Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We owned two declawed cats who have since died. They lived long, happy indoor lives and until the very end of their lives, never had issues peeing outside of the litter box or other behavior problems.

My take is cats are better off having a home, even if they’re declawed. There are millions of stray cats and cats in shelters. Your cat would likely prefer a declawed life than a life in a shelter or euthanized.

You're pretending that "declaw the cat or abandon it" is the only choice here. There is always the choice of "don't declaw the cat, and also don't be a total POS and abandon a living animal you committed to taking care of."

DP but that IS the option. Declaw or surrender back to the rescue, where it is possible it will be euthanized because of the scratching up of furniture.
I think many people don't realize that many cats scratch up furniture - some are willing to accept it and others want to kill the cat for destroying their furniture. If you fall in the former, do you just not have nice things?

NP here.
The cat won't be euthanized because it scratches furniture. It will be euthanized because its owner gave up on it and took the lazy option of dumping the cat at a shelter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We owned two declawed cats who have since died. They lived long, happy indoor lives and until the very end of their lives, never had issues peeing outside of the litter box or other behavior problems.

My take is cats are better off having a home, even if they’re declawed. There are millions of stray cats and cats in shelters. Your cat would likely prefer a declawed life than a life in a shelter or euthanized.

You're pretending that "declaw the cat or abandon it" is the only choice here. There is always the choice of "don't declaw the cat, and also don't be a total POS and abandon a living animal you committed to taking care of."

DP but that IS the option. Declaw or surrender back to the rescue, where it is possible it will be euthanized because of the scratching up of furniture.
I think many people don't realize that many cats scratch up furniture - some are willing to accept it and others want to kill the cat for destroying their furniture. If you fall in the former, do you just not have nice things?

Only if you think it is okay if the cat bites off your finger in response.

Anonymous wrote:We owned two declawed cats who have since died. They lived long, happy indoor lives and until the very end of their lives, never had issues peeing outside of the litter box or other behavior problems.

My take is cats are better off having a home, even if they’re declawed. There are millions of stray cats and cats in shelters. Your cat would likely prefer a declawed life than a life in a shelter or euthanized.

You're pretending that "declaw the cat or abandon it" is the only choice here. There is always the choice of "don't declaw the cat, and also don't be a total POS and abandon a living animal you committed to taking care of."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless you absolutely know that you are giving your cat to a no-kill shelter, tell me what the difference is between giving up your cat to be killed or declawing it?

How about we amputate both your arms.

Would you rather I put the cat/or you down? See how your analogy doesn't make sense?
Declawing a cat doesn't mean it can't still do its day to day activities. My declawed cat was still a master bird-killer. It still did cat things - just without ruining my furniture, my rugs, my linens.

If my vet said to me "Either we declaw the cat or it has to be put down" for some health reason, then I would say yes, declaw the cat. But I'm never going to declaw a cat just to save my furniture. What's next, amputating a cats legs so it can't run outside when someone opens the front door?

My sentiments exactly. Saving your furniture is not a good enough reason to do something like this. And while I'm glad there are stories of declawed cats out there who had happy lives, it doesn't justify doing it to more cats.

And also the PPs trying to start a cat vs. dog argument can go troll elsewhere. I know plenty of dogs who chewed up furniture and clothes and shoes. My BIL's dog literally ate the stairs one night. There will always be pets with problems.

A cat can usually take care of its own back claws so now you’re just left with the fronts. The easiest thing to do is sneak up on the cat when it’s sleeping and trim one, maybe two, at a time, especially the ones that are the longest/sticking out the most. That will help the cat not claw you when it sits in your lap. Unfortunately some degree of “less than perfect furniture” comes with owning a cat or a dog, for that matter. They tend to like to scratch on things that are a rougher texture so like, low pile carpets and more canvas-like materials vs. softer/smooth microfiber.

I’m not, like, hardcore against cat declawing. But you have to do it when they’re a kitten - adult cats notice a lot more since they’ve already lived a longer period of time with front claws. And you’d be hard pressed to find a vet that would even do it. That’s why all the declawed cats in shelters are all quite old. Even 10-15 years ago it was becoming uncommon, never mind today.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless you absolutely know that you are giving your cat to a no-kill shelter, tell me what the difference is between giving up your cat to be killed or declawing it?

How about we amputate both your arms.

Would you rather I put the cat/or you down? See how your analogy doesn't make sense?
Declawing a cat doesn't mean it can't still do its day to day activities. My declawed cat was still a master bird-killer. It still did cat things - just without ruining my furniture, my rugs, my linens.

If my vet said to me "Either we declaw the cat or it has to be put down" for some health reason, then I would say yes, declaw the cat. But I'm never going to declaw a cat just to save my furniture. What's next, amputating a cats legs so it can't run outside when someone opens the front door?

Cat people really put up with a lot of crap from crappy animal behavior.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless you absolutely know that you are giving your cat to a no-kill shelter, tell me what the difference is between giving up your cat to be killed or declawing it?

How about we amputate both your arms.

Would you rather I put the cat/or you down? See how your analogy doesn't make sense?
Declawing a cat doesn't mean it can't still do its day to day activities. My declawed cat was still a master bird-killer. It still did cat things - just without ruining my furniture, my rugs, my linens.

Anonymous wrote:My cat’s claws seem to actually be sharpened from the scratching posts; she has talons!. Are there any posts that actually decrease sharpness?

The scratching posts are to distract from the furniture, not to wear down the nails. Any scratching (post or furniture) will sharpen the nails. You need to trim them regularly regardless.

Anonymous wrote:We owned two declawed cats who have since died. They lived long, happy indoor lives and until the very end of their lives, never had issues peeing outside of the litter box or other behavior problems.

My take is cats are better off having a home, even if they’re declawed. There are millions of stray cats and cats in shelters. Your cat would likely prefer a declawed life than a life in a shelter or euthanized.

They lived long and happy lives because they didn't know any better, they adapted. It's like a friend of mine who had a dog that was hit by a car. The dog lost one of his legs, but rather than put it down, they kept a three legged dog. Sure, the dog seemed happy enough. It still wagged its tail and licked your face but it doesn't mean cutting a leg of a dog is a good idea, especially if it doesn't need to be done.

Mutilating an animal just to save your furniture seems heartless and cruel.

Anonymous wrote:We owned two declawed cats who have since died. They lived long, happy indoor lives and until the very end of their lives, never had issues peeing outside of the litter box or other behavior problems.

My take is cats are better off having a home, even if they’re declawed. There are millions of stray cats and cats in shelters. Your cat would likely prefer a declawed life than a life in a shelter or euthanized.

How do you know this? It is cruel and you should be ashamed. Sure being alive is better but, honestly this is a terrible choice. How would you like to live without your fingers? At least you are sill alive, right?

We owned two declawed cats who have since died. They lived long, happy indoor lives and until the very end of their lives, never had issues peeing outside of the litter box or other behavior problems.

My take is cats are better off having a home, even if they’re declawed. There are millions of stray cats and cats in shelters. Your cat would likely prefer a declawed life than a life in a shelter or euthanized.