Reply #67: absolutely not, no no no no [View All]

[chicaloca]

I'm absolutely, completely against declawing. Part of the reason domestic cats scratch furniture is to mix their scent with that of their beloved humans, which is why sometimes cats will scratch furniture but not their scratching posts. Therefore, it helps to put an old sweater with your scent (ie unwashed) on their scratching post. It also helps to play games with them and their toys around the scratching post.

Also, my parents had our first cat declawed, and he never exactly became a nice cat. I don't know if it was the declawing, or what, but the two cats I have now aren't declawed and are the sweetest, most friendly kitties imaginable. Also, they do a lot of physical things that our first one wouldn't. For example, they'll do that cute stretching thing after they wake up, when they stretch their front legs out and stick their butt in the air and then stretch their back legs as they walk away. They also arch their backs up to stretch, which I don't ever remember seeing our first cat do. I've heard that those types of stretching behaviors are really difficult for declawed cats, which explains why our first one never did it.

I remember asking a British friend of mine whether declawing cats is legal in Britain. At first he said, "Yeah, sure it is." Then I said, "You mean, like when they have surgery to take their claws out so they won't grow back?" Then he got this completely horrified look on his face and said, "No, God no. That's crazy." Turns out he thought I meant clipping their nails.....

(This declawing discussion reminds me that someday I'm going to start a thread on why I love Europeans.) :)