Close to Home by John McPherson for June 13, 2010

Declawing a cat is an especially cruel and inhumane practice. There are better solutions to keep cats from destroying furniture. Since the cat would normally be kept inside at all times, there would be no need to protect it from predators. One of the precursive behaviors of serial killers is that they start out by torturing animals and then work their way up to torturing and killing humans.

What cheery thoughts for a bright, sunny Sunday morning. Armored cat is a really funny idea.

Double sided tape works wonders on keeping a cat from clawing furniture.

Ummm… Put it on the furniture, not the cat.

& then there are those folks that you cannot convince that this is inhumane, no matter what. then the cat escapes out the front door, never to be seen again in one piece.

Bought the cats a big scratching pole. They love sleeping on it. Why destroy their own bed when they have this handy couch to scratch? And dining room chair, they love how the edges shed on all eight. Should I buy an “As seen on TV” Pedicure? Let me buy more bandaids first.

I have had cats for over thirty years, declawed (front only). They are kept inside and the procedure is done by a vet under anesthesia. There has NEVER been any change to their personality or behaviour.

The worse reaction I ever saw was when my Mom’s cat got back from the vet. He bounded out of the carrier onto the carpeted floor ran to the kitchen and started walking gingerly once he hit the tile. After a day he was running on the tile again. This same cat, Loki, was on his own for two months after he ran out of the house during a fire. When we finally found him aside from having lost a couple of pounds he was no worse for the experience.

One final thing. Why is it so horrible to make life easier for both your cat and you by declawing, but OK to neuter them?

I’ll bet that spiked tail mace is Hell on the curtains.

I once knew somebody who had a declawed cat. He would hop up onto your lap and act like he was shredding your thigh. Scared me the first time, but without claws, it tickles like crazy.

Put mouse traps on the furniture. And a fun time will be had by all.

I bought a scratching post for my cat, and to make sure she’d like it, I sprinkled some catnip on it. That was it…she never scratched anything else ever again!

I hate cats.

My wife and I adopted a cat who was de-clawed on all 4 feet and then abandoned. We nursed her back to health after she was hit by a car. She live with us indoors but also goes outside all the time. Cat have teeth as well as claws and they use them quite well.

If you wanted to keep her safe from predators, then why’d ya have her declawed?

Robocat

robo-Ankylocat.

I had one cat that came declawed in the front. He also weighed 18 pounds and could stand on his hind legs on the floor and get his nose in the sink, so who would mess with him?

And the most recent one (passed away the night of the 1st from kidney failure at an estimated age of 15) surprised me by allowing me to use one of those battery-operated rotary-files they advertise on TV, though he always struggled so much when I tried to clip the tips of his claws with nail clippers so they wouldn’t do so much damage when he walked on me that it was an achievement to get one whole foot finished at one time, even feeding him treats after every toe …

they actually remove the first joint of the finger? toe?, not just the claw there’s now nail covers in many colors to put on cat claws

Not a problem. Coyotes have can openers.

How about booties?

Calling declawing “inhumane” and “cruel” is a bit extreme.