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but I'd think of this as tantamount to removing the tips of a child's fingers because they make too much of a mess around the house...
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H'mm.... I think you on to something here TB. ;D

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I would never have a cat declawed, but I have owned a couple of declawed cats that were already that way when we got them... And guess what declawed cats figure out? They still have teeth! Yes, a declawed cat enjoys biting... :) They can also whack you really really hard with their paws... Thwump! :D
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I had a cat that wasn't declawed, she spent most of her time outside.  She could hit pretty hard and fast without using her claws....she rarely used her claws.  I miss my kitty. :'(

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Ow! No way would I ever de-claw a cat. It's mutilating a defenseless animal for our own cruel and unusual designs (much like bobbing tails or destroying a dog's vocal cords). I'm not an animal person per se, but I'd think of this as tantamount to removing the tips of a child's fingers because they make too much of a mess around the house...
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  I agree, and as TB pointed-out, declawing a cat is comparable to removing your finger at the first knuckle according to veterinarians.  The practise is inhumane and  unnecessary mutilation of an animal and alternative ways of dealing with its natural urge to scratch and claw should be considered.

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look it's my cat!

and a mousie!

but the mousie didn't die. i saved it.

i like mousies
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boy, if I tried to save every furry thing my cats catch, I'd never have the time for anything else..

the saddest thing to see half-eaten on the lawn are the baby rabbits.. so wasteful.. if they can't eat a whole rabbit they shouldn't kill it.. they should stick to chipmunks and squirrels and other rodents..

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the saddest thing to see half-eaten on the lawn are the baby rabbits..
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Ahhhh! :'( :'( Too much information. :-

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Interesting discussion for me as declawing is such an alien concept.As far as I know it doesn't happen in the U.K I'd never even heard of it before until an American friend had her cat done.Personally I'd never even contemplate it, way to cruel in my opinion and I know they need the claws for balance when jumping as well as digging,fighting etc.The idea of a house cat is completely alien to me too.How on earth do you stop your cat going outside when it wants to?? Fair enough in a high rise were the only outside is a 50ft drop but other than that my cats would have gone balistic if they were left in all day every day and that would have been the time the furniture started to suffer believe me !
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Oh, it's not just you. I live in the US and found this sort of thing to be... alien, the idea of a cat which lives its whole life inside a house. De-clawing the animal is just barbaric and sadistic, but there are people who do this to animals. Then again, I'm a foreigner too, so it might be an industrial world/US thing :P

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De-clawing the animal is just barbaric and sadistic, but there are people who do this to animals.
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There are many forms of barbarism and sadism practiced in this country, most of them against humans.

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Whether or not declawing a cat is barbaric, an indoor cat has no need of claws.  The front claws are the hunting claws, the back ones are the fighting claws.  If you don't think a cat can do serious damage sans front claws, tussle with a housecat and watch it wrap its front arms around your arms.  Watch it rake your arm with its powerful back claws.  Watch the amazing penetrating power of the back claws... make sure you have plenty of towels and a few ounces of mecurichrom on hand before you start.
Is declawing more barbaric than circumsizing a human infant?
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Then why bother getting an animal which ends up being a nuissance instead of a friend? This is the way to re-pay a friend? That's weird.

Circumsizing sometimes must be done when there is a major infection and there is less risk for infections once circumsized...

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Then why bother getting an animal which ends up being a nuissance instead of a friend? This is the way to re-pay a friend? That's weird.

Circumsizing sometimes must be done when there is a major infection and there is less risk for infections once circumsized...
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Spaying or neutering is another traumatic operation pet owners inflict on their charges?  Is that a weird way to repay a friend?
Are there lingering effects on a cat after its been declawed?  I don't know.  It's got to hurt like the dickens for a couple of days, but I'm not sure the cat suffers much after that.  
Not all, or even most, circumsizions are performed to avoid infections.  

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{...}

Is declawing more barbaric than circumsizing a human infant?
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Declawing, spaying, and neutering of pets are all operations that are performed with adequate anesthesia.  There are some hideously monstrous doctors here in the USA that perform circumcisions on infants without painkillers because they insist that a baby either cannot feel pain or will not remember it. >:( >:( That's barbaric.

As for the actual declawing issue, I personally do not believe in it.  If you are going to take on the time and expense of keeping a pet, you should also be prepared to take the time to train it what is and is not an appropriate place to "sharpen" claws.

My cat unfortunately likes the smell of citrus.  I wash the floors with a citrus-based cleaner, and after it dries, he licks the floor. ::) ::)

All the cats I've ever had however, have hated hot pepper sauce.  So I rubbed some on all the electrical cords (they liked to chew on things when they were babies :-/ ) and I soaked a couple of paper towels in the stuff.  After drying out, I safety-pinned the peppery towels to the sofa and chairs.

