Just my own two cents here. Of our 5 cats, 2 are declawed. One, Missy (whom I've recently discussed re: her problem in actually hitting the litterbox), had been my mother's cat, and the declawing was a condition imposed by her apartment complex. I agree that declawing just for the sake of furniture/woodwork protection is abhorrent (and have some funky mouldings and a mutilated couch to prove it), but will defend to the death my mother's right to have had a furkid to love. Missy has never demonstrated any behavioral problems that could possibly be linked to declawing. The other cat, Tribble, my housemate Gail and I CHOSE to have declawed, after much, much discussion and angst, since yes, we do consider it an inhumane practice. But here's the thing: Missy and two other cats used to live with me in my apartment. Tribble lived with Gail and her other cat, Kitty. In her household, Tribble was the "second cat" and always deferred to Kitty, several years his senior. At the same time, he has ALWAYS been an agressive little bugger, prone to unexpected violence, i.e. you're petting, you're petting, YOU'RE BLEEDING! No notice or reason. After his neuter, we kept waiting for the hormones to subside, but it never seemed like they did. He was just a rotten little guy. But since Gail and I both strongly believe that pets are a commitment, she kept him, and we do both love him, in an ever-vigilant way. When we decided to pool our resources to leave the crumbling tower o'doom that our apartment building had become and buy a house, we wondered how all our cats would mesh, particularly Tribble and my alpha male, Luc. To our surprise, their meeting was like "Dude." "Dude," and they could often be seen (and heard) thundering through the house in play pursuit of one another. But increasingly, Tribble began to bully everykitty weaker than he was, which was pretty much every "new kid" who came through, and eventually even his bud Luc started remembering previous engagements when Tribble would approach. We started seeing scratches and bites on everybody but Kitty, who was confined to Gail's part of the house upstairs for her own safety (she was CRF, frail, and in her last couple of years, blind, and we didn't want the stronger ones tromping on her even in play). For the protection of the others, we very reluctantly decided to have Tribble declawed. We had it done by the only vet in town who uses lasers, and Tribble seemed to have very minimal discomfort afterwards. It didn't really change his disposition, but it gave him one less weapon to use. He still bites, but at least he has to get closer to them to do so, and all of them know to keep their distance -- he must have caught Missy unawares with the recent damage to her backside. He sometimes tries to "sharpen" on cardboard boxes and such, but we've seen no impediment to him doing what he does. So, yes, Tonya and Kelley, nothing is ever black and white. For us, declawing Tribble was an extreme and agonizing decision, but if we had it to do over again, for the sake of the others, we still would. The alternatives were both unthinkable -- getting rid of Tribble knowing nobody in their right mind would adopt him, or subjecting the other cats in the household to constant danger. Our solution wasn't perfect, but short of having his teeth filed down it was the very best we could do. We stand by our reputation as caring and responsible catmoms. Diane R. ________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of catatonya Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:34 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: OT:declawing your cat is illegal... Thank you Kelley. All issues are not black and white. t Kelley Saveika <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: On 9/23/07, glenda Goodman wrote: > Oh well, we are just talking about cats here, so > whatever we need to do to them, so they can please us > humans, is all that really matters, right? > Glenda > No, but there are a lot of issues associated with declawing that don't typically get discussed. I think this type of law is, like spay/neuter laws, well-intentioned, but ill-advised. Currently 25% of cat owners declaw their cats in the U.S. We also have millions of cats dying in shelters. If you make declawing illegal, the majority of those people are likely going to stop owning cats. So that's fully 1/4 less homes that would be available. Now, whether or not this is bad depends upon whether or not you believe that cats are better off dead or declawed. Nathan Winograd says that given the choice, a cat would beg you to declaw him rather than kill him. There are people who think that cats are better off dead than declawed, and though I disagree I think we are all entitled to our own opinions. I would not support a law that led to 25% fewer cat homes with the population as it is today. Now, if the day ever came when people were lined up begging to be allowed to adopt a cat because there were so few of them and so many homes that wanted them, I would probably be in favor of such a law. My vet will declaw a cat because he believes it is better to have the cat declawed than to have it set loose outside. -- Rescuties - Saving the world, one cat at a time. http://www.rescuties.org Vist the Rescuties store and save a kitty life! http://astore.amazon.com/rescuties-20 Please help George! http://rescuties.chipin.com/george I GoodSearch for Rescuties. Raise money for your favorite charity or school just by searching the Internet with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo! This electronic mail transmission and any attachments are confidential and may be privileged. They should be read or retained only by the intended recipient. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the transmission from your system. In addition, in order to comply with Treasury Circular 230, we are required to inform you that unless we have specifically stated to the contrary in writing, any advice we provide in this email or any attachment concerning federal tax issues or submissions is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, to avoid federal tax penalties.
