De-clawing cats

[Adz of CCAA]

I can't speak for anyone else but I didn't spay my cat until she was nearly 4 years old. I saw her suffer every time she was in heat and I even tried to have her mate with a friend's cat but she just wasn't into him. So I finally gave in and spayed her and I think she is probably a lot better for it now. Did it alter her behavior? Well, I've heard spaying is supposed to make cats more docile and fatter and neither of those things have happened in the 6 years since.

Caesar got castrated with 6 month because he started having interest in his sister. He was a sissy before and stayed that afterwards. ;) He got rather big though.

Kleopatra still isn't castrated because she doesn't seem to go into heat. She may get there once or twice a year but only very mildly. No crying and rolling about. I don't know why it doesn't happen. Perhaps because she is so tiny (she is 6 years old but looks like 6 months) or I'm just too stupid to notice. She isn't stressed though. If she would start to go into heat regularly I wouldn't hesitate to have her castrated.

[ljkeane]

I'm against declawing but more generally I find the idea of having an 'indoor cat' a bit strange. Cats do fine being let outside and then you don't have to clean up after them and they practically feed themselves.

[Adz of CCAA]

Absolutely. Our old sofa was clawed to buggery because we didn't much care about it. We got a new leather sofa about 15 months ago and it's got a couple of pulled tags on it but we trained them as soon as it got there not to claw and they don't...

This is true for us as well. We didn't spay Pug until she was 1 and we saw her go on heat a couple of times. The meowing wasn't an issue but she was just so uncomfortable and couldn't settle anywhere she plainly didn't know what was going on so we spayed her sooner rather than later (when she started to go outside). Her personality didn't change in any way except the usual lessening of kittenish behaviours.

N

I did that too when I got my new couch! Works very well. :)

That's what I meant. If I would notice Kleo being uncomfortable because of beeing in heat I would act. :)

[Minaku]

I'm against declawing but more generally I find the idea of having an 'indoor cat' a bit strange. Cats do fine being let outside and then you don't have to clean up after them and they practically feed themselves.

And then your cat goes out and destroys the local populations of small rodents, birds and insects. Then it disturbs the peace by yowling under windows late at night, digging up plants, leaving dead animals in piles, ruining soil quality because of acidic urine, and generally being a menace.

Please. Keep your cat indoors. Cats are top predators and need to be kept away from anything they would hunt. Housecats will hunt anything, and they will hunt for pleasure, not necessity.

I find declawing cruel but for the sake of my cats, my skin, and my furniture, I cut their nails. They're perfectly fine with this and the only protest I ever get is a bit of wiggling. Otherwise, they sit on my lap, get their claws cut quickly, and are on their merry way. I have had 5 cats, and 4 of them got this treatment without complaint. The last one came to us already declawed.

Edit: There is a small feral cat colony that lives in my apartment complex and there is a weekly cat sermon underneath my bedroom window, complete with CAN I GET A WITNESS?! and AMEN!! Not even joking.

[Kel]

Declawing is a cruel, heinous and vile act. I have seen the surgery and recovery first hand while working for a vet. It is a long and painful recovery for the cat and frankly, a stupid thing to do to an animal. If you are more concerned for your furniture than the welfare of your pet, then don't get a cat.

[Lord of Oop North]

AMERICAN CATS ARE UNIQUE SNOWFLAKES!!!

[ljkeane]

And then your cat goes out and destroys the local populations of small rodents, birds and insects. Then it disturbs the peace by yowling under windows late at night, digging up plants, leaving dead animals in piles, ruining soil quality because of acidic urine, and generally being a menace.

Please. Keep your cat indoors. Cats are top predators and need to be kept away from anything they would hunt. Housecats will hunt anything, and they will hunt for pleasure, not necessity.

There are probably dozens of cats outside in any neighbourhood at any one time, the vast majority of the time they are completely unnoticeable. I'm not hugely concerned about the safety of rodents.

[Kel]

And please, but acting like you are the savior of cats only because it was declawed is amazing to me. Next thing you know people will only adopt dogs that have had their teeth removed. Oh I am sorry little puppy, but you chewed the furniture - gotta have those teeth removed or be forced to live outside in the wilds. Gimme a break. If you don't want a cat with claws, there are other options and other people willing to give it a good home without maiming it.

And there are no shelters in the US that offer declawing along with spaying or neutering - to my knowledge anyway. And a lot of vets are now refusing the procedure because it is inhumane.

[lessthanluke]

There are probably dozens of cats outside in any neighbourhood at any one time, the vast majority of the time they are completely unnoticeable. I'm not hugely concerned about the safety of rodents.

This. I would argue that forcing a cat to stay indoors is cruel.

