Should cats be declawed?

If your cat is strictly an inside cat, with no chance of it getting outside, and it is causing extreme damage to your home, then declawing it would be a last resort. Trimming the nails is a better idea, but certainly not an easy one to accomplish. If the cat goes outside, or there is a chance it can get outside, declawing the cat is extremely dangerous to the cat, as it wont be able to defend itself.

I had my cats declawed because I had just gotten a new sofa at the time & even though I got them scratching posts & everything they still perfered to use my sofa for their scratching needs. I didn't want to do it, but it was either that or get rid of them & I didn't want to do that.

I personally think too that declawing your cat is really cruel. I have 3 cats and all of them have been or in the process of being trained not to scratch on the furniture. I guess that's what their scratching post is for. lol! We are still working with the youngest in not scratching on our things but we are getting there with her. I think keeping your cats nails trimmed down is a much better idea.

If you have cats, and you know what they actually do with declawing, you wouldn't do it. When I called to find out what they do, that was it...done.

Think about going to the doctor and having all your fingers cutt off at the first joint...thats exacally what they do to your cat. They break bone off. How could anyone do that? Its such an abrasive surgery.

If you have cats, or want the commitment of a cat, just know going into it...they scratch, period. It's beyond cruel to take away their ability to stretch and exersize by scratching.

I agree very much with you that cats should NOT be declawed. It is inhumane. I would never subject my fur babies to it. In fact, the shelter from which I adopted my two adult cats issued a contract that absolutely forbid having the cats declawed. And yes, I would definitely have a vet trim my cat's claws every now and then.

Declawing is cruel in anther sense too. Over time, a declawed cat's paws become deformed from walking and running --- not sure of all the technical details, but know that the cat's bone structure in its foot is ultimately affected.

definitely not.

I'm not even sure it's legal in the UK, as I've only ever heard of it from the US.

from what I know of the procedure, it's animal abuse and mutilation, and should be illegal.

I think it is cruel and unusual punishment. Maybe new parents should have their fingernails removed so they don't accidentally scratch their babies or use them to dig into their kids' skin as punishment. WHAT? None of that makes sense? Either does removing an animals claws. I have had MANY indoor cats in my lifetime. NONE have ever been declawed. If they are provided with ample things to scratch on, and are deterred from scratching the furniture, there should be no problem. We have always had animals. All of our furniture has been hand me down. We won't get any new furniture until all of the animals are gone. Why? They are spoiled rotten. We allow our dogs on the couch. They are part of the family.

cats should not be declawed because declawing cats means that their power would be removed, some cats have saved their owners in recent times with their claws,i read about a young kid that was saved from snakes bite by a cat using its claws and i wonder if that would have been achieved without the cat's claws

I do not think cats should be declawed. You can trim their nails, you can buy furniture tht works with cats and you can each them what they can scratch t and what they cant. I personally think it is horrible to declaw, but I know people who have done it and I wouldn;t wrong them, it's just not the choice for me.

I personally think it'sreally cruel to declaw cats...
Here in Argentina nobody does that, the very first time I heard of a declawed cat was when a friend came from the states to visit.

We trim their nails and that's it. And it's not hard to do, you can take your cat to the vet, or you can ask the vet to teach you and do it yourself.
I trim my cat's nails all by myself, and it's not difficult at all.

=)