Cats... natural or de-clawed?

Charlie Mike

Charlie Mike

Sober since 1-7-14 (still a Paranoid Nutjob)
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I brought 2 neutered males into my marriage. She has 2 neutered, de-clawed males. We've been married since 5-28-09 and have had no cat-on-cat violence. My question is should an indoor cat be de-clawed? I don't think so. Imagine having your fingernails ripped out along with the tip bones...
 
Charlie Mike said:
I brought 2 neutered males into my marriage. She has 2 neutered, de-clawed males. We've been married since 5-28-09 and have had no cat-on-cat violence. My question is should an indoor cat be de-clawed? I don't think so. Imagine having your fingernails ripped out along with the tip bones...
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Just like dogfighting CM... if they did it in the past, there's nothing to be done, and give it as good a life as possible. If it hasn't had that happen, don't do it. Declawing is generally recognized as cruel and especially in view of there being other cats, could cause really weird anxiety and stuff out of the cat, besides inability to actually defend. I've gotten scratched a lot, and wished I could declaw the stupid cat; but no matter how mad I've gotten, it's just wrong.

Zero
 
BTW, thanks for bringing up dog fighting. My 5 month old pit bull doesn't even lift her snout when a cat walks by. Mostly because she has learned that a cat with claws can F her world up.
 
Declawing is very inhumane, from what I have heard. Correct me if I am wrong, but I heard that part of the toes are removed. I am not a cat person, I am a dog person. However, if you don't want your cat clawing up your furniture, don't get one. My family has outside cats, it would be murder for them to be declawed. Coyotes, wild dogs, huge tom cats etc are in the area.
 
My wife and I had to consider this a couple months ago. We adopted a second cat who was about 1.5yrs at the time of adoption. And after a couple months this cat was literally clawing on everything, we would keep his nails clipped and to no prevail he would just destroy everything. It got to the point where he would dig up the corners of the carpet and get at the foam underneath. We tried several things from citrus sprays, repellents, pheromones, to putting scratching posts and toys everywhere and nothing worked. After thinking about what to do we did decide to get him declawed.

When they declaw cats what they actually do is remove the last knuckle in their paw, we didn't like the idea of this and feel that cat's shouldn't be declawed. But the fact was it was either do this and continue to provide a good home for him or return him where he may be put down or end up in a worse situation.

4-5mos later he's still active, he plays with our other cats and will fight (more like wrestle) with them. He's a big cat so he normally wins and just ends up sitting on them. His paws aren't sensitive and he isn't in pain. He is definitely a lot more calm, but he doesn't seem sad or depressed.

All of our cats are strictly indoor cats, but we will let them into the back yard supervised regularly.
 
Midnight the Cat showed up last year and I feed him. He lives under the porch in an insulated house I made for him and sometimes stays in the garage during blizzards and -25 below and colder nights here in Minnesota. Normally he roams the woods at night with the foxes. Pretty tough guy. I really don't want to bring up the subject with him. :eek:

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They don't generally remove the whole claw anymore or any part of the toes. The claws are clipped pretty far back they a liquid-cemical-glue type substance is put on the claw to keep them from growing back. I guess it kills the claw itself. With this technique it doesn't effect the way they walk, the recovery time is very short and there is much less pain. Check with multiple vets in your area because some still do it the old way. It's interesting to note, I found out that declawing cats is illegal in the UK. Kind of makes sense here because cats are more regarded as outside animals and dogs live in the house.

With this said, I still wouldn't have my cat declawed. Double sided tape on the arms of the couch and a spray bottle make training them (mine anyway) pretty easy.
 
De-claw at cat?...Hell NO!...Not only do they use their claws for ripping and hooking, they also use 'em for climbing.
 
I've had cats for 34 of my 39 years and I've never had one de-clawed. Not even the big grey tabby who answered to "Evil". Most of the damage she did was to me or the wife and not the other cat or the furniture. Hence the nickname.

Frank
 
We have four indoor cats, one female and three males, all of different ages. None of them are declawed, they may prick the couch up some but I really don't agree with declawing, usually when they scratch me its either an accident, playing, or I deserved it. That would be like saying I could never carry a knife again...and that's just not right.
 
Never have and never will.

Every cat I have ever owned was great with their claws and never ruined anything in my house with their claws.

We have 2 cats now and we bought one of those cat scratching Emery boards and they love it.

We have one in the living room and one upstairs in the office, works real nice and the cats love it.

Here's what I was refering to: Link
 
I agree on not declawing, esp because that would be taking my boys D/A OTFs away.
 
I would personally never declaw a cat, though I don't think less of my mom, who has declawed cats. It seems cruel to me, and I don't really think it's fair to make the choice to adopt an animal, then subject it to painful, disfiguring surgery in order to make it fit one's lifestyle.
 
Charlie Mike said:
BTW, thanks for bringing up dog fighting. My 5 month old pit bull doesn't even lift her snout when a cat walks by. Mostly because she has learned that a cat with claws can F her world up.
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When she's older she will know that a cat can't F her world up so better keep an eye on that mix.
 
No. I think de-clawing a cat is wrong. A scratchboard will help a cat keeping its nails short. Without a decent scratchboard the cat will scratch other stuff… A little bit of catnip on the board might help.

A large scratching pole for the cat to climb in is probably best.

Rafael
 
I don't declaw my house cat's for the humanitarian reasons mentioned, but also because you never know when one might get out and become a relatively unarmed "outdoor cat".
 
Powernoodle kitty is declawed in front. He did not seem to suffer any psychological trauma, or require kitty counseling.

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Our indoor/outdoor cat Khan (aka Fat Ba***d). 26 Lbs. and armed to the teeth. We discussed declawing when we got him but I'm one of those that disagree with it. The No-Scratch spray from the pet store works. He doesn't mess with any of the furniture. Once in a while he'll claw at the carpet when he wants attention but just enough to make some noise.



Khan2.jpg
 
No, declawing cats is wrong.

If you disagree swing on by (if you'd like) and I can cut your fingertips off down to the first joint and make you walk on all fours.
 
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