as far as declawing goes, I am only for doing it to cats under a year old, preferably under 8 months, when they are spayed or neutered. I also recommend that training be done first and all other methods exhausted before doing this procedure. granted if the procedure is going to be done at a young age you only have a small window of time to train your kitten.

As a tech and as a groomer, I would rather work with a declawed (front and back) cat any day then a cat with his claws. I have way too many scars from cats. No matter how good of a hold you have on a cat they always manage to contort their body in any way possible to get to your flesh. lol

aMy daughter had two adult cats declawed by two different vets. One now has deformed feet and walks very painfully while the other one is less physically damaged. This was done 3 years ago. Neither of the cats have ever been the same mentally. They do not have the same lovely personalities anymore and they are also missing a very important part of their anatomy. It is cruel and unnecessary. I trim the nails of my cat that likes to scratch furniture. If a cat resists you just wrap them in a blanket and do one foot at a time. Very simple.

When a puppy has it's tail docked or dew claws removed they are only a few days old. The tail is soft tissue as are the dew claws. The animals never misses the tail or the dew claw. A really big difference from removing their nails. I have never heard of anyone doing such a thing to a dog and I hope that no vet would consider doing such a thing to any animal. You do not go around amputating body parts that are not convenient for you. You find ways of dealing with the problem.

Someone was on here a while back considering cutting off the tail of her adult Yorkie because it had not been done as a puppy. I don't understand this type of thinking. Cutting things off of animals for cosmetics or convenience is just so self centered that I don't understand why a person would have an animal at all!

LOL. And of course it's the ones that are indoor/outdoor and aren't vaxed for rabies...

Here the techs and vets tend to be very happy when there are less nails to deal with.

My cat was declawed a long, long time ago when I was very young. It was bloody, but it was also done by a country vet that had no business doing this procedure. He was not damaged for life and had all four done. However, IMO it has to do with what they are doing and how they are doing it that causes or does not cause problems later for the most part.

Just saw a cat the other day 1 or 2 days after declaw. Its feet hurt, but it certainly didn't appear damaged for life.

I had to laugh at the we Peirce out babies ears and circumcise them...no not here. I'm a conundrum...but at least I'm not about defending training a dog to not injure and self clean and then mutalating children or worse defending not altering a dog for looks but doing o to a child.

I'm debating and pro the 'mutilation' (let's call it what it is altering is a form of mutilation here) of my animals because it's for their own good I can't train my dog to stop getting ear infections to run carefully when playing ball or not to scrape his tail. But when it comes to altering children without their consent as baby's I'll flip out. :p

I can train my son's to wash their 'winkies' so hygiene wise we're good, I don't plan on having my son's sit in trenches where in WWII 5% of soldiers got infection and we didn't start circumcision until them and part of it was political...we aren't Jewish the free men nation of Cherokee in South Carolina just got back the last of the DNA results we in fact are not of any Jewish ancestry which is liek anyways way OT- My son's fit in here just fine less than 30% of the population here circumcises their boys.

Did yall know you should never pierce ears before 7 years in the least the ears are still growing! Not to mention your daughter should choose to mutilate her body or not herself....

oh, and yes I am a hypocrite on this because, I have 15 tattoos, at one point in my life my belly pierced and my tongue :eek: two holes in each ear and a fifth ear piercing at the top (how tacky were those in the 90's? I know not as tacky as my tongue-but the glow stick balls were awesome!). I never did get that chin piercing...my children will never have tattoos my daughter thinks they are so lame because her mom has them her rebellion is to not to YAY for one of life's little miracles!

LOL I freaked out when I first read about tattooing a dog! I was like why! what's wrong with you people! I didn't realize it was to show they had been altered already for females or to provide a # to be registered to the owners before micro-chipping.

Getting off my soap box now, ok I was not saying that it was acceptable to me personally, to pierce baby girls ears or circumcise boy babies. I was just pointing out people do it routinely and think it is fine.
People have cats declawed and think it is fine. People cut off dogs tails and crops ears to get a preferred 'look' and also think that is fine. People do alter themselves, their children, their pets to get a certain look. I was saying, maybe we as thinking human beings should think about why, we are doing these things. IMO if it is for health reasons yes, if it is not, maybe we should let it be.
Being an old hippie myself, I have a tattoo and I also have 3 holes in each ear. LOL
I might cover the grey and and wear control top panty hose, SO am I sort of shallow too ? :)

I worked for orthopedic surgeons for years and one of them performed hammertoe corrections and none of his turned out badly like that. Their surgical result was nice straight - and for a change - painfree toes. It sounds like your surgeon did not perform the procedure correctly or something else went very wrong but our patients toes did not hurt any more once they had correction and the great deformity gone. Oh, they still might have some arthritis in the non-operated joints. So, maybe, done correctly, declawing is not painful in cats or dogs, once they heal from surgery.

:eek: No I was just pointing out my hypocrisy here...but I really like your points here.

LOL old hippie-organic planet or henna hair dye!

But strange to me (not pointing at anyone here there just everywhere) we balk about this with our dogs but maybe not our kids?:confused:

Anywho that was just my whole dime on some food for thought


I do think buster brown should see another Dr. IO'm worried about your feet!

I forget who was teasing me about the Yorkie tatooe saying it says, " I love my mom call her at ###-###-###"
I was like seriously a heart with mom and wth if your phone # changes!?! I totally was lost on that!

On the same note, I've always found it kind of ironic on the breeding threads, how much careful attention it paid to who our dogs breed with, but many humans seem nilly-willy about who they themselves produce offspring with.

