No, no, no, no, no. It's horrible and cruel.

Get a good pair of trimmers and clip them every week or two, or get the Soft Paws put on. If that's too much trouble for you, then you really shouldn't have an inside cat.

I have two male cats and I would never get them declawed. Keep spraying her with the water bottle anytime she goes to scratch.

found the post about a sofa being more important than your animal interesting..my pets and their happiness is worth way more to me than a sofa of any cost

of all of the cats that i have ever had, none of them have been declawed, but it wasn't a conscious effort to make sure that they cat kept it's claws. it was just that we didn't ever get them declawed (if that makes sense). :)

i can tell you that throughout all of the cats i have had in my life (countless, i seriously could not count on both hands the number of cats), my couches were always beat up and tattered on the sides, they loved to scratch them up, even when they had tons of scratching posts and other things that they were allowed to scratch on.. they just for some reason preferred the couch instead. :) also, i had one cat who wasn't as tame as most house cats are. she scratched up a hell of a lot of my friends and company, it was embarrassing and i always felt so bad about it.

good luck making your decision! :)

I had to get a cat declawed when I moved to Tucson. That way it didn't count as a pet for some reason. It was horrible. The poor guy was the most good natured animal I'd ever had, and the vet did an awful job. I found out afterward that the vet didn't even do it, only the assistant did. They put the tourniquet on too tight and he lost circulation to one front paw. The foot swelled up to the size of a golf ball for a week or two, the skin sloughed off, and I had to put cream on it every day and give him painkillers. He walked on it fine once it healed, but he always had a ring where the fur didn't grow back on that ankle. The vet basically said sorry and left it at that.

Here he is about a year after the procedure. You can see the ring around his ankle where his fur never grew back:

http://www.elli-nude.com/GFY/menagerie/Dickens.jpg

From another cat owner, I have to say NEVER AMPUTATE THEIR KNUCKLES unless it's absolutely positively necessary. I've owned cats with expensive leather furniture, small babies, etc. and never had a problem. Trim those nails, give it something dedicated to scratch, lots of love and positive reinforcement. There is a reason this practice is outlawed in a growing number of countries.

indoor - declawed....
outdoor - clawed....

i think that's the best way to do it...
what you think?

:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

I think you shouldn't own a cat.

nah just let him keep his claws, it'll be fine

even those that have indoor cats..can you guarantee they will never run out of the house when you aren't looking?

even those that have indoor cats..can you guarantee they will never run out of the house when you aren't looking?

Another vote against declawing. Cats are fascinating (if a bit violent) animals, I wouldn't dream of declawing my girls.... but then I personally wouldn't contemplate not letting my girls go outside to decimate the local mouse population either.

I think its absolutely sick to declaw a cat... how would you like your fgingernails ripped out?

I heard a story from my friend. They were proposed this operation when the cat was big enough. About 3 years.
The operation was not a success and the cat was bleeding and died in 3 days. I don't know why. The claim that the cat was so upset that died.
Souds strainge. But after that story my cat is only castrated and nothing else. :(

i still cant believe the peeps in this thread who think its not a big deal... do NOT get a cat if you don't wanna own a whole cat. Again this is the first time i hear about declawing and it's fucking ridiculous.

Slick ... if you get a cat, you need to know beforehand that they WILL claw, and that's the nature of a cat ... a cat doesn't claw just for the sake of it, it's part of it's nature. I have the two cats as you know ... and I let them tear the fucking place apart ... I got the cats, so I accept the way they are.

It's cruel to take it's claws off :(

Put some cosmic catnip on her scratching posts.

Don't do it. I've had my cat 14 years and she's 100% indoor cat and has never been declawed. Yes, she's done some damage, but the pain they go through is horrendous. Many vets won't even do it any more.

Had to laugh about Sarah's comment about the sofa. My puppy tore off the skirt (I mean ripped the entire freaking material) off an $800 chair. Granted, that's not much to you playas, but it's going to fun to try to contact the company and see if I can get the fabric for recovering it, lol. He's also chewed up my cell phone, cordless antenna, all the remotes, the coffee table, actually started chewing on the ROCK fireplace and tries to chew on the glass front door. That's actually pretty funny to watch from the other side ;)

cat slippers

That's exactly what I was going to suggest. :) If your cat scratches the furniture, either buy her little slippers or make her some. Make sure you clip her nails on a regular basis, it's easy and most cats don't mind, mine don't say a word, they don't even move, and it only takes a couple of minutes.

I have 3 cats, have had cats my whole life and I would never dream of having one declawed. It's extremely painful for them and cruel beyond belief. Those who have declawed cats that have suffered no emotional or physical consequences are very lucky, not necessarily the norm.

