why is declawing a cat any less humane then having them netured???

Answer 1

Because declawing is done for the convenience of the person. Neutering is done to protect the animal from health problems and to prevent unwanted animals being born, adding to the overpopulation problem.

Answer 2

The general rationale behind this is that there's a huge cat overpopulation problem, especially in cities. For example, going by statistics, if your cat gives birth to 2 kittens and neither are spayed, and they each have an average of 2.8 kittens when *they* breed, then by the time ten years are up, you could end up with 80,399,780 kittens. Yes, over eighty-million. I'm not making this statistic up; it's from the Humane Society and I've left the link below.

The problem with cat overpopulation is the same as human population - low standards of life, mass starvation, poor health, and more commonly, euthanasia. For example, last year, my city government euthanized - and by that I mean killed - 51% of the stray dogs and cats it found (the Humane Society euthanized 9%, apparently for health reasons). So when you neuter or spay your cat, it isn't so much for your own convenience (especially if your cat is male) as for the unwanted kittens some cat somewhere else will end up having. It's basically birth control.

Declawing, on the other hand, doesn't prevent anything but a torn couch. Some people feel that it traumatizes the cat. And, admittedly, a very common thing is that, when it would normally use its claws to scratch, it will instead use its teeth. For example, if it's tired of being held, it may have usually dug its claws in. God knows that's painful enough, can you imagine those jaws clamping down?

Now, I'm not saying I agree with the idea that in levels of humane-ness, neutering is worse - but I do understand why it's done. I see declawing as being more of a convenience-issue. But in the end, I think there are far more serious animal rights issues to be dealt with than the preferences of pet owners.

Answer 3

Declawing is only done to preserve furniture or whatnot, unless the cat itself had some sort of medical problem. Getting a cat spayed, on the other hand, prevents them from creating kittens that may end up homeless.

There are also a lot more risks with declawing - imagine having your nails removed, I'm sure that hurts more than getting tubes tied. The cats can bleed and get infections.

There are other options, such as simply filing the cat's claws so they're not as sharp.

Answer 4

Obviously there are people who are on both sides of things.
I personally have 3 cats and they are not declawed. I'm totally against it regardless. I totally DISAGREE with iron_wolf1952 by saying "Only indoor cats should be declawed".
C'mon. I clip my cats nails once every 2 weeks. I have scratching posts out for them, I use protection on my couches, I PUT UP WITH THE FACT THEY ARE CATS! It's just like telling a dog not to drool. Cats scratch.

Have you ever smell a unnentered cat? THEY STINK! They smell like musk. As for females, do you want them to be howling for a "Tom cat" to come every month? I don't think so.

HOWEVER - For those who are 100% for declawing, I *HIGHLY* recommend you to do LASER declawing. Believe me...I'm a vet tech, I *know* what i'm talking about. It's not any less humane, but at least the cat will recover faster, less pain, etc. A VERY good vet will give pain meds before surgery, after surgery and sent home with pain meds. Most of the time, they're sent home the DAY of the surgery. Using a scalpel blade is just cruel. These cats have to be bandaged, and almost every single cat that I know will HATE to have their paws all bandaged up, and they waste their energy trying to get the bandages off. (Sometimes they're too tight, too loose, too bloody, sloppy bandaging, you name it). While a laser declawed cat do NOT need bandaging. HUGE difference.

There's WAY WAY WAY too many unwanted cats, even BEAUTIFUL cats in shelters. I never buy them from a breeder or pet store. All my cats for the 28 years of my life (and that's a lot of cats), are from shelters. I could not ask for anything better.

I don't fricking care if your cat has the best personality and want to pass the traits to the offspring. It's how you RAISE a cat is how they become. My cat is a "*****" because she was abused by children. I ain't going to change her personality just because she had a tough life. My other cat is the most sweetest cat ever, but there's millions more in shelters *crying* to find a home. There's more homeless pets than homeless people.

As for declawing, when you get a cat, you get claws. A simple fact. Try soft paws, try putting protection around your couches (cats learn from very young to avoid that), put more scratching posts, allow them to go outside (heck, I use leaches) to scratch a tree.