[MinDonner]

Not necessarily cruel, but cats are just going to be happier if they can go outside. Just put a bell on it if it keeps killing stuff.

[lessthanluke]

Not necessarily cruel, but cats are just going to be happier if they can go outside. Just put a bell on it if it keeps killing stuff.

My girlfriends cat is scratching the door as we speak to be let outside.

[Minaku]

There are probably dozens of cats outside in any neighbourhood at any one time, the vast majority of the time they are completely unnoticeable. I'm not hugely concerned about the safety of rodents.

Lucky you. But they are still a menace, especially when they're in season, and their fucking can be heard for miles around. If you live on a farm, fine. A cat is a ratter and a mouser and has a use. She needs to be outside, but she better not bring fleas and ticks inside to me.

My cats are happy and healthy indoors. I look forward to a longer life spent with them and a life free from car accidents, parasites, and communicable diseases. I take my cats outside on a leash in the spring and fall and the one I rescued from a shelter wants to go back in after 10-15 minutes because he remembers what it was like scraping by outside.

Well, this is a topic for a different thread.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

I'm against declawing but more generally I find the idea of having an 'indoor cat' a bit strange. Cats do fine being let outside and then you don't have to clean up after them and they practically feed themselves.

This is very different in the US. Cats that are let out breed feral cats that crap in your yard (and kids' playspaces), hunt the local wildlife (and I like having birds the eat insects around), fight in the middle of the night keeping everyone awake.

Most people I know would consider it bad "parenting" to let your cats out.

Of course we also have hawks in our neighborhood, so a cat might become a meal itself, and I would not wantthat to happen to my pet (or be run over, which I have seen a couple of times)

[Poobah]

I grew up with cats; my parents have always had them around the house even when I was a baby and they've never been declawed. I love 'um and they've never done me any harm. Cultural difference? It seems very bizarre to me to keep a pet and then keep it in doors, like those weird people who insist that they can turn their cats into vegetarians just lime them *eyeroll* If you don't have the space to allow your pet to go out of doors, or you're in a highly built up city where it'd be dead in a microsecond if it stepped outside then why keep a cat, it seems very cruel to limit it to the confines of an apartment?

Would you keep a dog if you were unable to take it for walks? I know I certainly wouldn't.

All the cats we've had have been spayed/neutered, simply because if they weren't then they'd generate way more kittens than we could responsibly look after or rehome, and we've almost always had a male/female pair because they both seem to get on better together than one alone (also our neighbourhood has in the past had several other homes which kept only a female cat, and if there isn't a male around to slap them down or whatever then they just spend their days trying to shred one-another).

[Noontidal]

Please. Keep your cat indoors. Cats are top predators and need to be kept away from anything they would hunt. Housecats will hunt anything, and they will hunt for pleasure, not necessity.

This is true, as illustrated in this linky.

Now, what was that cat going to do with it if he caught it?

[Minaku]

This is true, as illustrated in this linky.

Now, what was that cat going to do with it if he caught it?

:lmao:

Now that cat has big ones!

[lessthanluke]

Lucky you. But they are still a menace, especially when they're in season, and their fucking can be heard for miles around. If you live on a farm, fine. A cat is a ratter and a mouser and has a use. She needs to be outside, but she better not bring fleas and ticks inside to me.

My cats are happy and healthy indoors. I look forward to a longer life spent with them and a life free from car accidents, parasites, and communicable diseases. I take my cats outside on a leash in the spring and fall and the one I rescued from a shelter wants to go back in after 10-15 minutes because he remembers what it was like scraping by outside.

Well, this is a topic for a different thread.

:lol:

Sorry that image just seems ridiculous.

[Minaku]

:lol:

Sorry that image just seems ridiculous.

Never seen a cat walking pleasantly on a leash before? Both of mine do it. We haven't progressed to the jogging with me part yet, though. :lol:

It's safer for them. One of my cats is a purebred who's never had a day of hardship in her life and she'd probably get into trouble within 5 seconds. My other cat is deathly afraid of cars and we'd never find him if one just happened to pass by within 500 feet.

[Kel]

I do agree with Chataya on that one. Animals are perfectly fine living indoors. Plus, they are less likely to pick up disease. An animal's happiness is not based on whether it can go outside - I do have clients who even train their dogs to use pads their whole life and never take them out. Personally that seems odd, but it works for her and dogs are perfectly happy.

[ljkeane]

Indoor/outdoor cats have fairly short lifespans - 7 to 8 years is the average. Getting run over by a car, attacked by a dog, etc, are just a few of the perils awaiting an indoor/outdoor cat.

Indoor only cats live about 16 - 20 years.

I'm sorry that's just wrong, every cat I've ever known is an indoor/outdoor cat, only one of them didn't live to be over 15. My cat was 21 when it died.