I’m currently living with my mom to help her pay rent each month.
Her current thing is wanting to get a cat. She found one a few days ago at PetSmart, but tonight she told me they are telling her she can’t have it anymore because she told them she was going to have it declawed. I had previously told her that this is an extremely bad thing to do to a cat and that she shouldn’t do it. I told her it’s extremely painful, just like if we were to cut off all of HER FINGERS to the third knuckle, and that nobody who knows anything about cats likes a person who gets them declawed. I told her they are seen as some of the worst kind of people in this world. I told her “Good, I’m glad Petsmart denied you it…that should show you that it’s a bad thing that is seen as bad by most people!”
Her reply? Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. I don’t want a cat tearing up my furniture…ohh, my precious furniture…and you know that if you get a scratching post, it will never use it, it will still use the furniture anyway…it must be done…they put the cat to sleep, the cat doesn’t even feel the pain of it…oh, Chris, don’t bother showing me facts, why you gotta be so gullible and believe all you read on the internet?
Yeah. Basically, it’s the “I don’t care and I’m going to fucking do what I want anyway” approach. She’s not going to listen to reason or logic or facts, she’s just gonna insist on thinking she’s right.
It’s just…really annoying sometimes.
She will probably have a hard time finding a vet who will even do it. Due to my work a the local animal shelter, I am familiar with a lot of the vets in our area. None of them declaw cats any more. If she really wants a cat that is declawed, she might find one at one of the rescues that is already declawed.
Years ago, I went with my mother to pick up two kittens at a high-class shelter. She took them in to the vet for a checkup & they clawed her so badly that she used a whole box of the vet’s kleenex to stanch the flow. (Medications for her various ailments made her a “bleeder.”) So he suggested he declaw the kitties.
I was aghast when I heard, but the deed had been done. When I visited, they kitties were scampering around & seemed OK. I adopted them when she went into care & they outlived her. They were, of course, indoor cats. But that’s safest for all cats–and for the bird population.
This is not a recommendation for declawing cats. But I’m sure there are some young declawed cats sitting in shelters waiting for new homes. They will make somebody fine pets. I’d suggest she adopt two–cats do better with a “friend.”
What about getting a cat that is already declawed? Animal shelters commonly have them as people turn in cats for various reasons such as moving or allergies.
I do believe the declawing is cruel, painful for days/weeks and also limits the cat’s enjoyment in life as claws are part of a natural way a cat moves (instant, on demand traction), also limits it’s ability to be safe outside. That’s not to say that a declaw can’t live a happy life, even people with missing fingers sometimes do, but it’s a strike against a happy cat life.
But another strike against living a happy cat life is not having a home, being locked in a cage or cat colony. And that’s the rub, and one has to decide what is worse. Having a cat locked in a cage with claws intact or having a loving home without claws. With that said I tend to say it’s better to have a cat declawed then to have the cat live at the shelter.
With that, those who can tune into cats, can sort of get a sense if a cat is willing to have it done, and which cat. You may find a cat that seems willing to go with you, and sense some understanding about the sacrifice the cat will have to make. You may also sense a unwillingness for a cat to make such a sacrifice, so be on the lookout for those signs in picking out a cat. A cat that seems unwilling might be resentful over it - for life, resentfulness may result in some behavioural problems. I’ve seen it happen, not over declawing, but spaying, a cat who loves her kittens so much (I’ve never seen such a loving cat mom) acted very upset over the loss of the ability to have kittens for many years and most likely to this day, though I lost touch with the owner. But the signs were pretty clear that this cat was made to be a super mom cat.
Another vote to get mom to adopt an already-declawed adult cat from a rescue organization! And another vote to adopt two cats – they really are happier with a friend.
(Longer answer below.)
Sigh. People think that cats don’t need training, but then they cat their cats declawed for behavioral issues that haven’t happened and probably wouldn’t be a problem if they trained the cat!
