“Better to be a cat with no claws and a good home than a cat with good claws and no home.” -— quote me.
I have worked with shelters all my life. I see cats thrown away because they mess up furniture or scratch their owners -— thousands of them over 60+ years!!!
I have declawed many, many cats -— hundreds of them. I have watched these cats live happy, healthy lifetimes with their owners -— owners who definitely would have let me know it if there were any problems.
And yes, many declawed cats can climb trees, hunt, and do extraordinary things -— although I ask owners promise me that their cats will be 100% indoors after declaw.
Declawing is not right for every cat and every owner -— but it is not wrong either if it keeps a loved cat in a good home.
Thanks for sharing and adding sanity and reason to the conversation.