Posted on 07/11/2009 6:30:58 PM PDT by JoeProBono
An animal welfare advisory board to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is recommending the city ban the veterinary practice of de-clawing cats, except in cases of medical necessity.
The San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare voted 5-1 Thursday in support of a ban, arguing the practice is cruel and often done simply for cosmetic purposes or to prevent pets from clawing furniture, Commission Chair Sally Stephens said. Stephens said the procedure involves amputating the last bone in a cat's paw and, though doctors use anesthetic, some cats can suffer long-term pain and behavioral changes, such as refusing to use a litter box. "So basically it's kind of barbaric," Stephens said.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
We trim our kitties nails from time to time as well. Since we’ve done it from the time they were very little kitties, they are accustomed to it.
You could have trimmed their claws without going to the extreme of declawing them.
Suppose people adopt cats less because they can’t de-claw them? In other words, they live in an apartment, might be willing to have a cat, but decide against adopting one because they don’t want stuff shredded?
I am not sure this de-clawing idea will end up being for all cats’ benefit.
That said I would not de-claw mine if I had one. I’d let him outside or not have one at all.
The claw IS the front bone of the cat’s paw.
There are ways to keep cats from shredding stuff without mutilating them: trimming their claws periodically for one. They also have caps you can put on their nails as well that are almost like fake fingernails.
Declawing is an American thing and not necessarily a good American thing, IMO.
We’ve got 6 cats—5 are declawed. The 4 kittens were declawed as early as possible, their recovery was so quick I don’t think they suffered for even 1 minute. The mother, being older, took longer to recover, and she displayed some signs of pain, but hey—that’s life.
Our vet said if declawing were outlawed it would lead to more homeless cats. Which is worse? This is how liberals meddling with what works cause more problems than they solve.
Only 1 of our declawed cats goes outside because he’s such a scaredy cat that he doesn’t go far. Plus, he’s a big cat, and doesn’t need front claws to defend himself. He still catches mice, moles and gophers, climbs trees. He does all these things because we didn’t tell him he’s declawed—he still thinks he has them!
The one cat with claws gets his trimmed and vinyl caps called “Soft Paws” glued over the top. It’s a constant chore to keep up with him pulling them off, but it saves the furniture.
Hey, it happens.
Your cat was lucky to have dealt with its mutilation, not all fare so well.
Mutilation? ROFL. How about we stop spaying or neutering them too and let them roam around like cows do in India. The guttural moaning cats make when they're in heat won't bother you along with shredding of your furniture right?
You may be right. I am unsure. I have had cats whose nails were easy to trim, and cats who were not so easy.
I think there may be the unintended consequence here of less cats adopted. I could be wrong. But scratching is a consideration for many, and nail trimming is not always easily done, especially for new owners or the easily intimidated.
My kitties were getting their nails trimmed from the time they were little, tiny kitties. They’re used to it now. A little bored but we bribe them with bonito flakes so they stick with it until the end. : )
One of our cats does her own nails. She'll sit there and repeatedly grab hold of each nail with her teeth and pull and bite, producting a loud snap/pop sound with each one. It seems to work. We have to clip the other cats' nails though.
Looks like its back to using pliers to rip them out again.
/sarcasm
Had a female cat that was part Siamese. She did meow or moan, she screamed. Loudest thing I ever heard out of an animal not caught in a blender. After 2 days, I couldn't take it anymore and let her out on the upstairs balcony. She was scared of heights (really) so I knew she wouldn't get down and she didn't. Male cats climbed up, however as we found out the next morning and yes she had kittens. She got her fixed after the kittens were older but she would still go into "false" heat every 6 months and scream till we let her out.
They will be putting a lot more cats to sleep then.
Once this woman came knocking on my door, her son had been savaged by a cat. He was bleeding like a sieve. I usually faint at the sight of blood but I had to take care of him because his mother was a basket case. He got about 9 stitches and had many, many cuts.
So do suggest not neutering or spaying also?
Well...apparently my VET didn’t have a problem with that now did he??
After a cat is declawed it should always stay inside. If it is declawed, only the front claws should be removed. They need their back claws to scratch themselves.
Cats mostly fight with their back feet, the front claws help them gain traction and climb.
Apparently, either you didn’t tell your VET that the cat was allowed outside or he didn’t care enough to ask if the cat was also a potential defenseless outside cat! It sounds like you obviously didn’t think about the fact that the cat would be defenseless outside!
He knew...my point is if I was told ahead of time (which I wasn’t) of what an awful surgery this is for cats...I wouldn’t have done it. This happened over 10 years ago...you don’t have to be so nasty in your comments...you presume too much!
I’m sorry if you are so over sensitive as to take my last post as nasty. I don’t believe it was. It was to the point. MY point was that as a rational, intelligent ADULT you should have been aware of how dangerous it is for a declawed cat to roam outside!!
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