I guess Im one of the those people that are cruel to thier kids and animals then, because, I had ALL 3 of my baby girls ears done when they were 3 months old and my son was circumsized as a infant, I have 3 cats, 2 of which are front only declawed (my vet only does the fronts) and I also have a a toy poodle and yorkie mix that both have their tails docked and dew claws removed. I choose to have Tuckers done as I had full control over what happened to him as I picked him out at 1 day old. I personally feel that dogs that are suppose to have docked tails, should have docked tails.
My girls have had no long lasting effects of thier ears being peicerd not even so much an infection and they still wear earings on a regular basis. My 2 cats had no trouble what so ever with thier declawing as I had it done when they were kittens, they came home the next day, they healed great and have had no long lasting effects. They are indoor cats only. I dont regret having done one bit. The cat that isnt declawed has torn up couches, walls, wooden bed furniture etc, despite all the "training", nail clipping and scratching devices I have tried. Ive had her for 5 years, she is part of the family and I have no intentions of getting rid of her, I just deal with tore up stuff..:/ and replace it often. I wont have her declawed now because of her older age, I have heard that the healing time is much harder on them. SO I guess Im not that cruel after all.
I wouldnt have any of my dogs declawed,just done see the purpose in it. Im very thankful that my dogs let me, my vet and groomer clip thier nails without any trouble. Sorry if I seem a little off in this post but I love my children and animals very much, my life revolves my whole family and I dont think that the things that I have choosen to do to my kids or animals has cruel.

Actually, there is a big difference. While I do not like docking tails either, at least it causes pain for all of, what, 10 seconds? And then they are fine, have no more affects. Dewclawing is a surgical procedure, and a painful one at that, with recovery time. There's a difference. But like I said, I do not like tail docking either. I find it to be completely unnecessary and pointless and purely cosmetic. There's a reason it's banned in other countries, as is dewclawing.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Lol, if dogs were supposed to have docked tails, they would be born with them docked, right?

We humans decided dogs need docked tails. And back then, it WAS for a reason. Terriers went under and hunted vermin and the tails would get in the way or a rat could bite onto it, etc. Makes sense back then. How many of us today are breeding Yorkies to be ratters? I am assuming, like, none. I just would only do certain things for a reason.

I don't really care about people who choose to do things to themselves. I don't have any piercings or tattoos, but I have nothing against those who do. They chose to do it to themselves and that's all fine with me, I'm pretty open minded.

It's not really even so much that the animals don't "get a choice" or anything, because they are animals... and pets... they don't really get a choice about a lot they do. We choose what they eat, when they eat, when they potty, etc, so it's not really even about that to ME. I just find certain procedures completely unnecessary, it's kind of like, why even bother? I find spaying and neutering, for example, to be necessary in the society we live in. Others don't spay and neuter their pets, and I am fine with that, so long as they are responsible with it. There are health benefits to leaving in tact as well.

But, just because I don't like tail docking, doesn't mean I won't own a dog with a docked tail. I happen to like a lot of terriers, who often have docked tails, but I will do my best to have my next dog have his tail just out of personal preference. I do get that we as humans care about cosmetics. I wouldn't own or seek out a dog that I find to be unattractive, I am admitting that. So I get the appeal of course in preferring one look over the other. But it doesn't take away the fact that I think it's a completely pointless procedure. And I always see people trying to pull the "it has health benefits" thing when it comes to docking tails.... I just wish people would admit it's just purely cosmetic and they simply like the look better. Nothing WRONG with that.

Since cats and dogs are two totally different species who use their paws/claws in completely different ways, I personally don't understand how they can be compared or even to the finger nails of humans, not at all the same. But that's me.

That said, cat's have a need to hone their nails which is the reason they scratch. As cat owners are being educated on this, there is less of a need to have cats declawed because cats do develope a preference on what and where they like to scrach/hone their nails. If no other alternatives are provided they will choose their own honing spot, or your furniture. If you provide various types of scratching posts with different textures, you will find something that suits them and they will leave your furniture alone. Adult rehomed cats may present a bigger challenge however in redirecting their desires for honing their nails.

Just as a clarification, cats do not only scratch to take care of their claws. I understand why some might find declawing to be a natural solution if that were the case. But the motion of clawing also helps a cat stretch various muscles in the back and shoulders. That need is going to remain regardless of whether you declaw the animal or not. (Even folks with declawed cats should see their cats looking like they are clawing things. That's why.) It's necessary for their well being. As the previous poster said, it's a matter of finding what your cat prefers to scratch on and then teaching them to use it. How hard they are to teach really depends on your cat's existing habits and personality. But then, that's the same as with any animal (including humans!).

More Confessions :D All of my sons are circumsized. When my sons were born, not being a man, I ask their daddy what we should do. He said of course we should have them circumsized, so we did.
This was a good thread and it made us think and share our views, that is how we learn new things.
Like hugz4all4, I love my children, grandchildren, and animals and I am not cruel at all. Some of what we said was poking fun at ourselves. What I said in my first post is still true. So much of what we beleive is cultural and life experience based. As a very wise person warned: If you want to get along with people perfectly, never talk about anything important. Where were we ..... ? Oh um, I would not declaw a dog.

All this lasting pain cats have and then not using the litter box because of the declawing I sorry i just didnt see it with my cats and I had 5 of them declawed. They lived happy healthy indoor cat lives. Thats all I have to say. I dont think someone is selfish either because they dont want their furniture clawed up. There are alot of cats in shelters so do I think it is better for them to live a declawed life or end up euthanized at a shelter yes I do.