Rachel wrote:

Declawing is one of the cruelest things you can do to a cat. It involves
amputating the first joint of each toe (equivalent to removing the first
joint of each of your fingers) and handicaps the cat for life. It is
extremely painful and offers NO benefit to the cat. It is wrong to
mutilate a cat for *your* convenience, which is exactly what declawing
does. Cats need their claws for many reasons. Declawing is an
unnecessary mutilation, especially in light of the fact that any cat can
be easily trained to use a scratching post. It is banned or illegal in
most of the world and considered animal cruelty, which it is. For the
cost of a declaw, you can buy a floor to ceiling cat tree or a couple of
good tall scratching posts.

For a lot of info and photos of declawing surgery, check out my website
(link below.) There are many good articles there that will show you why
declawing should NEVER be done, how to choose appropriate items for your
cat to scratch and how to get your cat to use them.

Once you see the realities of declawing I can't imagine that you would
want to do it if you have a conscience and a clear sense of right and
wrong.

Megan

                                   

Rachel, almost everyone who reads this newsgroup is adamantly against
declawing.  It is mutilation.  Far more than the claws are removed.  Please see
this website:

<A HREF="http://community-2.webtv.net/zuzu22/STOPDECLAWCOM/">Declawing</A>

www.stopdeclaw.com

Declawing is illegal in most European countries and there is a reason why.

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

Rachel, please do not even consider declawing.  That procedure involves
amputation of bone at the first joint of the cat's feet.  That would be
somewhat like amputating your fingers or toes at the first joint.  Cats that
have been declawed have a much greater rate of behavioral problems such as
biting and urinating outside the litter box (sometimes showing up a number
of years after the declaw and sometimes sooner).  The amputation prevents a
cat from walking in a normal fashion, and it often results in arthritis and
other problems.  Here are some web sites that provide additional
information:

http://www.stopdeclaw.com
http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/declaw.html
http://www.cara-adopt.org/declaw.html
http://declaw.lisaviolet.com/declawvettch.html

As I said, please do not even consider it!  Cats can easily be trained to
use a scratching post, and many of us would be happy to provide information
on how to do that.  I greatly appreciate the fact that you sought advice
from this group before you took any action.  Very often, friends who advise
someone to declaw have absolutely no experience of their own or they
automatically had a cat declawed simply because someone else told them "it
was the thing to do."
MaryL

Photos of Duffy and Holly (pictorial history of my blind cat Duffy's
integration into our household):
Duffy, Part I: The Introduction -- http://tinyurl.com/8y54
Duffy, Part II: Life at Home -- http://tinyurl.com/8y56

catmidy@hotmail.com writes

Asking for advice before adopting a kitty, shows you truly care and will be a
very caring guardian for your pet.  Here's a suggestion: adopt a cat who is
already declawed (as opposed to adopting one, then worrying about whether or
not to declaw. Personally, I would never declaw another cat.....having allowed
it done to one cat when i was 19..I didn't know any better.  Now, I know the
procedure.  There are plenty of declawed cats available for adoption, too!
Good luck.

I'm also strongly against declawing.

Adam

news:f14c015e.0309141059.308f289a@posting.google.com...

You didn't say why you felt it was necessary to declaw a cat, so I'm
assuming it's because you don't want your furniture or drapes scratched.

First of all, not all cats want to scratch furniture.  One of my cats has
never done this, but he did like to scratch the carpet until I got him a
Turbo scratcher for horizontal scratching.  If you provide the cat with a
scratching post for vertical scratching and a scratching pad for horizontal
scratching, this is usually enough because they prefer scratching on them.
Kittens tend to be a bit worse than adult cats about scratching furniture
and climbing drapes until they get past the rambunctious stage.  There's
also a product called Soft Paws that basically encases the claw in a plastic
sheath.  It has to be redone periodically.

If you're worried about the cat scratching you, clip the cat's claws so the
sharp tips are blunted.  There's a special scissor-like tool you can buy at
the pet supply store for this.  Have someone show you how to do it.  There's
a blood vessel in a cat's claw, so you have to be careful to snip only the
tip.  It will cause bleeding and pain for the cat if you cut into the blood
vessel.

Declawing a cat really isn't necessary.  Among the problems that others have
pointed out, it can also change the cat's personality because it is the
equivalent of a person having the tips of all the fingers amputated.  Some
owners abandon the cat because the personality change is so severe.

If you must have a declawed cat, adopt one from a shelter that has already
been declawed or choose another kind of animal for a pet.

Bill

It has been my personal finding that declawing cats is the biggest single
contributor to house soiling.

Martin