That, in addition to giving them their own catnip treated chunks of carpet scraps made life easier on everyone.

And after the burglar incident I'm glad I let my cat keep his claws! ;D ;D ;D ;D

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I've had cats my whole life.. I've got two boys right now (brothers) and they're indoor/outdoor.. of course with the foot of snow still on the ground, they're indoor at the moment.. I've found that I could train them out of most of their scratching by getting a couple of scatching posts made of sisal (rope essentially, but not that nylon stuff).. spread some decent grade catnip on it, and they'll almost never bother your furniture again.. I rub it down with catnip every two or three months, and it's good enough to keep them sleeping around it, and treating it like they own it..

since my cats go outside, I could never declaw them. From what I've read though, it's very painful, and limits their ability to climb (like carpet covered stairs).. it's not just a defense thing (they can still bite)..

they also sell special nail clippers for cats, so you can trim them back.. but to be honest, once I started keeping scratching posts they liked, I didn't really need them..

now if I could only do something about the long hair shedding all the time.. my carpet looks furrier than him after a day or two
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Personally I'd never even contemplate it, way to cruel in my opinion and I know they need the claws for balance when jumping as well as digging,fighting etc.
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I totally agree!  :(

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And I did talk to my vet for some time today about the whole procedure.....she wanted to reassure that if a declawing is done right...it will NOT leave any long term effects on the cat...and she agreed with the poster that said that it is like spaying or neutering your animals.  
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I have a hard time believing that, but clearly, I can't talk to a cat that's had it done to find out..

buy some catnip and rub it into a good scratching post.. it's called positive reinforcement.. opposed to negative reinforcement (yelling at them for bad behavoir).. positive reinforcement always works better..

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...My only regret is that ever since we had that done, she refuses to have anything to do with anyone other than us.  She used to be really sweet and friendly with all of our friends & family...now only my husband and I can pick her up, pet her, etc.  Maybe it was just coincidence.   ???
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not a surprise to me.. the cat has no defense mechanism left now.. so she fears people she doesn't know (because she can't fight them if she feels threatened)..

my cats though have never liked other people.. and I've never treated them poorly..

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So, what do you think about de-clawing a cat?
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If you're going to have one spayed or neutered, then declawing is no different. All are done as a convenience to the owner.

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If you're going to have one spayed or neutered, then declawing is no different. All are done as a convenience to the owner.
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I became involved in a long argument with a person over this issue.  She'd never owned a pet, but she was against spaying and neutering.  She argued that a responsible owner should be able to deal with a non-fixed pet, and if they weren't able to they shouldn't have a pet.  

I've read that domestic animals don't have a "sexual identity" in the sense human's do, so fixing them isn't robbing them of anything.  And an unfixed pet is much harder to manage.  

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I became involved in a long argument with a person over this issue.  She'd never owned a pet, but she was against spaying and neutering.  She argued that a responsible owner should be able to deal with a non-fixed pet, and if they weren't able to they shouldn't have a pet.  

I've read that domestic animals don't have a "sexual identity" in the sense human's do, so fixing them isn't robbing them of anything.  And an unfixed pet is much harder to manage.  
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None of our cats are declawed due to the fact we can't afford it ^^; We don't have much problems with them, except my cat is feral, and he wants to kill me.
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Thank you for making me giggle.  If you ever want to have yourself shredded up, start playing with a nest of farm cats.  The ones that live in the barn and are half wild.  The cute little things are deceptively lethal balls of razor-sharp claws, hisses and attitude.  Ain't nobody got the homicidal attitude of a farm kitten.

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None of our cats are declawed due to the fact we can't afford it ^^; We don't have much problems with them, except my cat is feral, and he wants to kill me.
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I have a feral cat, too. She comes up to me and starts purring. I pet her, she purrs. I pet her, she purrs. I pet her, she attacts me. For the life of me, I just can't figure that out. I'm glad she is declawed.



Cat

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I have a feral cat, too. She comes up to me and starts purring. I pet her, she purrs. I pet her, she purrs. I pet her, she attacts me. For the life of me, I just can't figure that out. I'm glad she is declawed.



Cat
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Mine will do that when people come over.  When estrogen is in the air, she will sit in the visitor's lap, allow herself to be petted, purrs and stretches her neck out if she's petted under the chin.  Then she hisses, still purring.  Then she bites, still purring.  

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Mine will do that when people come over.  When estrogen is in the air, she will sit in the visitor's lap, allow herself to be petted, purrs and stretches her neck out if she's petted under the chin.  Then she hisses, still purring.  Then she bites, still purring.  

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That just proves the point that cats are MENTAL!!!!!!




Cat