Cat Lovers Community Group
For all those people who are slaves to their cats!
hi, my question is why do so many cats in the usa seem to be getting declawed?? In britain this is not usual practise at all and in some cases is deemed as cruel because the cats natural defenses against attack are being taken away. I can understand that if a cat has been injured in some way then it might be necessary to remove one or two claws, but them all???
Please help me to understand because as a huge cat and animal lover i am struggling to come to terms with this.
Please help me to understand because as a huge cat and animal lover i am struggling to come to terms with this.
I do not care for declawing personally and even though my cats are all indoor kitties, I would never declaw them.
In order to even get an animal here you have to have a letter from your dr stating you have a medical reason for having a pet, then pay a $100 pet deposit in case they pee on the carpet (or sharpen their claws on the cheap wood work), and if you have a kitten under 12 weeks old then you have to get them declawed (front claws only) so they don't sharpen their claws on the cheap wood work. It's crazy. Then if your pet is over 30lbs you can't keep it, dog or cat. They only allow small animals and anything over 30lbs is considered a "medium" animal.
If it hadn't been for that crazy rule we weren't going to have her declawed. I really do wish it could have been avoided. While she's fine and didn't suffer any nerve damage from the proceedure, she just doesn't play the same as she used to, and sometimes she'll still try to claw at her scratching post or climb the curtains.
She's so tough though, that she doesn't need her front claws to fight. A stray male cat got in the apartment the other day, he's easily twice her size, and he thought he was going to get a free meal at her food bowl. She pounced on his back and got the scruff of his neck in her mouth and drug him to the front door, almost three feet. Then she let him go and hissed at him until he tucked his tail and went back out the way he came.
In a way thougth i take this as part and parcel of being a cat owner and i wouldnt have it any other way.......but then again ask me that when they wake me up in the morning by attacking my feet that are under my duvet.....lol
If you will watch, or even do it to your own cat. when a cat is being held down on its back their natural instict is to push with their back feet and claws, so if only the front are removed they do still have some form of defense.
My older cat was declawed after he was grown, that was a mistake, he had a hard time to recover from that.
As for the deaf cat she was spayed and declawed at the same time, she was about 5 months old. She bounced back VERY quickly.
The main reason I got them declawed was that they would scratch my daughter that was 2 years old at the time. The both are very active and my daughter did have the marks to prove it. I know that they were not trying to scratch her for meanness, and I did not declaw them for meaness, or as punishment it was just the right thing for me to do in my living situation.
Not knowing about this in the past- I did declaw one of our cats, because she used to jump on my baby's little bald head when she was sitting on the floor playing. At the time, I thought either the claws or the cat had to go.
After being declawed, he adapted very well to it. Would I do it again knowing what I know now? NO! He actually fell out of the window screen one time, and our outside dog grabbed him and by the time I got out there to seperate them, the dog was bloody; and the cat was very scared, but fine.
I am glad that I know more about the practise, and in time possibly the vet's will refuse to even do the surgery.
Our kitten, Yoda, isn't declawed as of now, and pretty soon he will have to be because the maintenance people keep on coming into our apartment to fix various things, like the toilet and re-tiling the bathroom. I'm sure one of them will say something to the apartment managers because first of all, they don't know we have an extra cat, and second of all, he isn't declawed. I, too, hope that in the future no one will declaw their cats.
One thing I do is I clip my cats' claws, being very careful not to hit the vein that runs through the claw. They don't like it, but they tolerate it. You know what's really sad? The kitten is our room-mate's cat but he won't tolerate anyone else bathing him, clipping his claws, looking at his gums or giving him medicine. I don't know why that is, besides the fact that our room-mate gets very nervous when she has to do stuff like that, especially the medication. She tried to give Yoda his medication once and almost squirted it up his nose instead! LOL!! I don't know why my babies will only let me take care of them. I know I'm rambling, I'm sorry, but I just have to say this really quick.
Whenever we bring Midnight to the vet, he gets really scared and curls up and basically submits to everyone. Well, we had to bring my poor baby in to the vet because he had a bladder infection and a URI and his anal glands were all clogged up. By the way, what purpose do anal glands in a cat serve? Anyways, they got his urine and then they cleaned out the anal glands. It was horrible! He litterally screamed! Afterwards, I stepped up to the exam table and my baby scooted over to me and leaned against me, shaking. I gathered him into my arms and rocked him and I whispered comforting words into his ear. He wouldn't even let my husband, David or my room mate touch him. He cowered away from everyone except me. He knows both of them, so I'm wondering, why did he only go to me?
Sorry guys, LOL!