I’m not a cat owner, but this story made me think. Is it cruel to declaw a cat.
My friends who did not declaw their three cats, did not do so out of fear that if the cats were ever accidently let out of the house that they would not be able to “defend themselves.” Their house looks like a pissed-off pride of tigers decided to vent their rage on the furniture, despite the availability of various scratching posts. The cats have also attacked my ankles on several occasions when I’m visiting, leading me to secretly wish they were declawed.
Friends that have declawed said that this is the only way they would ever want to have a cat: non-destructive to furniture and panyhose alike. Not to mention that cats sometimes “knead” those they love, and the claws can dig into the flesh even when the cat is meaning to show affection.
The site says that part of the paw must be removed in order to declaw, which must be very painful indeed. Some animal rights advocates say that it is cruel and unecessary, while others say that you must declaw if you want to keep a cat in your home, in order to have decent-looking furniture.
What do you guys think? Are your cats declawed? Do you think it cruel?
I struggled over this issue with my kitty. And ultimately I did opt to have her declawed – front paws, not back paws. She was tearing up the carpet and the walls despite all the scratch toys I made available to her.
To assuage my guilt, I chose the laser surgery option which, while it cost more, meant she had far less bleeding, smaller incisions and no need for stitches.
The results were fine – now she doesn’t destroy anything, she still gets her scent all over the walls, and she’s got her back paws should she ever get outside (she can climb a tree with those).
I’ve owned many, many cats over the course of my lifetime, and I would hardly say that it is necessary to de-claw them to have a harmonious life. I’ve honestly never had a cat that destroyed furniture. Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but my dogs are far more destructive than my cats have ever been.
That said, I’ve owned one cat that was declawed ( adopted him this way). I feel that it is indeed cruel and unusual to de-claw them. If there were a way to do so that didn’t involve a great deal of pain, it might be another story, but there isn’t. Also, it does deprive them of their ability to fend for themselves, not just for defense either. It hinders their ability to climb and steady themselves. My de-clawed cat is gaining in years, and its sad to see him fall off of the furniture. He just can’t get a grip like he should.
We also had a cat who lost a paw due to a tumor. She was forever babying her lost paw, and I can only imagine the pain she was in. I can’t imagine that de-clawing would be any less traumatic.
Also, when it comes to being ‘kneaded’ (we call it making air muffins) you can teach your cat to keep their claws in. It takes some patience, but it can be done. Our littlest learned this a few weeks after we got her (rescued her from a box in the middle of the parking lot on a blistering hot day).
As with any animal, you can overcome undesirable behaviours with a little training and patience. No need to treat the animal cruelly to create harmony.
I have three cats, and after doing the research, I decided that declawing was kind of cruel, and I wouldn’t do it unless it was necessary. The two I got as kittens did well with training- it took some patience, but they don’t scratch inappropriately. The older cat hasn’t caught on, so I’m using Soft Paws, which are great if you don’t want to declaw, and there’s a variety of places on the net where you can mail-order them.
If you love your furniture more than your cat, you shouldn’t have a cat. If you can’t be bothered teaching your cat not to destroy your stuff, you shouldn’t have a cat.
We have four cats; one was de-clawed when we got her. They are basically good kitties. We have rough cedar walls and doorways, and they’re allowed to scratch there. There are a couple spots on the carpeting that they trashed, but we can live with it. Don’t hurt the little softies. Leave their claws alone.
I’ve heard the laser option is much more humane than the old way, and that there’s a procedure they can do that cuts the tendon to the claw, which is supposed to be also much less traumatic.
If it’s the last resort, I’m okay with it. I have a cat who caused, according to the apartment people, $175 of damage. (Yeah, RIGHT, but I’m screwed, I have to pay; there WAS some damage, but nothing like that much.) Had I been able to afford it, I might have looked into it. However, I am also all for trying everything else short of declawing.
Don’t like it, though I’m not out to make anyone feel bad about having done it. My opinion: get a scratching post and teach the cat only to use the post. Lemon juice on forbidden scratching zones helps too.
I’d never have a cat of mine declawed. My reasoning is the same as Lissa’s. If she should escape the apartment, I want her to be able to fend for herself. So far, my cat’s been really good about sharpening her claws. She only does it on this old rug in my room and (occasionally) on me.
My mother had her cat’s front paws declawed. Out of the dozen or so she’s had over the course of my lifetime, this is the only time she’s done it. The cat was ruining the new carpet my mother put in, and she decided after a lot of thought to have the front claws removed. My mother felt bad for a while after she had it done because the poor cat limped for weeks.
My mother’s cat just simply couldn’t be trained to not scratch up the carpeting. This is the only cat we’ve failed to train to use the scratching post or entry mat for that. My mother’s not really worried about the cat trying to escape since she’s shown no interest whatsoever in venturing beyond the doors and windows.
We had our newest cat declawed in the front. Our other cat was already declawed when we adopted her from the Humane Society, and we really liked it. We also figured that we didn’t want the new cat to have front claws and the older, slower one to be without.
She limped around for about 4-5 days after the surgery, and then was fine. Even right afterward, she didn’t seem to be in a great deal of pain. She had pain medicine, which probably helped.
I’m glad we got her declawed. I’ll probably do it again to the next one we get.
My first cat was declawed. She was an inside cat, and there were no worries about her having to defend herself if she escaped, because she honestly disliked leaving the house. (After a while, we made it a habit to let her walk on the porch in the summer, because she never tried to leave.)
Now our cats have their claws intact, simply because they’re indoor/outdoor cats and we don’t want them to be defenseless outside. If they decide to start messing up furniture, they get sent outside to play.
Declawing for kittens isn’t quite so traumatic, but it’s definitely more painful for older cats. I can speak from many years of vet tech experience . . . they frequently have a worse time waking from anesthesia than they do coping with the lack of claws.