There's my two cents.

Answer 5

The _ONLY_ reason for declawing cats is owner convenience. The procedure is painful and unnecessary.

The reasons for neutering cats are multiple, and most of them are for the cat's benefit (vastly decreased danger of cancers and infections, decreased drive to run out - which is a huge plus for me, I live at the fourth floor - my cat jumping down the window could kill him) - the only "convenience" reason for the cat owners is that the cat is less likely to spray / mark territory when neutered. The procedure is short, it rarely has complications - even for female cats, I have rarely heard of complications - while declawing is messed up as often as not.

Yuck. I much prefer clipping my cat's nails weekly (he is an all-house cat) to make sure he doesn't scratch me in play, and train him to scratch posts (and cover a part of the couch, which is old enough to be used a scratching post itself, but I think the issue is more general, so I train him away).

No, declawing is not humane, any way one looks at it. Neutering is a little bit of gray territory, but in the long run, the benefits are greater than the losses. There is no danger of everybody fixing their cats anyway, so kittens will be; and the less "extra" kittens their are, alone and hungry and cold and unloved on the streets, the better for the entire cat population. Which is humane.

You know, fixing the cat has a lot less negative consequences than the corresponding procedure on a human - for humans (and dolphins only), sex is a pleasure; it's a way of bonding, etc. For cats, it's not. Cats have no emotional necessity to have offspring, nor do they bond emotionally with any offspring they have (although I have seen a cat's son to be protective of his mom). Considering how much pain and illness cats are spared by neutering... I say it's humane.

Answer 6

neutering cats is birth control. it prevents a lot of unwanted babies. sadly, most cats now are not the half-wild barn animals who pretty much fend for themselves and hunt the wildlife around the farm. they are in homes in areas that don't appreciate wild animals of any kind. back at the farm, 5 or 6 more cats would not make that much of a difference, they were manageable at least until you could find the babies new homes. a few might even end up being killed by predators. in our world, they end up being dumped out in the middle of nowhere, with no way to fend for themselves and no one to protect them - not even mom. so, yes. neutering is a necessity.

declawing however, is not. there may be some extreme cases in which it is - one user here answered my question about declawing with a story of how her cat needed daily treatments and her options were to knock her out every day for treatment or declaw. in this case, i feel it is justifiable. however, most of the time, people declaw because they can't be bothered to train their cats to claw the scratching post instead of the furniture.

in my opinion, your responsibilities to your pets are about the same as your responsibilities to your children. you wouldn't have a child's hands amputated because they insist on drawing on the white walls with their crayons and their markers, neither should you have a cat's fingers amputated just because they damage some furniture. if it turns out that they can't be trained, which i'm sure doesn't happen often, and if you can't handle a few scratches on the furniture, find the cat a better home, with someone who will treat them as they should be treated.

Answer 7

well for instance we have to control the cat growth somehow, so spaying/neutering your animal is a great thing to do. Declawing you cat on the other hand is an act of mutilation, I am completely against it, what people should do is learn how to clip their claws, I have three, 5 year old cats and they all still have their claws and they are always trimmed, I clip them once a week and since I have been doing this since they were 6 weeks old they are used to it and they don't fight me at all. Their claws is their way of defense and what they use to climb up too, their claws have a lot of reasons to be there for. Their reproductive system? well like I said they only have it to have kitties and we don't need an over population of cats do we?

Answer 8

because a cat relies souly on his claws and bite as a defense when fighting, when you declaw a cat your taking half of his defense away. but i strongly agree if you have a cat that stays in the house 24/7 than declawing is a good option when the cat is doing damage to furniture or scratching children

Answer 9

Declawing takes away one of their main defenses. Claws are very important.

Neutering takes away nothing more than the ability to make more cats. It has nothing to do with defense.

Declawing a cat consists in removing the cat's toes back to the first knuckle. How would you like to not have to cut your fingernails ever again.

Answer 10

Neutering a cat prevents unwanted kittens. Declawing makes the cat unable to protect itself.