Argh, feeling guilty

[bobquasit]

Widget, our new kitten, will be going to the vet on Thursday. He's going to be neutered and declawed. And I feel so guilty and bad for him; I can't tell you how guilty I feel.

All I can think of is that, well, he's going to lose his testicles, his chance to reproduce, and essentially the first joint off the end of his "fingers". It's horrifying. I don't want to think about it, but I can't help it. Poor little guy.

Comments

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

There is a reason why the rest of the world doesn't declaw cats..

cf., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declawing

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, but I can't click on that link. The neutering and declawing WILL happen, unless I open the door and let Widget escape. And I can't do that.

I need to find a way to be at peace with this.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Good grief. I'd never even heard of declawing before this, and I almost wish I hadn't now. Mutilating an animal to stop it potentially damaging the furniture: WTF???

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Why does he have to be declawed?

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

If you adopted him from a shelter make sure to read the fine print of what you signed. Many places make you sign a no-declawing clause as part of the adoption requirements and you may find yourself in legal trouble if you do.

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declawing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declawing) Is a link to a wikipedia piece on the subject.

There is no good reason to Declaw a housecat. Sorry, but it's cruelty to animals and illegal in many countries.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Sam, Teri's first cat, was already declawed when he was given to her. It was not her choice.

She had her next cat, Baby, declawed because apparently if you have clawed and declawed cats in the same house, the clawed cat will abuse the declawed cat.

From there, it kind of forms a chain. Sam died, but Baby was already declawed; so Sarah had to be declawed. Now Sarah and Baby are both declawed, so Widget will be declawed.

Just to be clear, her shelter does not forbid declawing. In fact, they perform the operation.

In my family, we never declawed cats. But I have to be honest: Widget is tearing the litter-pan liners to absolute shreds with his claws. I mean, they are literally and absolutely destroyed. The result has been a pretty terrible mess. So I would be lying if I didn't say that I didn't see any upside to this. Nonetheless, the process horrifies, sickens, and dismays me. And when I see Sarah "sharpening" her non-existent front claws on something, I feel very sad and guilty indeed.

By the way, just in case anyone was wondering: the hind claws are not removed, only the front ones. Of course, once a cat has been declawed it cannot survive in the wild.

Jeeze. This whole topic is really bothering me a lot.

[audacian.livejournal.com]

With proper supervision and training, they won't attack each other. A clawed cat won't go after a cat who has been declawed unless there are other underlying aggressiion. They've been living together amicably for a while, no?

Spaying and neutering is one thing - its actually beneficial to their health and well-being to spay and neuter. Declawing has absolutely no benefit - its simple amputation for lazy pet owners. Trimming your cats claws regularly (a groomer or vet can do this if you can't), or getting softpaws for your cat. There are a number of solutions aside from declawing:

http://www.catscratching.com/

It's illegal or only permitted in extreme circumstances in these countries:

England
Scotland
Wales
Italy
France
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
Norway
Sweden
Netherlands
Northern Ireland
Ireland
Denmark
Finland
Slovenia
Portugal
Belgium
Brazil
Australia
New Zealand
Yugoslavia
Japan

[starkzero.livejournal.com]

My cats are much happier after being declawed. I don't have to yell at them anymore for destroying my stuff or hurting the children. Also, we cuddle much better now and they are way more happy than me kicking them off all of the time because they accidentally claw me.

Best of all, my one cat who is missing an eye because it was clawed wont have to go blind with another clawing from another cat. Fights between the cats don't turn into horrible injuries, more of a slap fight. People who are against declawing must also accept how many people would rather destroy their pet than declaw it. Do you want all of those deaths on your hands? Also, strongly consider how many wild birds and other animals who are killed by domesticated cats with claws, its millions!

[(Anonymous)]

vinyl nail caps... enough said.