It's not illegal here, but many vets will NOT do it at any price and will try to teach you how to train your cat not to scratch instead.

If you don't know what it entails, talk to your vet about it, ask him/her how they do it, what they remove, the excruciating pain the cat will go through, and the possible complications. That should make up your mind real fast not to do it.

Missie

OUCH that sucks.

I am currently dealing with a 10 month old spaniel who has decided it is fun to take my wallpaper off the wall with her teeth. Frustrating as hell but hopefully she will eventually get past this excessive chewing stage. To me it is like sticking with a kid while they are in a destructive stage.

my cats needs his claws to jump fences and climb trees!

meh, my parents have a cat its about ten years old, it was declawed. I can see why everyone thinks its cruel. But just to let you know, the cat is and has been absolutely fine. he was an indoor cat but for years has gone out during the day in warm weather. Hes a big boy and has been in a bunch of fights and kicked ass lol. So he seems to be fine.

Yep, that's my take on it. I have three cats and I wouldn't have bothered getting them if I wasn't prepared to keep them claws and all.

Cats are NOT supposed to get declawed... :2 cents:

Hey, my brother and SIL are spending all week removing wallpaper - I'm sure they'd work out a deal :)

My painter was talking about how hard it will be to repaint my pine kitchen counters because getting the varnish off is so difficult. I pointed out that the dogs had managed to get the varnish off the pine floors quite nicely, thankyouverymuch so all we had to do was put the cabinets on the floor for a bit :thumbsup

Now I'm going through 200+ pages with 6 samples each trying to find my chair fabric. Thank goodness I'd already decided to sell the furniture with the house or rent it out with the furniture in it. I might just hand sew the big pieces back together and put it on the other side of the table where no one can see it :)

I have 12 cats and only one of them have been declawed, and the only reason that was done is because she has a skin condition and she scratches herself to the point of bleeding..... she is normal in every way, still catches mice better than any cat I own and goes outside where everything in the vacinity is terrified of her and so on........ lol

But none of the others are or will be. I don't like it and I think it is cruel, and the only way I'd ever do it again is if they were a danger to themselves. I wouldn't want someone to come and pull my fingernails out and I don't intend to do it to my cats.

We just make sure they have plenty of scratching posts and so on, and they don't attack my furniture. :thumbsup

Well, after 200 pages, fabric not there :(

We offer a limited lifetime warranty on the frame and spring construction against defective materials or workmanship and on our seat cushions against the loss of resiliency. However, softening and flattening will occur in all foam as a result of use and age but this is considered completely normal.

NOTE: Upholstery fabrics are not guaranteed by the mills, therefore, we are unable to accept responsibility for wear, fading, or shrinkage

To express our appreciation for your choice of our furniture, we offer this limited lifetime warranty only to the original purchaser for residential use. It is valid only if the furniture has received normal usage and has not been subjected to abuse or improper care.

I don't think I'm going to get away with this ;)

The same about mine, only add that he also has to fight with different animals in the garden and catch little birds. :winkwink:

NO! definetly not. but we buy ikea furniture knowing it might be destroyed... so that if they do scratch it, its not a big deal. But, they are mostly indoor, and the only outdoor place they have is 4 stories up.

Better yet take a little time use your brain and make sure you train your cat to scratch at the appropriate location. Just make sure the scratching post is longer than their body is stretched out, cover it in some catnip and tasty smells, and they will use it forever. My cats are 8 and 6 now and have never clawed up furniture or carpet. Just their posts.

We'd never declaw them, even though they're indoor cats. Also, always heard it was cruel to declaw. BUT I've got a good friend who's a vet. He insists, done properly, it causes no harm, physical or mental. in fact he declawed all of his cats.

Some cats claw your furniture some don't, it's the risk you take when you buy one. Cutting the claws off sounds pretty cruel. I'd go one further and say, keeping the cat indoors at all times isn't very nice either, they love to roam about outside, hunt mice and birds and socialise with other cats. They're predators not teddy bears or fashion accessories. I think given a choice, so long as you show them affection when they are around, they'll spend most of their time indoors sleeping anyway.

We had a dog when I was younger, it used to shit on the carpet, but we never sewed it's arsehole closed.

When I bought my devons I had to sign papers saying I agreeded to never declaw the animal. Cat's are smart. Declawing is not the answer.

not sure if its been mentioned as i don't have time to read the thread but you can get your cats claws removed via lazer. its supposed to be much less painful for the cat.

My cat does scratch my furniture, on the other hand I want him to be able to defend himself........ So I never declawed my cat

Please do not declaw the poor thing. It is NOT humane and anyone who says otherwise is deluding themselves.

Great sig.

But sales are slumping, and no one will say why... Could it be they put out one too many lousy records? MTV get off the air NOW!