Question:
My 3 yeard old cat is declawed and were not too sure if we want to
delclaw our kitten when she gets older because we heard alot of bad
things about it,things we diden't even know when we had patches declawed..


Answer:
I am strongly against declawing especially since there are other options out there. I trim my male's claws because he is really nasty with them, not only to us, but to our other cat. There are also SoftPaws.


Answer:
Declawing a cat is the same as cutting all your fingers off at the first joint.


Answer:
It depends. I've helped a vet with a lot of declawing. Her opinion was that if it keeps that cat in the home, she was ok with it. I'm still not sure if I agree or not, but I do know quite a few delcawed cats that are perfectly happy and healthy, and they NOT use their teeth more as is something thought.
A declaw starts by the claws being washed and sterilized.
Once that cat is in the OR, a tourniquet is placed just below the shoulder. A vet then holds one of the claws with a pair of hemostats and fully extends it. With a scalpel they cut the claw off at the base. There is not blood because of the tourniquet.
One all the claws are removed from a foot, the holes are sealed with surgical glue. The tourniquet is then removed and the foot is checked for bleeding. If there is any, more glue is added.
After both feet are done, they are wrapped in gauze and vet wrap, loosely enough that the cat can pull it off themselves in about a day or two.
They are given pain meds because it is quite a painful procedure, and they will be sore for a few days afterwards.
This technique is much better then the old one, where a pair of guillotine nail clippers was used to cut the nails off. This often caused the nails to partially grow back after time.
After watching and helping with countless declaws, I still can't decide how I feel about them in general. I know a friends cat was either going to be declawed (she was extremely destructive, scratching down to the drywall) or dumped at the SPCA. They chose declawing and I'm glad, because they were good owners and it was a good home.


Answer:
I still have mixed feelings about it..
one one hand i feel like,they put them to sleep when they do it so they don't feel them doing it.
on the other hand i feel that it's just wrong to do


Answer:
I feel that when you chose a pet, you have to accept all the qualities that come with it.
A cat owner should be prepared for cats to scratch furniture and other surfaces sometimes. Like Candice mentioned, there are other methods of preventing this instead of declawing. There are soft rubber caps for claws called SoftPaws, you can keep their nails trimmed, provide alternate scratching areas or train them not to scratch.
I feel as though declawing is the easy way out for the owner. And like Kate mentioned, it's a painful procedure. Declawing also leaves the cat without anything to defend itself if it should somehow sneak out of the house.
Is there a specific reason for Patches to be declawed? For example, was Patches extremely destructive or stubborn about scratching things? I think that if the situation was extreme i.e. SoftPaws don't work, cat hates getting nails trimmed to the point of being traumatized by the experience, training doesn't work etc, then declawing as the absolute last resort to keep the cat in a loving home could be justified.


Answer:
Originally Posted by katescritters

They are given pain meds because it is quite a painful procedure, and they will be sore for a few days afterwards.
Just wanted to highlight this sentence for people to consider.


Answer:
I would never get one of our cats declawed unless it was a real physical threat to a family member. Like, if I had a baby and one of the cats just hated the baby and kept trying to claw his eyes out, I would CONSIDER declawing, but only as an absolute last resort. Or if it was a medical emergency that the cat HAD to be declawed or an infection would set in, I would CONSIDER it. I don't know if things like that happen though.
I agree with Diana that when you choose a pet you have to be ready to take the whole package, which may include scratched furniture. If you can live with scratched furniture, great, if not you should train your cat from a young age. Crackerjack scratches the computer desk a lot, but that's out fault. When she was young the computer desk was just plain wood so we thought "Oh well" Now it's painted and she's scratching all the paint off. We tell her "no!" and our patiently trying to get her to stop. We realize it's our fault for not training her. Luckily when she was a kitten and used to knead me, if she used her claws I would say no and take her off my lap. If she came back and didn't use her claws I would scratch her ears and say "Soft paws are nice. Good girl!" So, now she never scratches us.


Answer:
I hate it. Pain meds, or no pain meds- it's cruel.
When someone buys/adopts the cat, I honestly feel they should take what comes with it- nails and all. What if the cat gets out? How do they really defend themselves with only back feet? My sisters cats would be dead, if they didn't have all their claws. She adopted a German Shepard, and he wasn't used to cats. He'd chase them- but after benig wacked several times(WITH the FRONT paws), he learned that "chasing the cats= wacked in the face with claws).
Claws are one of their defenses. If someone is going to have cats in the home of other animals,t hat can potentionally attack them, they sho uld have their claws. THey NEED them to protect themselves.
Not to mention, cats that get declawed can sometimes take to biting, can have deformaties if the procedure isn't done right, walking problems ect. I've read were a few stopped using the litter box altogether as it hurt sthem to "paw at it". Granted, this doesn't happen to all cats, but can happen.
If anyone wants to see them, I can dig up several links I had on my old computer about declawing. Some are more "graphic" and actually show the procedure(pretty gross), and others are just facts. Another one is a site where they actually show pictures of what happens when declawing goes wrong.


Answer:
Even though I don't have cats, I couldn't bring myself to declawing them. I agree when you own an animal, you take the good with the bad and if scratching furniture is something you can't live with, then a cat isn't for you.
My parents own two cats and they were both declawed when they were 6 months old because they started scratching my parent's furniture. My mother did not have any patience to train either one of them so declawing was the easy way out. Their personalities are the same and Ivy has problems using the box but I don't think it is directly related to her being declawed.