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Is it OK to Declaw a Cat?

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I wouldnt do it under any condition. Its cruel and inhumane surgery. Amputate the last joint in your finger and that would be the equivalent surgery. As mentioned, it leaves them defenseless and is a painful surgery
 
What's worse: One surgery as a kitten or a life time of punishment for clawing everything in the house up?
 
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 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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This is a more cogent argument than I am comfortable admitting. No one bats an eye at castrating an animal. Since there are all of the human analogies being thrown around here, how would you like to be castrated? How would you adapt?
 
I wouldn't declaw an outdoor cat, but what does an indoor-only cat need claws for defense against? The refrigerator?

I'm not necessarily for declawing, but to me it doesn't make sense to be so against it for indoor-only cats and not even bat an eye at castrating a cat (that's removing their testicles in case you didn't know). It's not like they do the declawing without anesthesia.
 
Ferzerp said:
This is a more cogent argument than I am comfortable admitting. No one bats an eye at castrating an animal. Since there are all of the human analogies being thrown around here, how would you like to be castrated? How would you adapt?
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You would adapt pretty well to any number of the common mutilations that people perform on their pets. Tips of the fingers gone? It would suck, but you would eventually be at least 70%-80% functional. Castrations would also suck. Once it's done though, it's just how you are eventually. People get over horrific stuff pretty well. I think it hits home a bit better if you imagine what you would think if you saw someone else who was castrated and missing all their fingertips.

Imagine how sorry you would feel for them and how grateful you would be just to not be them. I know a guy who is missing his right hand and has nearly zero functionality in his left. He got his hands caught in some kind of farm equipment when he was much younger that took of both of his hands and left only one salvageable. He deals with his situation with a kind of equanimity that seems characteristic of people who have no choice but to accept a handicap, but every time I see him I thank the heavens just for the fact that I'm me and not him. To think that we actually voluntarily do similar things to the creatures that we purport to love is kind of sickening.
 
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dave_the_nerd said:
Hah, no. They just wait until your back is turned.
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pretty much.

I've trained our cat to not jump up on the counters or my desk or claw the couch... when I'm actually present.

then I'll get home from work to discover that "someone" hit the keyboard and woke my PC up from sleep mode, the tablecloth is all bunched up from "someone" sliding across it, and there's a nice little pile of stuffing that's been pulled from the couch arm.
 
Kev said:
Examples please?

What does a cat need claws for to sit around and eat and shit all day?
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They can't play guitar, tap their toes, type on the computer, hold a pencil, flush a toilet...😵

I have a buddy that lost a toe or two to complications from diabetes, I don't hear him complaining that he can't do anything...they're feet. He walks around on them, just like a cat would do without it's claws and apparently toetips? What is the cat missing out on if it's an indoor cat with no need for it's claws anymore?
 
Grooveriding said:
No. Would you like to have a third of all your fingers severed from the tip down ? Many vets will not even perform the procedure. My wife doesn't do it and many of her friends in the field also refuse to.
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Sadly, while anatomically similar, they don't equal the same thing. People throw this debate out on de-dewclawing dogs saying it's like lopping off your thumb.

The truth of the matter is in America outdoor cats are mostly illegal and it's borderline abuse to allow a cat to roam to begin with in most suburban/urban areas due to the short lives they live as a whole (you always hear of the lucky cats that lived 18+ years outdoors...a lot of times that was parent's replacing Lucky over the years with a matching feline).

Almost all the 'outdoor' cats even if indoor as well we saw at the vet's office I worked for, would show tons of BB's in them when X-Rayed (usually because they were coming in from being hit by a car, abused by someone or shot).

Millions of cats are destroyed each year because although they are perfectly adoptable, there are not enough homes. One of the biggest push backs is those worrying about having their furniture and precious items clawed.

Now the non-realist would say don't adopt a cat if you worry about your stuff. That's great, but many cats die because of it.

I have had clawed and de-clawed cats and sadly even with weekly trimming a clawed cat will damage things a lot of the time. Most do learn to stick with their proper scratching places 90% of the time, but that 10% outside that can be costly.

People talk about cats becoming biters, shy, etc...it's simply not true to a well-adjusted cat. The main issue is people throw a cat in to a room or outside and expect it to automatically become a pet. It doesn't, it learns to fear everything and become a wild animal.

So few interact with their cats and most when they do are practically torturing it. Even fewer cats even see a vet each year.

