>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.
Not always...that's part of the issue. If a cat is declawed and develops other issues as a result, they will likely be put to sleep as a result. Versus a cat that simply scratches furniture...if the owner does decide to give them up (and surveys have shown that the vast majority of owners wouldn't), they are still adoptable to other homes. Declawed cats that develop problems are not. Again, the information from shelters and from countries that ban declawing simply does not bear out the idea that declawing saves more cat lives than not. >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. That sounds like a pretty rare case, but I can see where you would decide to do it then. Many cats with such behavior issues when declawed though are likely to resort to biting. >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. Hhm, well if you mean to "suit our needs" in terms of us taking them out of the wild and making them pets, I suppose that is true. But short of letting all my animals run wild and breed freely, I see neutering/spaying as necessary to their health and happiness, which is why it is totally different than declawing. I don't do it because it's convenient or makes my life easier, or even because it matters to society...if I felt my cats were happier and healthier un-neutered I would leave them that way. But I've never seen anything but positive results from neutering and spaying my animals, other than the small amount of discomfort after surgery. It's not just a matter of preventing more unwanted animals in the world, important as that might be. Neutered animals live longer lives, are less likely to get various types of cancer, with females it prevents uterine infections which can be life-threatening, it reduces aggression and fighting and spraying, and allows the animal to just lead a calmer life without the stress of wanting to mate when they are being prevented from it. So no, I really don't see how you can compare a surgery with so many benefits for them to something like declawing which is done strictly for our happiness, not for the cat's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| 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:248966 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
