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Is it OK to Declaw a Cat?

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cubby1223 said:
Leaves 'em defenseless... against that all-powerful toaster that laughs at her all day! Cats sleep on the couch and they eat cat-food out of the dish. Unless your couch cushion has an aggressive bite, your cat doesn't need to be armed with defenses.

4 cats here, 3 declawed, 1 not, and the cats don't care. They don't know the claws are not there. They don't walk around depressed. They don't walk around in pain. They just go about their lives none-the-wiser.

Seriously, declawing does greater psychological damage to humans than any affect to the cat.
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Super fucked to declaw an outside cat. Inside it's still fucked, but at least they won't get torn apart.

My cats destroyed my furniture at my condo. Ripped up some of the carpet. Curtains, whatever they could scratch. Tried all the tricks, had numerous scratching toys, chewed off their soft paws, and wouldn't stop scratching shit.

I moved, bought a new house, new furniture. Wife wanted them declawed but I refused.

Got a couple of these:
http://www.amazon.com/SmartCat-3832-...cratching+post

Ever since first picking the cats up and letting them grasp this thing, this is all they scratch. They freakin love them. Set one right next to the couch. My new couches don't even have a mark after 6 months.
 
cubby1223 said:
Leaves 'em defenseless... against that all-powerful toaster that laughs at her all day! Cats sleep on the couch and they eat cat-food out of the dish. Unless your couch cushion has an aggressive bite, your cat doesn't need to be armed with defenses.

4 cats here, 3 declawed, 1 not, and the cats don't care. They don't know the claws are not there. They don't walk around depressed. They don't walk around in pain. They just go about their lives none-the-wiser.

Seriously, declawing does greater psychological damage to humans than any affect to the cat.
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Humans adjust to losing a few fingers and go on living too.

Derp.
 
My cat was already declawed when I got her, and she seems fine now. I doubt I would do it after learning what is involved though. I do sometimes think about how perfect it is that I get to reap all the benefits of a declawed cat without the guilt of having had it done myself. It's kind of messed up when you think about it.

Clearly the only solution is to have your cat euthanized and get another cat that has already been declawed by someone else.
 
natto fire said:
I would never do it. The vet is out to make money. You are definitely in a different situation, but it kind of irks me when people take in animals, and then try to "fix" them in a way more suitable for them.
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Just about every cat/dog that becomes a pet is "fixed" in a way that makes them more suitable for being a pet. It's called... getting your pet "fixed," and it is a surgical procedure. And nobody cares that you are sterilizing your pet, altering its personality, denying this creature of God's the pleasure of sexual encounters and its natural right to procreate, to suit your personal desire of ownership.

If you want to be against declawing, be against declawing. Just have the courtesy to be against it for a reason that can pass the hypocrisy test.
 
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cubby1223 said:
Just about every cat/dog that becomes a pet is "fixed" in a way that makes them more suitable for being a pet. It's called... getting your pet "fixed," and it is a surgical procedure. And nobody cares that you are sterilizing your pet, altering its personality, denying this creature of God's its natural right to procreate, to suit your personal desire of ownership.
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Are you trying to equate spaying and neutering with cutting off knuckles and claws?

Look I get that you want to convince yourself that it's ok. Don't sweat it. We're not judging you. We're telling this other guy to not do it. We can't turn back time and help your cat.
 
When I lived with my parents we got my/our cat declawed because she was just insane, she'd jump us and stuff. We had trouble getting her to stop. That said after it was done we kind of felt bad. Not sure if I'd want to do that again. Now she's 100% fine though.

If you're in a situation where someone could get hurt (and potentially sue or have the cat put down) or in a situation where it's at a point where you need to get rid of the cat, THEN it is more humane to do it. At least the cat will remain in a loving home.

If you're going to do it, do all 4 paws, but DO NOT allow the cat outside. A declawed cat has less self defense capabilities. In fact you should not let the cat outside anyway, I don't understand why people do this. There's just too many dangers out there, unless you live on a large rural property where there's no people and no cars, but even then wild life can be a danger too.
 
If the cat has a weight issue, get its weight down before you declaw, and don't let the cat outside afterwards. It won't be able to climb a tree, or defend itself, like at all.

As far as ethics go on the matter, it's up to you, and the vet, just take all the necessary steps to mitigate pain and infection.
 
Meghan54 said:
Yep, you sure derped. Tell you what....cut off the first knuckle of every finger, including your thumb, and from every toe, including the big toe. Let us know how well you adjust.
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Tell you what, keep a wild animal locked up in a house all day long, and see how well IT adjusts!

For an indoor cat, their life is hardly changed. Basically the only thing they can't do is climb the curtains, they aren't stumbling like a person without half of their toes would stumble. False equivalence is false.
 
