes. That, or put them down.
We got an indoor-only, ‘rescue’ cat late, probably 9 or 10 months old, and it turned out to be a scratcher. We put posts, pads, everything out but it continued to head to the nice furniture. Neither destroying that nor keeping it restricted to safe rooms were an option, so we had it declawed. I fully appreciate those with reservations about declawing but I’m not sure our cat even knew it had happened. Never limped, cried, gave any indication of discomfort whatsoever. Like Mahaloth’s, it still goes to the same chairs and rakes its paws, but now it’s cute.
My F-I-L is a vet. We first asked him about the lasering. His reply in short; do it only if you want to pay a couple of hundred extra for essentially the same result.
This in part an update and in part a warning to lieu. I walk in from work daily and peer around the corner into the living room, hoping beyond hope that our male siamese had not claws the bejeezus out of the new furniture. It’s been a week and nothing. He has taken to springing across the couch and sliding into the chair arm then off the couch. He seems to really have fun doing that but that’s about it.
Here’s the warning for lieu if your cat appears to be fine after you declawed it, no limping, crying, or any indication of discomfort - sleep with one eye open man…he’s probably stalking you in the night. Or very least, watching you sleep.
Soon you will be refering to him/her as your feline overlord. Be warned lieu.
One other approach you might consider is slipcovers. Yeah, I know, you got the leather couches to enjoy them, but you can still take the covers off to show off the furniture for company. They are making much less hideous slipcovers these days than in days of yore.
Not so. Our cat was declawed when we got it 7 years ago, and it has never seen the inside of a house. It is strictly an outdoor cat, and has no problems surviving. (We feed it, of course. But it has managed to stay alive despite being declawed.)
No need, Phlosphr. I had the vet remove the rest of Brunswick’s legs and surround the bed with bowling pins each night. I’ll awaken regardless of what the cat might throw at me, whether it be hairballs or a 6-10 split.
Ah, a kindred spirit. That’s what I don’t get either about this whole “declaw is evil” thing. Every day cats are put down because they can’t find homes. Seems to me that a declawed living cat is a better end result than a dead cat - or even the short brutal life of most feral cats.
Sure, I suppose that getting to the point where there are only enough cats as homes willing to accept them in all their potential “cattiness” - claws, bad attitudes, 5am meowling, and various cat neurosis (and there are cats who have no cat neurosis whatsoever, but its always a risk) is the best end result. (Every cat a wanted cat), but we are far from there - and it seems like a compromise is a wise thing.
I should also clarify that I do think once you have a pet you have an obligation to live your life in a way that isn’t going to make it extraordinarily difficult to keep the pet. I have dogs and I wouldn’t get a sofa made of, say, Milkbones, and then be like, “The dogs wouldn’t leave the sofa alone; I had to give them away!” I have very little respect for people who have animals and then move to locations that won’t let them keep the animals, as if they (the animals) are disposable and not a lifetime commitment.
BUT I also think there’s a threshhold of acceptable animal behavior beyond which it is okay to modify the animal if that’s what you have to do to keep it, though I recognize that different people will find that threshold at different places. I agree that in general de-clawing is not good, but if it makes the difference between whether the cat can stay in the home or goes to a shelter, then I think it may be justified.
What if the cat was scratching children instead of a couch? Would people still argue that it is better to give the cat away intact than to declaw and keep it?
Anecdote: NajaHusband had a cat when he was a kid who was tiny–about a third smaller than a “normal” adult cat. He was also declawed.
They tried to keep him as an indoors-only cat, but eventually had to start letting him outside because he was hyper-aggressive and a sprayer, despite all attempts to correct the behavioral issues.
Turns out they needn’t have worried about the declawing interfering with his ability to take care of himself–he proceeded to kick the crap out of any cats or stray dogs that wandered into his yard and he more or less ruled the feline neighborhood for the next ten years.
On the other hand, we had an older declawed female when I was a kid who got torn to bits by the neighbors’ practically feral backyard dog pack. They got out of their yard and saw Rosie on our front lawn. She tried to get up a tree but obviously couldn’t get a grip on the bark. They tore her to shreds right in front of my mom.
Sum total? I’ll never condemn anyone for making the choice to declaw their cat. If having claws removed means it gets a good home, well… there are millions of cats euthanized every year who I’m sure would line up to have their toes snipped. Declawing hasn’t been a choice I’ve had to make, our two are paws intact, but I wouldn’t lose a lot of sleep over it if the choice was nuke the claws or nuke the cat.