If you cat will ever be outdoors (even if you think it’s possible for him to slip out), leave his claws intact. Cats without front claws generally do fine even in that case, but it’s just not nice to disarm them.
For any who are thinking of declawing their kittens, just invest in a few scratching posts and regularly show them how to use it. Finding a suitable dipleasing punishment for when they scratch furniture is also a requirement (a squirt bottle with a weak water/lemon juice combo usually does the trick).
Another tip that worked wonders for me (I have an adult male cat who NEVER scratches anything but his post) is to use sprayable catnip on the posts. It’s usually available at your nearest pet supply store.
For my own part, I honestly have no reservations concerning declawing, provided you do the following:
Do only the front claws–back claws don’t destroy furniture, and they still have them and their teeth to defend themselves;
Use laser surgery–less bleeding, cleaner incision, less pain and faster recovery;
Opt for the pain meds–most vets will do a post-op pain injection and medications you can use at home to take the edge off the discomfort;
Do it the same time you do the spay/neuter because they are young and recover faster, and you only have to anesthetize once.
You will find that most cats handle the pain very well. However, if you are looking for alternatives . . .
Soft Paws are ok, but are tedious to maintain and problematic to put on;
Tendenectomy (cutting the tendon which causes the claw to retract) is a possible solution, but it is still surgery which requires anesthesia and some pain;
cut the claws yourself with good old standard nail trimmers. Get the vet to show you how to do it and do so about once a week.
When all is said and done, just follow your heart, though. If it makes you miserable to have it done, then don’t do it. Talk to your vet about pros/cons to give yourself some peace about the matter.
We trim our cat’s claws. She’s still managed to do a number on one corner of the couch, but she doesn’t hurt any of the wood and she can’t hurt us.
Nothing we’ve tried helps with the couch situation: squirt guns, cans of pennies, every substance that’s safe to spray on upholstry that is purported to discourage scratching, three different types of scratching posts/pads, all catnip-scented . . .
She still scratches there all the time, so we’ve given it up as a loss. We might have to hack up the couch and take that corner when we finally move.
My kitty arrived declawed, I don’t know who declawed her but I would never declaw a cat. It’s cruel and unusal and if I could give claws back to my cat I would. I’ve had many cats in my life and they’ve always been intact and I’ve never seen anything get ruined by a kitty scratching his or her claws.
I currently have three cats, one of which I have had for 15 years, the other two three months.
Female cat (15 year old) has her claws. Has she done some damage to things? Sure but I love her. I don’t own nice couches, I have futons instead. My cat Sam who passed away a couple of years ago had his claws, I had him for 14 years.
The two adopted eight year old boys both are declawed. Man their feet feel weird, in fact neither one of them like me to touch their paws. They look like they have deformed paws compared to my female, their balance doesn’t seem as exact as my female cat, who has some years on them.
In addition, from what I have “heard” it’s like taking out the first knuckle of our fingers.
I wont declaw a cat. I agree, if your belongings mean more than your beloved pet, you shouldn’t have a pet to begin with.
Oh, I forgot to add. Most of the no-kill shelters in our area have you sign a contract when you adopt a pet. One of the things you agree to is, if the cat is not declawed, you agree to not declaw the cat.
BTW, the idea that back claws don’t cause damage is a fallacy.
I have ruined many a tshirts by one of my boys, have a few scars and scabs on my stomach from him launching himself up on me. That and they all use their back claws to climb on the edge of my futon, leaving claw marks on the wood part of the arm. Especially when they can’t get the grip jumping on things, they will use their back claws to get that good grasp.
I’m lucky that my cat was very trainable in this regard, so I never had to worry about it. Two of my sisters have declawed cats and, while I probably wouldn’t do it, the cats seem OK. One does seem to have trouble jumping; we thought she was just jump-impaired, but maybe it’s the claw thing.
The only thing I would add to having plenty of OK stuff to scratch and having a water bottle correction tool is what worked for me: Every time you see the cat go for the couch, tell her “no” if you wish, but just pick her up and bring her to the scraching post, putting her front legs actually on the post, if you can. When she scratches the post, give lots of love and a treat if you want (be careful, one of those little Pounce or Bonkers is like a cheeseburger to them).
Consistency is the key here. You have to do it every time and not let the cat near whatever it is she wants to scrach that’s not OK when you’re not around. Once they get their smell on a couch arm or whatever it’s harder to break them of scraching that same spot.
As to whether it’s cruel to declaw, I don’t know. It doesn’t seem cruel to have them neutered, but to me, that is a necessary thing while declawing seems unnecessary (except in extreme cases) and only for the convenience of the owner.
My kitten is declawed. I did it to him, and yes I am very sorry. I have 2 full size leather couches and had a selfish moment. I was terrified that he would scratch once and it would be too late. I know that he is way more important than my furniture, but I really didn’t think it through like I should have. He was already tearing up the carpet, and was getting worse every day. (but hindsight is 20/20, now I think, who needs carpet?) If I had been home to train him properly I think it would have been better.
I did it at the same time he was neutered (12/30/02). I wish I would have asked you guys first. I had 2 lengthy conversations with the vet and he assured me it was for the best. (Yeah, right, best for his pocketbook!) My cat, Sam, has no problems jumping, in fact he was jumping all over the house the day after his surgery, even with the little sock bandages he had to wear. Thank goodness he never acted as if he were in pain, because I can’t imagine the guilt I would have. He was a stray I found in August, so we are unsure of his age, but the vet says approx. 7 months. I think if you feel you must do it, then the earlier the better. I don’t think I could ever do it again, and I feel very mean to have paid money to let someone hurt my cat.
So for me the vote is yes, I have done it but neveragain.
Leave their claws alone.