OT-cat declawing

[here757]

Norfolk Va made it illegal to declaw...
my cat came that way... i still dig him though!

 

[BoardWalkBelle]

I would never have a cat of mine declawed, however, the cat I have now I adopted from the local shelter and he was declawed. He bites and is agressive when he plays and i am thinking it is becaqsue he is declawed and I cannot break him of the habit. I hate that he bites like this and if i knew it when i adopted him i would not have taken him. I have had him since 04 and i love him but I cant stand his biting.

 

[puffkin]

I am against declawing. However, I do realize that there are some cats and situations that may warrant it. I would rather see a cat declawed after all other options fail than be dumped in a shelter.

I trim my two girl's nail. They don't really mind. Both were gotten as older kittens (6-9 months). We have a dog too, and I like that they have their claws when they fight with him. It levels the playing field. I also feel much better should they get out. Our older cat won't go outside....you can leave the door wide open and she will stop at the threshold. We don't know yet with the younger one. She seems a bit more interested, so I am glad she will have her claws for protection if she would get out accidentally.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I have had 3 cats declawed. We never had any biting or other problems with them. All three of our cats were rescue cats. They all live indoors. They have all been happy and friendly. The one cat I used to have that was mean was the one I never had declawed. I used to have to keep him locked in the basement when kids were at my house. Too many kids ended up with scratches from him.

 

[PatsMom]

I'm up to my 7th declawed cat. Some came that way, others I had done. All of them were adoptions of one kind or another. One was found abandoned with other kittens by a dumpster. Managed to find homes for all but one. That was my first to declaw - my landlord wouldn't let me keep her if I didn't do it.

All of mine have done fine. But even when I had cats with claws they were not allowed outside. Inside cats live longer and are less prone to disease. Not to mention it is much more considerate of your neighbors since your cat isn't using their flower garden as a litter box. After the first declawing (done when the cat was spayed) I have both procedures done together. If I adopt an older cat already neutered, I schedule the de-clawing as quickly as possible. My vet has no problem doing the procedure. She agrees with my opinion that life as a spoiled baby at my house with no claws sure beats life in a cage at a shelter with claws.

You'll find plenty of arguments on both sides of this issue. After the first kitten I thought I would just let any new kitties keep their claws. But then DD was born and DH was paranoid about her getting scratched. I do the front claws only. Some have been a bit neurotic but I don't know if it was from the declawing or just because the cat was neurotic to begin with. My current cat licks people - vet says he has an oral fetish as a result of being taken away from his mother too early. Nothing at all to do with the declawing. I rescued him from a shelter that wasn't a no-kill. He didn't have much longer to live so I'm sure he prefered the pain and recovery to being dead. He know lives a life of luxury with his own special chair to sleep on in my office!

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

This is not in any way related to DW but I need opinions. We got a kitten in January. She is a pretty good cat except that she scratches EVERYTHING (brand new Pack n Play almost has holes, couch, rocking chair DD got at the baby shower, suitcases, doors, etc). I have been thinking about getting her declawed but I think that declawing is mean (since it basically takes the end off their toes). Well this morning the kitten accidently scratched DD on the arm. The kitten was giving herself a bath on top of one of the suitcases and DD pulled herself up onto the suitcase and the reached out, but had her claws out. Like I said, total accident, DD does just about everything to the kitten and this is the first scratch. But now I am thinking again about getting her declawed. I just don't know if I am panicking about the scratch and not being fair.

We have 3 cats. The 2 older cats would claw at everything and we could not hold them in order to get their nails clipped. We had them declawed in the front only. They have not suffered any ill effects from the experience and are loving cats. When we adpoted our 3rd cat, we decided to wait and see how she would react to the other cats and if she clawed at everything. To our pleasant surprise, she does not scratch the furniture and allows us to clips her nails without incident.

If given the choice to declaw or bring back to the shelter - we would declaw. We understand fully how the procedure is done as my sister is a vet assistant - so no flames please.