Cats are not wild animals and they also do not use their paws the way we use our hands, so I don't really think the knuckle analogy is appropriate. That said, enough people seem to feel strongly about this that I would probably not do it, just in case they're right.
 
Meghan54 said:
Yep, you sure derped. Tell you what....cut off the first knuckle of every finger, including your thumb, and from every toe, including the big toe. Let us know how well you adjust.
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Look at your hands and visualize them without the tips down to your first knuckle. If you can't see how, while severely limited, you can still adapt and continue to manipulate objects - even use a pen - with your hands, well... you didn't think your comment through and did a fire from the hip derp .

Removing a cat's claws fundamentally eliminates its ability to perform many functions that are feline. A human will likely adapt better to the loss of their finger tips and managing to continue to perform their day to day functions than a cat will to the loss of its claws. A human will actually manage to learn to do many of them, albeit with limited function, while a cat can no longer do them at all; ignoring all the functions of an outdoor cat that become impossible - indoors they can't climb any more for one.

As far as feet, people can and do learn to walk with the loss of toes, including the hallux. I work in medicine and have seen that particular injury first hand. Humans adapt very well to injuries if they put forth an effort. As far as drawing a comparison of removing the tips of all your toes, consider not needing to balance yourself on your two feet and walking on all fours, as well as having a tail with the primary purpose of balance. I mean, really, is the fail this strong ? They're a different species and the analogy is meant to give human context to illuminate that you are crippling the animal when you declaw it. Since they don't roll over and die afterwards and continue to eat and defecate all is well ? 🙄

Claws to a cat are a lot more than climbing curtains and scratching furniture, those are just the things that annoy owners. All the other activities they use them for that don't cause a nuisance are important. They are as vital and intrinsic to how they live as the tips of our fingers are to us. Removing them is cruel and selfish. Rather than dismember a cat, why not get a different pet if you can't tolerate cat behaviour or put forth an effort to curtail it ? Effort being that if you take the time when they're kittens you can train a cat not to scratch furniture, not to see hands as toys and to trust humans.
 
I'm not a cat person, never had cats, never realized what declawing really is. At this point, if I ever did have a cat there is absolutely no way I would have it declawed. What a cruel practice.
 
after having a cat basically wreck half my furniture in the past 6 months despite all the scratching posts and training techniques I could find...

yeah, if/when we get another cat, I'd give serious thought to declawing it. obviously it would be an indoors-only cat and I'd want it done while they were still young (probably at the same time as getting them spayed/neutered)
 
It's funny this thread popped up when it did. My mom just called me the day before yesterday to tell me they were going to get their kitten spayed and declawed. Like most people, she was under the impression that declawing was a trivial procedure.

I tried to tell her how it was worse than she thought, gave her the "first knuckle of the hand" analogy and everything, but she wasn't convinced. She said that if the cat wasn't declawed it would have to live outside because she wasn't going to put up with any more damage to her furniture. In that case I had to admit that declawing would be preferable given how much longer she would likely live when kept indoors.
 
SlitheryDee said:
It's funny this thread popped up when it did. My mom just called me the day before yesterday to tell me they were going to get their kitten spayed and declawed. Like most people, she was under the impression that declawing was a trivial procedure.

I tried to tell her how it was worse than she thought, gave her the "first knuckle of the hand" analogy and everything, but she wasn't convinced. She said that if the cat wasn't declawed it would have to live outside because she wasn't going to put up with any more damage to her furniture. In that case I had to admit that declawing would be preferable given how much longer she would likely live when kept indoors.
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Honestly, why bother getting a pet if you are not going to bother to train them? It's apparently acceptable to spend time training a dog, but if it's a cat then fuck it.
 
No way, that's pretty cruel. Not only do they need claws/toes for protection, but also for balance, and they have to relearn how to walk after the surgery. Also, they could get hurt if they fall from a high place and can't land like they normally would. Just not a cool idea, better if you get the giant scratching post like others mentioned. Or wrap some of the poles in your house bannister (if you have an upstairs) in rope/sisal to scratch on. Another way to discipline them is to use a water gun or spray bottle and squirt them while saying NO if they do something you don't like. They'll stop eventually, trust me.
 
I add my voice to the chorus of people saying declawing is a form of cruelty, and should be never inflicted upon a cat.

Also, here's an observation...I have some friends who adopted a declawed cat (she was already seven years old and declawed when they got her). The cat would go out at night, in their yard, and even though it had no claws, she still managed to kill field mice on a regular basis.

So, you see, even if you declaw the cat, there's no guarantee it wouldn't kill again. They're hunters. Restrict the cat to indoors, get a scratching post, and trim the claws every week. Problem solved.
 
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