Declawing and such

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Many people have their cats declawed and spayed/nuetered (including my family). This sparked a thought: Is declawing comparable to getting angry at a human for scratching you and taking their fingernails out? I mean, it's a cat, but do cats have this right? Or are they lower than us? Does our furniture have greater rights than our cats? ()

Same with neutering or spaying.

I think they should be declawed, but I really couldn't defend that position. I'd like to see what you know.

[DreamLord]

Well, being related to a vet, I have to hear a lot about declawing. To me it seems rather unjustified. Especially when you could go to the vet and have the cat's claws cut or have claw caps put on. Becuase not only do they have to remove the cat's claws but the first digit of their toes.

 

Spaying and nuetering on the other hand, I support. It helps to stop unwanted litters of kittens or puppies that may end up in a pound, or maybe dead. Also, it decreases the aggresion of the animal.

[Phi for All]

Is declawing comparable to getting angry at a human for scratching you and taking their fingernails out?

Only if the human is also clawing your whole house up as well. If you're doing something to make the cat scratch you, you shouldn't own a cat. If your cat likes to scratch you, you shouldn't own that cat.

 

We had our cat declawed, but only the front paws, and not because she was scratching us. She was clawing furniture, hardwood floors, bedspreads, carpeting, you name it. Cats need their back claws for running (our vet doesn't even do rear declawing), but our cat seems happy now to just rub her front paws down whatever she wants now without getting yelled at.

 

I agree with Dream Lord about spay/neutering. There are no shortage of cats out there.

[YT2095]

declawing is perfectly barbaric!

would you have you dogs ass sewn up because it crapped on the carpet?

 

people should be aware of these things BEFORE they decide to share their home and lives with another creature, they will do what they always do regardles, it`s part of their nature, WE the "thinking ones" have no right to alter them to suit us on a whim.

if any of their normal behavior is likely to be a problem, then don`t have an animal!

it`s just not fair to them or you.

if on the other hand, you can live with their little quirks and ways, and give it a good home and life, then do that, but be aware that it`s NOT all fluffy little kittens that play with string all day.

[atinymonkey]

I think they should be declawed' date=' but I really couldn't defend that position. I'd like to see what you know.[/quote']

 

I assume you mean clipping the claws, rather than ripping them out at the roots. In the UK, the complete removal of claws is only carried out if the cat is unable to move much anymore (old age or injury). A cat uses it's claws on instinct, and removing them would put it in danger with all the acrobatics a cat gets up to. Clipping cats claws is necessary for the house cat, the claws that are not used often don't get worn down. If a cat's claws do not wear down, they get longer. If a cats claws get longer, they curl around the paw and start to grow into the cats foot (which is a little more than painful for said cat).

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I mean getting the claws removed entirely.

I like YT's analogy, but still! We tried yelling at her and whacking her when she clawed it, but it didn't work. She has scratching posts, and she scratches those too, but she still does the furniture. Once we had padded wallpaper (it was there when we got the house) and she clawed her way up about 5 feet of it.

[Phi for All]

declawing is perfectly barbaric!

would you have you dogs ass sewn up because it crapped on the carpet?

Actually my cat was very active and never needed anything else to wear her claws down until she was about 15 years old (had her since she was a kitten). That's when she got a little more sedentary and started clawing things instead of turbo-ing around the house. Even when we kept her claws clipped short she took to tearing things to shreds whenever there was enough claw to cling. You can't watch them 24/7. Since now she doesn't leap more than two feet or cut 90 degree corners at 90kph anymore, we decided to have the front claws removed.

 

She certainly doesn't seem to miss them and it seemed the best solution since we'd had her for so long but also couldn't afford to replace all the things she was tearing up. She has been an indoor cat for the last 8 years, since we lost another cat to a car.

[zpoot]

my mom said that they actually amputated the tips of their fingers, like cutting off the tip of our fingers from the first knuckle.

[daisy]

de-clawing cats IS barbaric as YT said. Why the hell would anyone have a cat if they didn't expect scratching...it's what cat's do for crying out loud. And yes, de-clawing involves removal of the digit up to the first knuckle which is most definitely NOT just clipping their claws. I also fail to understand the US and Canadian by-laws which prohibit cats being allowed to roam...they have to be tied up or kept indoors....totally cruel in my opinion. Cats are roaming animals and should never be indoor animals. If you live in an apartment block/high-rise flats you should NOT have a cat if you can't let it outside. We have a cat but we live in a rural area and she roams free, gets in fights, does her own thing and only pays attention to us when she needs to be fed, which is exactly as it should be.

