Declawing cats: ok or inhumane?

Answer 1

1. Outlawed in most of the world, and more states are seeing the light where this is concerned as well.
2. Why put the cat through uneccessary pain (yes pain, cats hide pain brilliantly, any vet can tell you that)
3. Lpook at alternatives, not one's own selfish wants.
4. A lot of cats in shelters are there for reasons of behavioural problems due to declawing
5. You are given this animal to protect, not maim.
6. Cats can never groom themselves properly again, their muscles shorten and weaken and tendons get into weird positions from declawing.
7. People tend to just declaw cause they're not prepared to invest time into animals they supposedly love - but there's no way they'd do that to their own children.
8. You can have a housecat without declawing, and you can have your furniture - ask anyone around the world where they see this for what it is - inhumane! People tend to try something ONCE then say Oh well I tried - then choose their furniture over their animals. Just what gives them the RIGHT to decide which parts of their animal they need?
It's not "perfectly fine" unless you're too lazy to properly care for your cat.

It's really simple, if you don't have the ability to deal with the claws, don't get the cat, after all, with more places seeing how barbaric this practice is, they'll have to learn about alternatives sometime.

Answer 2

Declawing is illegal in Australia, as an inhumane practice, and I can't say I've ever met a cat owner who wasn't able to find some kind of solution for any cat-scratching problems. If you buy a cat or any other pet for that matter, you get all the behaviour that comes with it. I trim my cat's nails every couple of weeks. He has no problem allowing me to do this, although some cats will argue the point, but it saves the furniture. He also has a cat scratching post, and is squirted with water if he does give the sofas a go. He learned his lesson pretty quickly.
You can also buy SoftPaws products which are glued onto the claws to render them blunt & harmless. I don't believe that a person should consider owning an animal if their primary response to a behavioural issue, like scratching, is to surgically mutilate the animal, rather than work out a less painful solution, especially when there are plenty of different options to try.

Answer 3

if you don't have the time to train your cats not to claw the furniture and to instead claw a scratch post then I would say to put soft paws on them (plastic covers that go over each of the claws) instead of declawing them...I was raised to believe that you should declaw a cats front claws so they can't tear up furniture but not their back claws so that if, on the off chance they get outside and in a fight with another animal, they can defend themselves with their back claws still...so when I got my kitten last fall I thought it was oh-kay...I had a brief discussion with the vet about all the procedure and my vet out and out lied to me about what they were doing! I later found out what really happens when a cat is declawed and how painful it can be...(they remove the finger from the joint!)...I have switched vets and still regret having the procedure done (because of the vet's behaviors when he got neutered and declawed-he developed an anxiety disorder that now requires medication! beware of your vets...no matter how highly recommended they come by your closest friends and family -find a vet that is right for you)
and don't declaw...there are so many other options I wish I had taken!

Answer 4

It is perfectly ok, this day and age, they get pain medication and is under anesthesia. I have declawed cats w no change in behavior and they are content "scratching" everything. Scratching is an instinct, so they still do the movements, just no damage. They also mark territory when they do that, they have scent glands under their paws. Cats are independent and they may go crazy if you put too many rules, my cats are happier when they are allowed to "scratch" everything.

The saying that cats stop using their litterbox after declawing is a myth! Speaking from own experience and seeing many many cats declawed and they all use their litterbox!

See this website so you can see what declawing REALLY involves, without all the animal rights sensationalistic propaganda:

http://www.geocities.com/declawing/

Answer 5

http://www.declawing.com/htmls/declawing.htm

read what declawing is and I bet you wont do it to your cat.

The following is a list of countries in which declawing cats is either illegal
or considered extremely inhumane and only performed under
extreme circumstances.

England
Scotland
Wales
Italy
France
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
Norway
Sweden
Netherlands
Northern Ireland
Ireland
Denmark
Finland
Slovenia
Portugal
Belgium
Brazil
Australia
New Zealand
Yugoslavia
Japan

Answer 6

I have had 3 cats. They lived 19, 13, and 12 years. All of them were declawed.They had wonderful, happy indoor only lives. They played with each other and had a great time. PS when my niece was 2, a non-declawed cat scratched her in the face. one inch to the right and she would have lost an eye so it is not only about furniture you need to worry about. Keep that in mind. The other people posting here are, to say the least, over reacting.

Answer 7

I agree with most other civilized nations in the belief that the amputation of a cat's toes (AKA declawing) is inhumane.

Answer 8

Cruel, Not right, Inhumane must I go on. Just think how horrible it is not being able to defend yourself.... I got a kitty from the ASPCA she never had a home she has been wild and at the shelter HER WHOLE LIFE... At that point they were giving her away for free. Point is she was declawed and one time she wasn't able to defend herself and well she got hurt and BADLY she lucky and if you love your putty cat you would never do that to him/her..

Answer 9

After reading the above info about what declawing actually is..I am so sad. My kitty was declawed prior to when I got her. We are about to get 2 kittens and I was going to get them declawed too. but now that I KNOW what it is...I will never do that to my precious kittens! It makes me sad that my older cat had that done to her when she was a kitten..and she will be forever changed because of it.

Answer 10

I find declawing to be a useless and inhumane procedure.