Have you heard about the nail caps that you can put on cats to prevent them from scratching? It’s a nicer way to prevent them from clawing than declawing. Anyone heard of that?
While I agree that in the majority of cases a cat should not be declawed as those are really his only means of defence in this world, my aunt had a cat that she had to declaw. It was crazy. It would hide behind things in their house and whenever someone walked by it would leap out and try to claw their ankles. It wasn’t just playing around either. The thing wanted to kill anyone who wasn’t part of the family.
was it not possible to train the cat??? how is the cat after being declawed now??
Sorry, Woudsprite, but I have to disagree.
We live in an age where mutilating animals is acceptable if done in the name of convnience - killing, too … except we make it sound nice by saying that we’re putting him or her to sleep. I think it’s time we faced up to the horrors we commit because of wanting to make our lives easier.
There used tobe kids in my neighbourhood who would ‘terrorize’ elderly residents with their boyish antics, but no one suggested amputating their fingertips. … well, some did, but we didnd’t do it of course. 
I believe that my cats will have had a longer life span and a higher quality of life than if I had left them on the street. Everything is relative.
Declawing is not cool. No doubt it would be very painful.
What if a cat actually is crazy? As in not trainable. In my experience, some animals just can’t be trained. It’s a tough call I think because while I would hate to do that, I would also hate to have a cat in a kennel all the time if for example the cat can’t stop destroying things around the house. In order to look after an animal, one has to make some compromises but having your belongings destroyed all the time could be too much of a compromise. Another option is to give the cat away for someone else to struggle with it…
In other words, I think this pratice isn’t humaine but at the same time I’m sure there are rare instances where it may be the best option in order to provide both the cat and the owner with better living conditions for many years.
Having been around pets most of my life, I’ve never met a cat like that so I think declawing should only be considered after all other options have been exasperated. If simply having a cat means declawing it to someone, maybe that pesron isn’t best suited to look after a cat. Maybe.
bobepine
I just think it’s terrible that we even have it as an option.
I’m sorry Sean but you can not disagree with me. I will not tolerate it. Maybe we’ll have to amputate your fingers so you can no longer type. 
Seriously though, I agree it’s terrible but don’t you think there are rare cases where declawing would provide a cat with a happier and more stable life? If not, what are the other options? I have little faith in the nail caps, so what else?
bobepine
That’s me, alright. But the alternative is life on the streets. What’s the better option?
I got my first cat from foreigners who couldn’t/wouldn’t keep her. My second cat I got from underneath a parked car one cold and rainy night. She was mewing pitifully, and her eyes were not even open yet. She’d have died if I had left her there. I gave both of these cats a home, and after watching them claw the hell out of my furhniture, despite having a scratching post, I decided that I’d get them declawed when they were getting spayed. Both of these operations made my life with them easier. I didn’t have to deal with them being in heat, and I didn’t have to feel that I was living in a zoo, either. The operation was painless, as they were out for the whole thing. When they came to, they were pretty damn sore from the spaying, and they weren’t moving around much at all. By the second day, they were walking around normally, and within a week they were fine.
Anyway, despite having an ad for the adoption fo my two cats for months on Animals Taiwan website, I haven’t got even one call. So I guess I’m stuck with them. That’s alright. They’re happy, warm, clean and well-fed. And my leather sofa that I bought after they were spayed and declawed is still in great shape. No guilt here. 
The fact that an intelligent person can only see two options - on the street or mutilated - is baffling.
To mutilate a cat so it better suits one’s home and then not wanting the cat any more … does this not seem, at the least, inappropriate?
I do not think there are any cases where such mutilation is appropriate. When my dogs - and the rescued strays - were barking so much the authorities came round to remove them, I didn’t make a knee-jerk reaction and have their voice boxes removed; I found humane alternatives. I don’t think I’m the only one capable of such brilliance.
In other words, you are willing to help an animal but not if it means that your things are going to get bashed. Well, you’re not the only one.
Our couch is destroyed by one of our cats. They have two scratching posts yet. She also bashed a brand new wooden closet. Luckily, it’s inexpensive furniture. The sofa is one of the tacky orange color made with fake leather. If it was a real leather sofa, I’d say it would be more serious.
I’m divided with this subject because I know that many more people would have cats if they could feel safe that their things will NOT get destroyed. I assume the result would be less cats on the streets. So in the big picture, yes it’s hard on the cats but better than being on the street. I say that because I think many cats are living in the street partly because of this costly inconvenience they often cause.
I don’t doubt your cats are happy pets. I’ve been around declawed cats and so long as they stay inside, they adapt quickly and soon forget even having had claws, something they don’t really need to be indoor pets anyways.