[Rasori]

We have a cat but we live in a rural area and she roams free, gets in fights, does her own thing and only pays attention to us when she needs to be fed, which is exactly as it should be.

Hence why I prefer dogs

[Mokele]

I also fail to understand the US and Canadian by-laws which prohibit cats being allowed to roam...they have to be tied up or kept indoors....totally cruel in my opinion. Cats are roaming animals and should never be indoor animals.

 

Because small cats are, for all intents and purposes, an introduced species. And, like any introduced species, they wreak havoc on the local wildlife, killing just about anything they can get their claws on.

 

To analogize, monitor lizards are also roaming animals, but you don't let them out to roam unattended. Same reason; they'll pork their way through half the ecosystem.

 

-------

 

On the topic of declawing, I have to give a resounding and emphatic "No". If you cannot deal with an animal, both the good and the bad traits, you just plain *do not buy it*. I see the same thing repeatedly in the reptile-keeping community, taken to its most horrific extreme in venomoids, venomous snakes which have their venom glands removed. Aside from the normal ethical inmplications of it, there's also the fact that 99.99% of venomoid butchery, erm "surgery" is done without any anaesthetic, just cooling the snake, because vets won't do it and normal people can't buy the anaesthetics. That and that over 90% of those that even make it through the surgery die. Anyhow, minor rant over.

 

Mokele

[zpoot]

de-clawing cats IS barbaric as YT said. Why the hell would anyone have a cat if they didn't expect scratching...it's what cat's do for crying out loud. And yes, de-clawing involves removal of the digit up to the first knuckle which is most definitely NOT just clipping their claws

i so agree!!! and the law, i can understand it if there wasn't a collar on or if it wasn't spayed/neutered. If it doesn't have a collar, anyone could pick it up and think it was a stray. And if it's not spayed/neutered there'd be BILLION CATS EVERYWHERE! not that i mind that! hee CATS RULE! Must keep cat population up to wage war on the...umm...i like doggies too much too...[hyperventilates]

[Auburngirl05]

my mom said that they actually amputated the tips of their fingers, like cutting off the tip of our fingers from the first knuckle.

That's exactly what happens (I'm a veterinary assistant), a large pair of nail clippers is used to amputate the toes at the first joint. I hate it, especially on kittens.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Actually we had laser surgery done.

 

So they were vaporized off.

 

 

Why the hell would anyone have a cat if they didn't expect scratching

We didn't expect to have the cat. She is a stray found at my school (on my birthday!).

[Callipygous]

i personally think things like that are a bit extreme. we trim my dogs nails, why cant you trim your cats? or get a scratching post. the one i really dont like is removing a dogs vocal cords. totally across the line. when i was selling coupon books for soccer i went up to this house with a dog that just kind of stood there doing the bark motion with its mouth but making no more than a breath kind of noise. i had trouble not slapping the woman who answered the door. im all for spaying/neutering though.

[ledzeppelin3]

I think i agree with everyone here. Spaying or neutering is definatley okay, because controlling the population of domesticated animals is somewhat nessacary. However, interefering with an animals natural instincs is going over the line and should be illegal.

[Auburngirl05]

My boss recommends spaying/neutering to all the clients, it's the single best population control method and it prevents health problems like mammary tumors, etc. That type of procedure is completely different from things like declawing, which are for the owner's best interest instead of the animal's.

Also, I think it's safe to say that the majority of vets would not perform a debarking (although I know some do). One of the vets in the clinic I work for refuses to crop ears (more because of the liability of puppies messing it up than ethical reasons, though).

[d22k]

Gah, that just horrible.

 

the thought of doing that to my cats makes me feel ill.

 

i wouldnt wish them any pain, the cute furry love balls that they are *melts*

 

on a more serious note...

 

there is no reason to cut cats fingers off >.>

 

when we got our cats they scratched at all sorts of things...

 

did we mutilate them?

 

no.

 

just sprinkle orange oil on where they are scrathing, they hate the smell and soon learn not too.

 

 

when they were really mischevous, put a *tiny* dab on the *fur* above their nose.

 

They run aroundlooking all put out for an hour.... but they behave and no harm is done.

 

just be careful not to let it on their actual nose, or their eyes... or u will have a sad moggy.

[Nemesio]

Another thing to keep in mind is that the knuckles which are amputated during the declawing operation provide balance to the cat. Removing them, especially late in life, makes them tentative.

 

Further, since they know that they now lack their primary defenses, they become much more defensive in situations that they perceive as even slightly threatening, whereas before they know that they can rely on their claws if things escalate. They are also far more likely to bite.

 

If I recall correctly, I think the operation is illegal in England because of its barbaric nature.

 

Nemesio