Did you have your cat declawed?

[PhotobearSam]

Poll coming.

I don't want a debate, just a sampling of what people on the DIS have done.


PLEASE...No debates.

 

[TurboKitty]

We did not. Even though I voted "cruel and inhumaine", that's not exactly my position. What I feel is something more like, "only as a last resort after trying other methods for my cat and my furniture to peacefully co-exist". If that makes any sense.

I have seen what they used to do to declaw back in the '80's and ouchies...poor kitteh. This is what I base a lot of my opinion upon.

 

[kribit]

We don't have a cat, as DH is allergic. However, when I was younger we had one and my parents declawed and I'm not even sure why. She was an indoor cat. I wouldn't judge someone for it though.

 

[CheshireVal]

No.

To me it seems like ranking the value of an inanimate object higher than an actual living, breathing creature.

I couldn't do it, and wouldn't.

 

[tinkerbee]

Growing up I never had my cats declawed and you can tell, those little boogers clawed every thing but the scratching posts that they had(many different ones). Now we have two and they both were declawed front only. I am glad we did because living in condos I couldn't afford to fix the things I've seen them trying to claw at.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

We did not. Even though I voted "cruel and inhumaine", that's not exactly my position. What I feel is something more like, "only as a last resort after trying other methods for my cat and my furniture to peacefully co-exist". If that makes any sense.

makes perfect sense!

our 5 either came to us declawed or we had it done after trying everything. I love my pets FAR more than my furniture, but I do not want to live in a house with shredded furniture and honestly can not afford to replace ruined furniture. It is definitely all about "peaceful coexistance.

 

[RayaniFoxmur]

We wanted to, but our oldest has a heart problem that when we took her in to be declawed (she has problems with the claws on her extra toes) he put her under and the EKG she was hooked up to went nuts! She's never had the problem before, but her brother has a very audible heart murrmur and our vet tested the EKG three times and it was always the same. And that was only after 15 minutes of being under. So we made the decision with the vet that not having to clip her claws every few days wasn't worth risking her life.

We decided not to get our youngest declawed then because she still had her claws. Though sometimes when he's digging them into me making biscuits I regret the decision!

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

19 years ago my sister received a kitten as a gift from her then boyfriend. She is allergic to cats (dont ask me why he bough it for her). She decided that she may be able to live with the cat if she kept him inside and so she declawed him. Well she was wrong and could no longer take care of him so he came to live with me. I live in the woods and he ended up getting outside. He fought to keep going outside after that and so we let him. I was leary at first because he really had no protection. I really think he must be Super Cat. Having no front claws didn't slow him down or stop him from being a normal cat. He was able to climb fences. He has caught rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, etc. He lived with a dog and 2 other cats with claws and never had any problems. He was older than my other animals and he has outlived them. He is 19 and no longer goes outside, but he is with me now living his last days comfortably.
For us, declawing him worked out ok. I live in the woods and he never was in a fight that we know of, at least he never showed any battle scars. I would never have declawed him if he had been mine.

 

[helenabear]

I picked for the last cat we got. We did not declaw her. Our other cat is front declawed only. I wouldn't do it again if given the choice... but I won't ever fault those who do. I'd rather a cat to have a home w/o claws than abandoned by those who won't keep one who is.

 

[Beth76]

To me it seems like ranking the value of an inanimate object higher than an actual living, breathing creature.

Well sometimes those "objects" are people. My cat started scratching me when I was pregnant. I was not about to take any chances with my baby (the human). And I wasn't going to take my other baby (the cat) to a shelter.

 

[MickeysMommy]

Never!

 

[dizneenut]

Our cat has all 4 paws declawed.

 

[lilyv]

Never. It's not that hard to learn to trip claws.

 

[Passions71203]

Our cat has her front 2 paws declawed - they were that way when we adopted her in Oct.

 

[Buckalew11]

I did front paws only. For me, it meant the difference between having a cat and not. I have a phobia about cats and claws. This cat was found on thanksgiving years ago and had no home. She is a sweet cat and I am happy to have her.

 

[goofy4tink]

I presently have three cats...all indoor cats. My previous cats were all outdoor/indoor cats. I don't declaw. I have two pieces of furniture that are shredded...unsightly? Yes, but the cats don't bother with any other furniture, so I leave those two pieces where they are..one in living room other in basement. They did start on the new furniture I just bought. Seems there was a loose thread and they started pawing at it. Had the areas replaced and now have tacky strips over them to discourage any further scratching. Hasn't been an issue yet, and it's been over a month.
Declawing is extremely painful to the cat. Our vet will declaw only for certain issues. They are...if the owner is HIV or the owner is a hemopheliac. Those are the only two situations that she seems to feel warrant declawing.

 

[RayaniFoxmur]

Never. It's not that hard to learn to trip claws.

Trimming the claws, no that's not too hard to learn. Sometimes it's learning how to work with the cat! Our oldest has to be burritoed in a blanket, with one of us on top of her (her on the ground) And the other as close to the other human as possible, grabbing her paw tightly and clipping as fast as you can. It makes it hard with the extra toes and she makes the most horrible noises the entire time. We've had neighbors threaten to call the humane society on us! We've taken her to the vet to get it done, but they don't want to dope her up to do it due to her heart.

I really wish we could have gotten her declawed.

 

[RadioNate]

one is and one isn't. if you didn't know, you couldn't tell which one is declawed and which isn't.

 

[Tazicket]

I picked for the last cat we got. We did not declaw her. Our other cat is front declawed only. I wouldn't do it again if given the choice... but I won't ever fault those who do. I'd rather a cat to have a home w/o claws than abandoned by those who won't keep one who is.

That's pretty much how I feel. Our kitten is not declawed.

 

[MyManGoofy!]

No! No matter how you look at it - you are still electively amputating the first knuckle from each of their toes.

I bought a pair of groomer-style clippers from PetCo for about 9 bucks. I clip their nails once a week. Takes me about 20 to 30 minutes (I have 4 cats.) My furniture is fine, my and my son's skin is intact. More importantly, so are my cats paws.