Excellent point!  Depending upon where they live it could be a baaad thing
to leave a window open.

Jill

These are all legitimate issues, but if you're immune-compromised and
can't risk scratches, yet you want a cat, why not look for a cat that's
*already* declawed, instead of mutilating yet another one? Lord knows
there are plenty of them at the shelters.

I'm not yelling at you, just at the people who unthinkingly declaw a
cat before trying to come up with another solution.

BTW, I took in a stray cat a few years back, and I found her a new
home - with a guy who had AIDS. Not just HIV, but full-blown AIDS.
He lived alone and he wanted a companion. Because he was living in
subsidized housing for AIDS patients, and because he had people to
come in and help with things like housework, shopping, and taking
care of a pet, if he had one, I felt OK about letting him take her.
People can live a long time with that disease so I decided I wasn't
going to worry about her outliving him.

But she did have a cranky side, along with a full set of death razors.
When you did something that annoyed her (and of course, it was
impossible to tell what would annoy her from one moment to the next),
she would slash out. I warned him about this, many times. I made sure
he understood that he *was* going to get scratched. He wasn't alarmed
about it.

A week after he took her, I called to see how they were getting along,
and he said, "Yup, she scratched me alright, and she drew blood." But
his only concern was that the cat might catch HIV by being exposed to
his blood. (I explained that the "H" part of "HIV" guaranteed that she
wouldn't. :))

Anyway, I know there are other reasons why people might not want to
get cat scratches - diabetics having to watch out for the feet, for
example, as well as the examples you pointed out. But I just wanted to
say that HIV doesn't have to mean you can't have a cat, or a even cat
with intact claws.

Joyce

The doctors wanted me to get all of ours declawed because of Rob's cancer.
Fortunately we both refused.  I said I'd rather re-home them, and Rob said
that none of the cats were going any where and none were getting de-clawed.
The doctors moaned and wailed, but Rob prevailed and we have them all still
and still with claws intact.

Pam S.

I'm not having a go at you, because I know your views on declawing and
I am so please for you and the new girl landing on her paws in such a
great home, but the declawing a cat because of cance/HIV is complete
and utter bollocks. I'm not disputing it happened, but it's a bullsh*t
excuse.

There is a reason declawing is BANNED in half the worlds countries.

Helen M

Cancer patients manage perfectly well in the rest of the world, only in
North America are cats declawed.