>I disagree. For many people, it's "easier" to pay for the declaw >surgery than spend the time to train the cat appropriate behavior. >People tend to take shortcuts because time is often more important >than money. Of course, just turning the cat out on the street is >usually the laziest approach, unfortunately.
I do have to agree with Sean, this is very much what I usually see as well. I would guess that a very large percentage of cats that are declawed are done along with the spay/neuter, usually because the owner just figures it's easier than training them and worrying about the couch, etc. and it's very common for vets to "bundle" it with the spay/neuter and suggest it be done at the same time. I have a relative that is a perfect example of this...they wanted a pet for the kids, so they first got a dog and never had time to train it and it would get over-excited around people as a result so they locked outside most of the time. Eventually they asked me to find a new home for it. When they decided a cat would be better, and require less work and attention than a dog, they of course got it declawed right away, without even attempting to train it (okay, maybe they got the smallest scratching post available and gave her a week to use it.) This is a very typical scenario these days, people often choose cats specifically because they don't want to have to put much time into them, want a pet they can leave alone for long periods of time, etc. It does make me wonder, if declawing *wasn't* allowed in our country, would as many people still want to own a cat? It's hard to say, but one would hope that perhaps many would put more thought into what is involved if there wasn't such an easy way to just "fix" the cat. Still, there are also cases where a declaw is done routinely, but with good reason, such as owners that have things like HIV or diabetes where a cat scratch can truly be a dangerous situation, which have little to do with the owner's dedication (or lack thereof). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| 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:249030 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
