Feelings on Declawing

[Deleted]

So you arguing it's better to just kill it?

Or maybe bring it to a no kill sanctuary!?

[Deleted]

The OP doesn't have one in his area apparently though.

Then drive a bit further, yea it costs money, but so does declawing. I have never had a cat that could not be worked with, it takes time and effort but it can be done. Yea, i know that they tried "everything" but clearly they have not. That cat is scratching for a reason, probably it is stressed out, declawing the cat doesn't help solve the problem. It merely makes you not notice the problem as much, the cat how ever still does and only got it worse when its paws got maimed.

[Deleted]

It's illegal here in the UK because it was declared inhumane, which is rightfully so.

It's disfiguring an animal so that a human is happy to keep it. Like people that remove teeth/claws from bears and other predatory animals. If you don't want to be scratched all the time, don't get a scratchy animal.

Don't want to seem all hippy dippy to people, because I have a cat and a dog. We keep them without changing their natural physiology though.

[Super Kami Dende]

I care neither one way nor the other. It's their Pet. If they want it declawed it's their choice.

[Deleted]

Amputation.

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We plan on, we've had her for about 6 months, picked her up from a rescue. Never once has she been let out, we have a lot of stray cats in our area. A neighbor was somewhat of a crazy cat lady and when she passed her 15+ cats are now all stray.

So you take an outdoors type of animal and lock it up indoors permanently, then you're surprised it turns destructive.

Aggression and destructive behaviour are animals' way of telling you they're really unhappy or even stressed with their current situation. You should've allowed your cat yo go outside and let off steam. Nine out of ten they'll be a lot better behaved when they come back inside for naps.

[Deleted]

Which is why I've suggested to the OP trying an anxiolytic or different feed with increased tryptophan. Because when someone asks for advice, the response is not to tell them they are a terrible person and should try harder, it's to tell them what more they can do.

As with everything, it all really depends on the cat on what will work. I have had one cat that lived the first two weeks in the litter box. It then lived under the table for a good 3 months before i was even able to come close enough to pet it and even start the whole adjusting to things. It took me years for that cat to become fully socialized like i wanted him to, that shit takes time.

You can't really give any advice about it on a forum like this, we do not know the cat, we have not seen its behavior. It can be a million things, from it simply having to much energy while still adjusting to the new home to something as weird as getting stressed out because of some weird sound it isn't used to. And there are a lot of things you can try, and sometimes people do need to hear that they just need to try harder or try something else.

[-Gr-]

Or maybe bring it to a no kill sanctuary!?

Yes it's better to put it down humanely instead of having it crippled and in pain the rest of its life. That is a worst case scenario though. THe OP is just being an overdramatic brat that thinks maiming his animals is justified because the cat "scratches stuff that's not a post". Sorry but you better come up with a better reason. Even then there are kitty caps.

[Moon-Man]

Against it. Only reason for it to be okay, if it is medical emergency, like a disease.

[BEYR]

Same way I feel about nubbing a dogs tail or clipping the ears. Only if absolutely necessary. And by necessary, I mean the animalmedically needs the procedure.

[Saffa]

I didn't declaw your cat. I declawed the ones I owned. Relax.

May someone do the equivalent to you. The thought of that make me relax. Unnecessary cruelty towards animals just shows you have a problem, not me.

[Themius]

I care neither one way nor the other. It's their Pet. If they want it declawed it's their choice.

So it's their right to say... stomp it to death because "it's their pet and their choice"?

[Narbootz]

Veterinary professional here and there is a lot of misinformation in the thread. Most vets offer it because its not illegal and even if they dont 10 other vets in the area will; and often not at a high quality of medicine. If the surgery is done right (true amputation) in 8 years of practice I have seen no ill side effects. When done poorly (older vets leaving bone fragments and what not) it almost always has horrible side effects. Shopping around for surgery isnt always the best idea cheaper usually means cut corners, no bloodwork, cheaper anesthetics, untrained support staff, etc. Hell if I was unethical I could do a declaw for $50; dexomitor to induce, untrained assistant running anesthesia, and clipping off most of the toe with some miller's forge trimmers, slap some tissue glue in there and call it good.

We offer it and dont cut off at any age although older animals stay on pain meds longer. Our anesthetic protocol is good, we do nerve blocks before the surgery, and the surgery is performed to ensure the entire bone is removed, we also do not suture or glue post op which leads to less irritation and better outcome. Your vet should also send you home with a non irritating litter like yesterdays news to make them more comfortable and not aversive to the litterbox in the future.

Currently according to the AVMA there is no evidence to support that declawing leads to behavioral abnormalities buuuut there is also a ton of research that says there is if your really interested you can get on VIN or VSPN and read about that. I would recommend trying other methods and discussing with your veterinarian if declawing is the right choice.

While we're on this topic we also dehorn/castrate large animals with no analgesia, cut off dog tails, and cut dogs ears and tape them into points because it looks cool apparently. Just a quick google shows that only 20% of dairy farms give any pain management while debudding/dehorning. Not defending any of this; veterinary medicine has a long way to go.