Depending on where you are, a vet may or may not do it. In Florida, none of my vets thought anything about declawing a kitten, though they don’t like to do so on full-grown cats. It was pretty much the norm for indoor-only cats, and I’m ashamed to admit that I had it done to four previous kitties, in part because of my own medical issues (I took a lot of corticosteroids and got infections at any break in the skin.) Fortunately, they were all happy and fine.
My current vet in Massachusetts will not declaw cats, but some others do. It’s bloody expensive. Since I’m not taking corticosteroids every month anymore, I decided to train my two cats instead of declawing. They’re pretty good! Pandora has a couple of items that she scratches (she loves the dining-room chairs), so I’m still trying to redirect her. Pandora knows not to claw me – she did once accidentally while playing, and immediately stopped and got this look like she was thinking “uh-oh!”
When my mom saw that my furniture was not in shreds, she adopted two kittens and did not have them declawed. She’s mostly using the same techniques that I use (minus the water pistol) and they are also doing well. My mother is far more house-proud than I and has gorgeous furniture and rugs. They’re fine.
Redirection and lots of scratching posts works wonders. Positive reinforcement for using the posts and negative for using the sofa (that water pistol works wonders).
If all else fails…try to mitigate the discomfort. I am not pro-declawing, but if someone is going to do it do all you can to make it suck less. Insist that she adopt a kitten and have it declawed at three months at the same time it is spayed. One surgery is better than two, and one uncomfortable recovery is better than two. Insist on a vet who has done a LOT of those surgeries and ask about complication rates. Do not believe them if they say “none”. Also insist on pain meds after. My cats were given a liquid NSAID, and I could tell it helped a lot. Follow kitty litter instructions to the letter.
Note: My Mom’s declawed cats didn’t have behavioral problems. Even as adults, they had kittenish moments. And being an indoor cat is really a safer way to live. Yes, it means the owner needs to maintain the litter box!
They were both males but didn’t “regret” being fixed; no media convinced them they were less than Real Cats. Unless you’re breeding cats–which is a serious matter–don’t let the females have kittens, either. They can always adopt–the shelters are full of kittens right now. Just don’t declaw the little ones…
I will chime in and support the suggestion to get an already declawed cat from a shelter or rescue. Check petfinder - you can set your search criteria to include declawed cats and see what is available in your area without having to check all the shelters.
All my cats during my life have had claws except one I adopted from a shelter. Nice cat, but I think he really did seem to be missing something and did try to go through the motions of a good scratch. Plus his feet looked sorta wrong to me.
Idle Thoughts, cut your mother some slack. IIUC, declawing used to be a lot more common and accepted than it is now. And I can’t fault her for being skeptical; “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet” is absolutely right. Do you have a reputable, trustworthy, unbiased cite you can show her?
I found this on WebMD, which looks fairly trustworthy. It notes that there’s more than one way to declaw a cat, and some are worse than others. And it makes sort of the same point that kanicbird did (“it’s better to have a cat declawed then to have the cat live at the shelter”).
I don’t think Idle Thoughts is trolling, I think there is genuine upset about mom’s attitude. At least if trolling is defined as posting something controversial to get an emotional rise out of others, it is hard for me to see how the OP fits the bill. As others have said, declawing cats is not popular anymore and it can be difficult in some parts of the country to even find a vet that will do the procedure. For myself, I have always thought that declawing cats was cruel and instead I purchase furniture that cats don’t scratch (i.e. leather).
Now, about your post. It does not seem to add to the conversation about declawing cats, nor about living with parents or being frustrated with their ingrained attitudes. In fact, you post seems to be designed to insult the OP and get people spun up on either agreeing with the insult or defending the OP. To me, this looks like more of an example than the OP of trolling than what Idle Thoughts posted. I am NOT accusing you of trolling, to do so would be against the rules, I am merely responding to your accusations and trying to start a civil dialog on what constitutes said behavior and whether you accusation was founded.
However, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet” is generally the calling card of people who habitually hand-wave away inconvenient or unpleasant realities, while also defending their own ignorance. I don’t know the OP or his/her mother, but the rest of that paragraph seems to implicate this is the manner in which she used it.
Granted, one-sided story and all, but it’s all we’ve got.