From: iadt1jm@prism.gatech.EDU (Jean McSpadden)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: declawing?
Date: 21 Dec 92 20:36:20 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In <1992Dec19.060150.3859@umbc3.umbc.edu> cs431109@umbc8.umbc.edu (cs431109) writes:

 >I think the *blanket* opinion that declawing is cruel and inhumane
 >is unfair. Each owner/pet situation is different, and I believe
 >more cats would be in shelters if the procedure were not available.
 >Yes, cat owners should make every attempt possible to train the
 >cat and declawing should be a last resort before sending the cat
 >to a shelter. Yes, a cat that lives outside for some part or all of
 >its life should never be declawed.  But I know from experience that 
 >without constant vigilence, it is next to impossible to train a cat 
 >to not scratch something somewhere that you don't want him to scratch!
 >Every cat is different and some are not trainable at all! 
 
Almost any cat can be trained not to scratch where you don't want
him to.  My little brother is the consummate yuppy.  He has light
beige suede furniture and extremely expensive oriental rugs a
grand piano, etc.  He also has three indoor cats.  He keeps his
cats claws trimmed short.  He also has many cat playgrounds and
scratching post around his house.  A cat whose paws are keep trim
can not case damage even to an unpadded waterbed.  If a cat is
given many attractive, convenient places to scratch, they will
not scratch where they risk causing anger.  People who say they
have tried a scratching post and gave up usually had one
scratching post located in a back room.  You need to have
approved, inviting places for a cat to scratch every place the
cat goes. 

 >The comparison of declawing to removing a human's first digit is NOT a
 >valid argument since a cat's claw and a human's finger are not
 >equivalent!

No, cats walk on there toes, we walk on are feet, we thus can do without 
are toes much better then a cat can do without his.
 
 >So let's hear it from people opposed to declawing. What's better --
 >the shelter or the declawing procedure? What do I do when my cat,
 >who is not a dog, will not stop scratching a part of my apartment
 >that I can't afford to repair and that will get me thrown out?
 >How do I train a cat who will not use a scratching post and is
 >fascinated by water coming from a squirt bottle? (YES, I've had
 >one of those!) What if my cat is deaf and can't hear my stern
 >voice? What if I have back trouble and my chiropracter said to
 >get a waterbed? (contrary to popular belief, back claws do not pose
 >a threat to waterbeds with proper mattress covers. I also don't
 >think front claws are that hazardous, but I have seen my cat
 >chasing air bubbles which could be a problem if she were able to
 >get the mattress cover up.) What if I just saved a life from the
 >shelter, but can't afford to take time off from work to train
 >the cat? -- you just can't train *every* cat if you have to leave
 >it alone for 8 hours a day! Do you want me to take the cat back
 >to the overcrowded shelter?

This is the main place we lose each other.  This is a not a choice
between life and death.  The cat will not die of paw rot if it's
forefingers are not amputated.  A person decides to adopt an
animal and then decides that it's life is not a valuable as there
sofa and if the cat does not stop scratching her sofa she will
have it's forepaws cut off, and it she still bothers her sofa, say
biting it or spraying it, she will have the cat killed. Some of us
believe that if you adopt an animal you have a life long
responsibility to take care of that animal and that includes not
mutilating him for your own expedience. If your landlord won't
let you have an animal with claws, you move.  You wouldn't cut
off your sons fingers because the landlord insisted that he would
only allow finger less children in his building would you?  I
have both kids and cats, and I have found that landlords are much
less likely to rent to people with kids then they are to people
with cats, in both cases you move somewhere else, maybe someplace
not as nice, but that is a choice you made when you took over the
responsibility of another life. This justification that at least
you saved the cats life and then mutilated it just doesn't wash. 
If I told you I had taken in starving Samilion child who would
have probably died without my intervention, you would probably
think good thoughts about me, if I then told you I had cut off
the first joint of his fingers because he tore up my couch with
his nails,  what kind if thoughts would you have of me then?
 
 >I'm sorry if I've ranted too long. But I just get annoyed when I
 >hear people condemning the actions of people they've never met.
 >Each person's living situation is different and each cat is different,
 >so blanket condemnations of the declawing procedure are unfair! 
 >I just don't think the cat misses their claws as much as some
 >humans think they do.

It is there claws and the first digit of their paws.  And you do not know
and can't know how much they miss them, as you can't know how much pain they
feel.  My white southern forefathers did not think black people felt pain
like white people, I still blanketly condemn them and see them as 
malevolent monsters in spite of the fact that they did not believe they
were hurting anybody. 

 >And I think if we asked them, they'd prefer to lose their claws 
 >rather than their lives.
 
So would I.  Thank god I was allowed to live with both intact.

Given all that I have said, let me also state that I do volenteer work
at a humane society, and that I have never turned down a person for
adoption of a cat because they are going to amputate the first digits of
it's paws, because life is more important.  I just don't respect
people who don't give the poor cat more options.             
-- 
Jean McSpadden
IT-ISS 0185 
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
Jean.McSpadden@oit.gatech.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats