Declawing cats?!?!?

[jammer]

Meet another person who's had furniture ruined

We have a 3 year old Bengal...beautiful loving little cat. He's ruined my nice dining room table (we'll have it refinished) and one of our chairs. We won't have him declawed now that he's an adult, but I really should have when he was a baby. We've bought scratching post, a lot of them. He won't use them. I'm NOT a cat person, he's hubbies cat. He's strictly indoors and now we try to keep his nails clipped and soft paws on him.

 

[ToscasMom]

I'm so horrified I can't even comment further.

My dog destroyed a dyed all the way thru leather couch. Should I remove something from her now?

Horrific. Absolutely horrific

 

[RedHotDobe]

Nice to meet you, I'm Steve.
Now you have.

Nice to meet you.

I wasn't saying it doesn't happen, just that you have the option to teach the cat not to claw furniture, rather than take the claws away.

My parents' cats aren't the most social or cooperative, but I was easily able to trim their claws. Why they couldn't do the same, I still don't know. One spends about 95% of her time outside, and the other goes out during the day. Why would you declaw a cat "to save the furniture," only to immediately throw it outside?

I wouldn't do it, but I suppose they belong to them and it's their money, so they can do as they please.

 

[RedHotDobe]

I'm so horrified I can't even comment further.

My dog destroyed a dyed all the way thru leather couch. Should I remove something from her now?

Horrific. Absolutely horrific

Remove her teeth.

 

[jammer]

Soft paws work wonders. They are easy to put on, stay put for about 7 weeks and are pretty cheap.

 

[Brattina88]

Our cat is declawed but she showed up in our garage like that (She was spayed too, pretty lucky!!). I would never declaw a cat or kitten. But, I would adopt a declawed cat.

Same here!! Gomer, my DSH was hanging around my house for a while. He started looking skinny, and it was cold so I felt bad for him - so one day I left out some of the dogs Innova EVO (lol) and he ate it! After a cold spell, and I know that there's some mangy stray cats that probably tried to beat him up or chase him off, he literally walked into my house when I opened the door to go inside myself. With all the dogs in the house and everything! Upon further investigation (I thought he was a she ) I found out that he was declawed and neutered. Naturally I couldn't let him back outside! *grins* I love that cat to death, even though he drives me crazy sometimes!

Bella is declawed too. Would I ever declaw a cat? No...

There seems to be (to me anyway) a lot of declawed cats at the shelter... I don't understand. Why spend all that money, and have the cat go through all that and then get rid of it? Perhaps maybe those owners who declawed weren't that dedicated to the cats in the first place ?? Disposable pets. . ?

Remove her teeth.

I had a good chuckle with that one! lol
But then I thought about it... its not okay to remove a dogs teeth, so why do people think its okay to remove a cats claws? ; )

 

[mjb]

Because many vets say that it's an okay procedure; that it's preferable to having an outdoor cat, etc., etc. Many people will go along with what their vet says is okay without researching on their own. Probably the vast majority of cat owners who have declawed their cats, even if the reason was to protect their furniture, love their cats, but they were told that it's a procedure that won't debilitate the cats at all and will prevent undesired behavior. At least, that's the way it was presented to us.

As I said, I won't do it again. I don't know for sure that it's horrible for kittens, but as long as it might be I would not be able to do it again.

Our furniture wasn't a part of the decision process. I've always had cats and dogs, and kids, too, and my furniture is thoroughly used by all. Adults, kids, and the elderly dog who had lost his sight were constantly being stalked by 2 kittens, and being shredded. That kittenish behavior is something they all outgrow, though, so I don't think it was good of us to make a permanent fix on a temporary problem.

I am very unhappy with the decision I made, but I know how loving cat owners do make an uninformed decision.

 

[Brattina88]

Because many vets say that it's an okay procedure; that it's preferable to having an outdoor cat, etc., etc. Many people will go along with what their vet says is okay without researching on their own.

Many people feed Science Diet for the very same reason

I agree... and I think its a little sad. But I think we've all done things like this before we were 'educated' about it

 

[Whisper]

I would never, ever declaw my cats and will never declaw any of my future cats.
If one doesn't want to have an animal that scratches then I don't think think they should get an animal like a cat. Just like if you can't stand an animal who barks or chews don't get a dog, but help it find a home with someone who is willing to work with the natural behaviors of the animal. JMO.
There are alternative options to removing the toe to the first knuckle.

 

[GlassOnion]

My dog destroyed a dyed all the way thru leather couch. Should I remove something from her now?

You never clip your dog's toenails?

And people do remove dew claws, don't forget.

 

[noludoru]

Part of the reason SO many cats at the shelter are declawed is due to litterbox problems.

No, I'm not lying... A lot of the cats don't like scratching the litter up b/c their paws still hurt (and will never stop) due to a particularly bad operation, so the go poo or pee wherever convenient. Then, the same people who couldn't teach their cat where to scratch and where not to scratch return it and buy another kitten.

I would NEVER declaw or condone declawing. Ever. Period. When we got our kittens, and they were a few months old, my mom brought up declawing.. b/c Emma scratched some stuff she shouldn't. I thought it was an okay idea, and proceeded to do some research on it. After just an hour or so of looking around on the internet, my answer was firm "OMG NO!" Just from being around other cat people, I had assumed it was a standard and okay thing, but it's not. I dragged my mom to the computer and made her read up on the actual operation... after a short while, both of our opinions were cemented.

Declawing, IMO, is just something done by people incapable of teaching their cats appropriate things to claw on. Emma was dead set on attacking the couch (which I completely approve of) but now doesn't so much as touch it. Speakin of that, I need to remember to put my scratching post in the kitchen...er, I mean, the cats' scratching post.

 

[noludoru]

I forgot THIS:

The Cat’s Claws
Unlike most mammals who walk on the soles of the paws or feet, cats are digitigrade, which means they walk on their toes. Their back, shoulder, paw and leg joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves are naturally designed to support and distribute the cat's weight across its toes as it walks, runs and climbs. A cat's claws are used for balance, for exercising, and for stretching the muscles in their legs, back, shoulders, and paws. They stretch these muscles by digging their claws into a surface and pulling back against their own clawhold - similar to isometric exercising for humans. This is the only way a cat can exercise, stretch and tone the muscles of its back and shoulders. The toes help the foot meet the ground at a precise angle to keep the leg, shoulder and back muscles and joints in proper alignment. Removal of the last digits of the toes drastically alters the conformation of their feet and causes the feet to meet the ground at an unnatural angle that can cause back pain similar to that in humans caused by wearing improper shoes.

So, there's another ucky side effect. From: http://www.declawing.com/htmls/declawing.htm

ETA: Also...

In some cases, when declawed cats use the litterbox after surgery, their feet are so tender they associate their new pain with the box...permanently, resulting in a life-long adversion to using the litter box. Other declawed cats that can no longer mark with their claws, they mark with urine instead resulting in inappropriate elimination problems, which in many cases, results in relinquishment of the cats to shelters and ultimately euthanasia. Many of the cats surrendered to shelters are surrendered because of behavioral problems which developed after the cats were declawed.

 

[mrose_s]

i hate declawing, i really think its disgusting. i don't know how people do it, its like a persons fingers. they NEED them.

panda wouldnt be able to defend himself without his claws, he wouldn't be able to climb or scratch the doormat (his version of a scratching post because we don't have one, we have a doormat inside and he got used to it so fast, he doesn't touch the lounge or carpet anymore.)

i could never do that to an animal i love. its really gross

 

[ToscasMom]

You never clip your dog's toenails?

Of course I do. She destroyed the couch with her mouth not her toenails. SHould I remove her teeth?

 

[RD]

I don't like it and will never do it to my cats.

Honestly, I never even saw a need for the soft paws. Since my cats are indoors more often, I now cut and file their front claws. They're as smooth as my dog's dremeled nails, and they don't do any damage to my stuff. I do them every 3 days and it probably takes me 10 minutes per cat, but it's easy to do and they enjoy the salmon treats they get as I give them a manicure.

I always thought declawing was a delicate procedure that carefully extracted the claw from the toe, until I saw it done firsthand. It is not pretty, it looks like someone would be clipping off a toenail except they clip the last digit clean off. I've seen a lot of procedures but that really bothered me.

 

[SisMorphine]

My cat is declawed. She was declawed at around 4 years old and she is now 19. After she healed up there was never a problem.

She used to attack my sister mercilessly and viciously. Our options ened up with declawing (which could make her more prone to biting) or put her to sleep. We chose declaw. Oddly she NEVER turned to biting.

Oh and I don't worry about her being able to defend herself. She's never unsupervised in the house or outside (she's only on the porch and never shows signs of moving), she doesn't wander, and she's enough of a douchebag that if any other animal even LOOKS at her she charges them and attacks. Claws or not, the other animal always goes running.

I took care of my friend's two cats for 3 months who were NOT declawed. Though they did not ruin my couch by clawing, they did eat any paperwork that I left lying around, and they also ate the nice wooden knobs off of my desk. I'll take "evil" over "destructive" any day!!!

Frankly, I will never own another cat. Once Whitney is gone, I'm done. I think they are TOO much work and far too destructive. I grew up with cats (we had others, not just my 19 year old Devil Cat), they're nice, but the responsibility of a cat is about 8 million times more than a dog.

 

[ToscasMom]

Funny Sis, I think just the opposite. I think one dog is way more work than 5 cats.But I love them both.

 

[mrose_s]

i agree a dog is harder. panda is very easy though. if you walk slowly down the street he'l come for a stroll. he comes to his name. he asks if he can bring in the mouse he's just killed and if you say no he eats it then come asks to come in.
but he's spoilt rotten to and we need him to keep the dogs in line. lol

i will defeinelty own more cats. i love them. panda was my first ever pet all mine. but ti think they can be a lot more demanding then dogs if they decide lol