I agree with StrayDog about the cruel aspect of the whole declawing thing but I also think a cat would be better inside with no claws than on the street because I think some cats just will not quit scratching, that’s what cats do. Like I said, I think it’s a tough call.
bobepine
The stray v. taken in and declawed argument is tricky, but the thing is, it is illegal in many countries, so alternative methods have to be found - and obviously are - in those countries.
My cat scratched my sofa, so we used all the methods available to combat that, and it worked. She is lucky, though, in that she is allowed outside, but she has a scratching post and makes use of that. It was simple to teach her: praise for using the post, and clapping hands and shouting when scratching anything else.
We have adopters sign a contract stating that they will not declaw the cat they are adopting, and most animal welfare agencies adopt the same policy. If people ask us for declawed cats or for cats they can declaw, we send them all the info about declawing and offer Maoman’s cats as a suitable option.
A tricky subject, but easy for me as I always go with the option that I would want if I were the animal.
Both sides of the issue have valid points. It seems the major difference may be that one ideology wants to help animals be more comfortable and recognizes them as living things in need of our care. I would say the more extreme view regards animals not only as living things, but living things with the same self-professed “rights” as we have, and places the same weight and value on their lives.
I have to agree with declawing being cruel due to my own research on the subject, although I have met many happy declawed cats, it’s true. Regarding this debate and others like it, such as the animals in New Orleans floods, they pull at my heartstrings and I always have the desire to treat them like children (or even better sometimes ) But, when expressing my views when I was younger, to people like, say, my father, he was always appalled when I put the same value on animal life as human life. Appalled.
Question - I bought the bitter apple stuff to stop our cat from scratching everything and gave a health dose to key areas…what do you do when she treats it like perfume and wallows in it???
[quote=“Stray Dog”]
My cat scratched my sofa, so we used all the methods available to combat that, and it worked. She is lucky, though, in that she is allowed outside, but she has a scratching post and makes use of that. It was simple to teach her: praise for using the post, and clapping hands and shouting when scratching anything else.[/quote]The clapping hands and shouting seemed to help. Problem is, the training period lasted longer than the couch did so we just gave up. She doesn’t really scratch at it, but she uses it as a launch pad with her claws firmly into it ready to pounce in different directions. She uses her claws to get on the sofa too. Surely, we should have kept training her behond that point.
We live on the 9th, so the cats never go outside. Back in Canada, we lived in Banff National Park and cats who freely roam outside do not survive long there, the foxes get them. So our cats have never been outside. 
They seem content though, they never complain or attempt to get out.
[quote]We have adopters sign a contract stating that they will not declaw the cat they are adopting, and most animal welfare agencies adopt the same policy. [/quote]Like I said, I’m quite divided on the subject. Sitting on the fence is often easier than to jump on either side, but it’s however not a comfortable stance when it comes to adopting out animals… It’s by all means understandable that AT and other organizations require that the animals do not undergo such operation. If the animal was to stray again, it would be defenseless. I sure wouldn’t want my cats to go through this.
[quote]A tricky subject, but easy for me as I always go with the option that I would want if I were the animal. [/quote]But animals don’t think… :loco: 
bobepine
That’s me, alright. But the alternative is life on the streets. What’s the better option?
I got my first cat from foreigners who couldn’t/wouldn’t keep her. My second cat I got from underneath a parked car one cold and rainy night. She was mewing pitifully, and her eyes were not even open yet. She’d have died if I had left her there. I gave both of these cats a home, and after watching them claw the hell out of my furhniture, despite having a scratching post, I decided that I’d get them declawed when they were getting spayed. Both of these operations made my life with them easier. I didn’t have to deal with them being in heat, and I didn’t have to feel that I was living in a zoo, either. The operation was painless, as they were out for the whole thing. When they came to, they were pretty damn sore from the spaying, and they weren’t moving around much at all. By the second day, they were walking around normally, and within a week they were fine.
Anyway, despite having an ad for the adoption fo my two cats for months on Animals Taiwan website, I haven’t got even one call. So I guess I’m stuck with them. That’s alright. They’re happy, warm, clean and well-fed. And my leather sofa that I bought after they were spayed and declawed is still in great shape. No guilt here. :p[/quote]
Did you “train” the cat to use the scratching post?
Or even try a behavioural trainer?
Or the nail caps?
Or cutting the nails more often?
We just keep the claws on our three cats cut short and it seems to work fine. Plus the little bastards hate getting it done, so that’s an added bonus.
Then cutting their nails whenever they go for the sofa sounds like the best method there.