"1. PLEASE don't declaw your cat without seriously trying everything else first. It's cruel and inhumane and often leads to various behavior issues. You didn't mention anything about this, but so many people do it without even trying other options, thought I'd mention it. Particularly if you intend to let the cat out (I don't recommend this either but of course many people do)."
Ok I am going to disagree with this statement to a point, most of it is a personal opinion, which of course is fine. The studies you refer to are on adult cats, in which case I agree that declawing is not the right thing to do. It is painful and once a cat understands the uses of it's claws (scratching, fighting, etc..) it can cause behavioral issues. However on younger kittens it isn't much of an issue at all. The actual procedure is much easier and heals very quickly and the chances of it having any issues at all is very slim, really the only real issues i have ever seen are when the owner goes and sticks the kitten right into a litterbox full of the clumping litter instead of paper or the bigger granule litter as the clumping style is easier to get into the incisions and cause infection. This isn't to say not to use the clumping style but let the incisions heal first. If it is done while the kitten is young the cat will learn to defend itself just fine with the back claws (believe me I have the scars to prove it... thanks andre agassi for your psychotic f*cking pets!!) being that I have personally declawed hundreds of cats in my day I would say if you have nice furniture that you would mind being scratched and the cat is still a kitten to go for it, if the cat is older than 6 months i wouldn't. They used to have these "fake claws" for cats that you glue on that worked pretty well but you have to do it a lot and cats dont really like their feet messed with. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:248882 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