I have been around more cats than most people. I have maintained cat colonies of over 100 cats, was active with www.10thlife.org (which folded with the economy, about 3000+ cats were there living in peace and in safe shelthers...much research on fatal cat diseases was lost when it closed, the vet I worked for Dr. Salvatore Zeitlin was a big researcher in these things).

Also not all methods of declawing are equal. Some don't even involve removing the claw.

The trick is to find a vet with a successful record of doing declawing.
 
NetWareHead said:
I wouldnt do it under any condition. Its cruel and inhumane surgery. Amputate the last joint in your finger and that would be the equivalent surgery. As mentioned, it leaves them defenseless and is a painful surgery
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Properly done it's not painful. Many of the cats at our practice came back because they went right back to playing as soon as the anesthesia wore off and tore open a toe or two. While there is quite a bit of blood, it's a simple as regluing or suturing the toe closed.

There is so much misinformation it's pathetic.

Most of this stems from it's unethical to declaw a cat that is outdoors. They use their claws to escape from predators. Without them they can't climb away effectively.

Most countries overseas don't have much laws on cats roaming and all that, so they prohibit declawing because chances are the cat will end up outside.
 
alkemyst said:
The truth of the matter is in America outdoor cats are mostly illegal and it's borderline abuse to allow a cat to roam to begin with in most suburban/urban areas due to the short lives they live as a whole (you always hear of the lucky cats that lived 18+ years outdoors...a lot of times that was parent's replacing Lucky over the years with a matching feline)
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I don't understand this point. What is it about the outdoors that is supposed to kill cats? Ours is 13 years old and has roamed at will that entire time. She's fat as a basketball but still catches mice and the occasional bird. Cars are a danger, as they are to all small animals, but cats are pretty good at avoiding them.
 
Markbnj said:
I don't understand this point. What is it about the outdoors that is supposed to kill cats? Ours is 13 years old and has roamed at will that entire time. She's fat as a basketball but still catches mice and the occasional bird. Cars are a danger, as they are to all small animals, but cats are pretty good at avoiding them.
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outdoor cats have higher exposure to bacteria/viruses, accidents (eg: getting hit by a car, lapping up a spilled bottle of antifreeze in someone's backyard), and getting into fights with other animals... if you're living out on a farm, maybe life's different, but living here in the city I couldn't imagine letting out cat be an outdoor cat. he'd get torn apart by the feral cats that roam our town.

outdoor cats are also commonly considered to be an environmental menace, killing thousands of birds and other small animals.

I've also read that some cats like sleeping under cars... so while a cat may be adept at avoiding moving vehicles going down the road, it could get backed over by one if they're sleeping under the tires.
 
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It's fine to declaw cats. They still can climb trees and run and catch birds just fine... or my cats were just exceptionally bright compared to everyone else's on here.. I suggest just the front paws. It doesn't take a lot of healing time... unless you have a lot of wood and leather furniture... then you might want to consider the back ones - I've never removed both from my cats though - no reason to.
 
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LOL at this thread.

We as Americans have no problem doing circumcisions

But

Declawing a cat oh hell no.
 
Markbnj said:
I don't understand this point. What is it about the outdoors that is supposed to kill cats? Ours is 13 years old and has roamed at will that entire time. She's fat as a basketball but still catches mice and the occasional bird. Cars are a danger, as they are to all small animals, but cats are pretty good at avoiding them.
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Your cat may be a outlier. From what I can tell it's a statistical fact that indoor cats live drastically longer than outdoor cats though. Now that it's been this long why not leave the cat outdoors, but if you were to get a new cat are you going to bet on it having the same good luck?
 
I've had plenty of cats during my lifetime. We've declawed kittens we planned to keep indoors. No issues with them.

I currently have 3 clawed cats. No issues with them. Do they sometimes claw at the furniture? They did, but you'll find if you actually take the effort, it's really easy to train cats. Even more so than dogs. People say cats are un-trainable and that is completely false. They only claw on their cat tower. One is an indoor/outside cat, the other 2 are completely indoor cats.

But then again. I consider cat towers (with carpet) almost essential for any cat owner. Don't have a cat without a cat tower. $80-100 at a store.
 
SlitheryDee said:
Your cat may be a outlier. From what I can tell it's a statistical fact that indoor cats live drastically longer than outdoor cats though. Now that it's been this long why not leave the cat outdoors, but if you were to get a new cat are you going to bet on it having the same good luck?
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Well sure. If you locked humans inside a safe place it would probably emerge as a statistical fact that they live longer as well. Cats aren't kids. They are subject to risks like any other living thing, but they can largely take care of themselves.
 
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