 

[walkerag]

I too worked as a vet assistant for several years, 2 1/2 years at a cat only clinic which I only left because the weekend hours were not condusive to being a new mom
I own 1 declawed cat (12 years old) and 1 not declawed (2 years). I am now seriously considering having the younger one declawed. He was fine at first but he is beginning to destroy everything, berber carpet, matresses, chairs etc.
I am not a huge fan of the softpaws because many cats don't like the way they feel and will chew them off. Some do leave them alone though.
If you choose to declaw, your vet will give you a weeks worth of antibiotics most likely with pain medication crushed and put into the antibiotics. They will also suggest that you use a special kind of kitty litter until your cat's paws have healed. Most pet stores sell a brand called Yesterday's News which is made from pulverized pieces of recycled newspaper. There is another very soft brand that the all cat clinic sold called Cushy Litter.
It is a personal decision and if you choose to declaw, don't let anyone make you feel bad about it. You know what's best for your household. My cats, (I had another one that was declawed but he died 5 years ago ) have never had any complications from declawing. We also never allow our cats outside declawed or not due to the dangers, dogs, cars, Feline Leukemia, FIV, FIP, the list goes on and on.
They have it made though and are dearly loved members of our family

 

[DISNEYNV]

Didn't want to declaw, but Boo clawed up DHs favorite leather chair! It was the claws or my kitty. I chose my kitty and had him declawed, but even though he is only one I think he is depressed about it. I wouldn't do it unless all the other options fail like in my case. He hated getting his claws trimmed and would bite me. I tried the scratchers but he still went after the leather. He also clawed up carpets near my DDs bedroom door when her hamster was in there (had to put Hammy elsewhere). It's your decision and your vets. Go over all the options first. Good luck

 

[allie_to_you]

I have two male, neutered, declawed cats that I had since they were a couple weeks old. These are my babies and we tried everything, the sprays, the scratching posts, the nail covers, trimming their nails, you name it. We still ended up getting scratched and having our furniture scratched, so we finally made the decision to get them declawed when they got neutered. It was a great decision!

Yes, they limped around slightly for a few days, but with pain meds were fine in just a short while. Both went through the surgery fine and we had no problem with the litter box afterward because we used these very soft pellet type litter you'd use for rabbits. This way it didn't get in their paws but it was soft enough for them to paw around in.

The only problem we had at all was that one of the cats liked to lick his paw a lot so we had to keep it bandaged a bit to keep the bleeding down, but even that was minimum.

I think if you have a cat that you can avoid declawing it's great, but if you want an indoor cat and don't want the fleas that comes with letting it out or having it run away, then declawing can be a good option.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I like the filing idea. Declawing a cat leaves it completely defenseless if it ever gets out.

 

[loveysbydesign]

We have 3 kitties, 2 we had declawed and one came to us that way when we rescued him. They are 14, 13 and 4 y.o and none of them have had any problems with being front declawed. They do not go outside and we love them lots! For us we had tried everything under the sun and 14 years ago there wasnit as much to try so we had to have them front declawed when we had them fixed. If we hadn't had taken them in they would have been taken to the pound and probably been put to sleep due to overcrowding. I think every cat is unique and some may need to be declawed while others don't!

 

[ilandrazdsw]

I have 4 cats...yeah I know and they are all fixed and declawed (at the same time). The 2 my parents had when I was a child were also declawed. My oldest cat had no negative reactions. She did bite before she was declawed, but she did break from the habit. The "twins" were done because the began to scratch the children (and us) without meaning to and would scratch on the carpet. Our boy was the same way. They are all indoor and still have their back claws-don't know of a vet that will remove the backs. One of the twins lets DD do just about anything with/to her...if she has had enough she either RUNS away or gives her a nip (not a fullbreak the skin bite). The other twin is finally becoming social...we had her (rescue) from 3 weeks and she was NEVER an affectionate feline, but is now coming around. Our boy is very good with the children and can be palyed with and carried around like a rag doll. Also, we never had issues with any of the cats not using the litter box after coming home from the procedure...if you do use paper strips until fully healed. This was never an issue of do we/don't we and it became more clear when they continuously climbed the christmas tree the first Christmas. we had to find another vet to declaw, but still use our regular vet for all care.

Do what you think is best for your pet. Gather information from both sides to make an informed decision so you can be sure about your choice.

 

[letsgoagainsoon]

Our cat is declawed...front only. Same cat now as he was before. He didn't have any problems. I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this, but I do suggest you get the special kitty litter for after his surgery, it's made of paper and won't irritate his paws.