> -----Original Message----- > From: Mary Jo Sminkey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2007 2:23 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: getting a cat for the first time! > > Well, I for one am not participating in this ridiculous discussion > anymore. Anyone that compares a surgery with *no* benefits whatsoever > for the animal
Well... I agree totally that declawing is a last resort issue, but I think there's one very clear benefit to the animal: it stays alive. We had one (nasty, mean bitch) of a cat declawed. We'd never done it before (and I hope we never have to do it again) but we felt that we really had to try EVERYTHING. It was that or the shelter - and there was no chance that she would have gotten out of there alive. And while I agree that the arguments for spaying/neutering are stronger and have a much clearer ethical base it remains that we've taken it upon ourselves to "modify" the animals primarily to suit our needs. We want to have pets and strays a direct side-effect of that. So we perform painful, invasive, behavior-altering surgery which allows us to maintain our pet-owning lifestyles. I think there IS an ethical gap between the two. Declawing is often done for the convenience of just a few people while spaying at least has a societal benefit for many people. Responsible declawing may also prevent the death of an animal while spaying/neutering may reduce suffering for many. But I still think there's a difference in degree, not in kind. (Jeeze... I tried so HAAAARD to stay out of this one!) Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| 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:248962 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
