[Monkey Face]

If you check the internet, you can find LOTS of successful stories of interspecies relationships.

And the “interspecies” is not relegated to “dogs and cats.” I have seen horses and goats, sheep and cats, birds and dogs, birds and cats...the list is endless.

And FYI, some countries will put a person in jail for asking to declaw a cat, since it is basically taking off the finger at the first joint. That, to me is cruel, though cats don’t need the front claws to climb trees or fight. They hang on with their forelegs and gouge with their hind legs. But the point is, it doesn’t matter if a cat is declawed. If you raise a kitten with a puppy, the chances are pretty darn good that they will get along for the rest of their lives.

They don’t know any different way to be because they haven’t been taught.

[trisham]

Agreed. The only thing that I will say about declawing a cat is that it's better than the alternatives of sending it to a place where who knows what will happen to it over time, or having it put to sleep. Some cats are incredibly destructive. The operation is performed with anaesthesia and post surgery pain meds. To me it should be a last-ditch effort by an owner who loves his/her cat, and wants it to spend the rest of it's long life with him/her. Such cats must be indoor cats for the remainder of their lives.

We very much like, but don't own cats as Mr. t. is terribly allergic to them.

[LucyT]