Why It Is Not Necessary To Declaw
I can't even count the number of friends, colleagues and acquaintances who have expressed surprise and dismay upon learning that my cats are NOT declawed. Apparently, many people think it is a necessary part of cat ownership (and many vets make it easy by packaging it with the sterilization surgery).
My instinctive (unspoken) response is that I don't believe in mutilating helpless creatures on the off-chance that they might damage some inanimate object in my house. However, my more polite response is that my cats are perfectly happy with their scratch posts (a bit of catnip helps).
The fact is that de-clawing is cruel. Cats need their claws for a number of innate activities like scratching, climbing, balancing, playing, kneading, and defending themselves.
Alanna
My instinctive (unspoken) response is that I don't believe in mutilating helpless creatures on the off-chance that they might damage some inanimate object in my house. However, my more polite response is that my cats are perfectly happy with their scratch posts (a bit of catnip helps).
The fact is that de-clawing is cruel. Cats need their claws for a number of innate activities like scratching, climbing, balancing, playing, kneading, and defending themselves.
De-clawing removes all ten front claws AND part of the paw itself. Cats need their whole paw - it isn't a superfluous extremity that can just be cut off.
Alanna