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Neutering and spaying has numerous health benefits so it is done for the cat's benefit.
I'd prefer the cat went to a home that didn't require declawing as a condition of residence. The fact is owners in countries where it is banned manage to cope just fine combining cat ownership and furniture owning.
I agree!
Used to work with a veterinarian and witnessed cats being declawed so the owners could avoid their furniture or drapes being damaged. I asked some of the owners later on how their cat was coming along and most were honest in saying that the cat's personality wasn't as lively as before.
Off subject I realize; however, I wonder how dog owners would react about starting the practice of removing a dog's teeth if they were biters?
Neutering and spaying has numerous health benefits so it is done for the cat's benefit.
I'd prefer the cat went to a home that didn't require declawing as a condition of residence. The fact is owners in countries where it is banned manage to cope just fine combining cat ownership and furniture owning.
If declawing were banned here I'd be sending cats to the humane society until I found one that didn't claw. How is that better?
Name the health benefits to the cat for spaying if they are an indoor cat and won't get pregnant. Ditto for neutering an indoor cat. What are these health benefits?
WRT declawing, why don't you consider having a home a health benefit?
If they ban declawing only cats that don't claw furniture will have homes. Cats like J will be put down. Cats like S would likely end up outdoor cats if they were kept at all and outdoor cats have a very short life expectancy.
We will have to agree to disagree. I see spaying and neutering as the things I do that are not of benefit to my cat. I do them so they won't yowl when in heat and spray. I declaw so I can keep a cat I otherwise would not be able to keep. I consider that a great benefit to the cats health and welfare to live in a home like mine where they will get the vet care they need. Seriously, I just paid $750 to close a two inch tear in my cat's leg instead of just putting her down. She may be 17 but I'm not putting her down over something as simple as a split in her skin (due to the surgical steel that was left in her leg from the break she had 10 years ago...they removed the steel so this won't happen again).
There is no way I could have kept S as an indoor cat if she were not declawed. She'd either be an outdoor cat and would be dead by now or I would have had to have taken her to the humane society and she would have been put to sleep as they do not adopt out animals turned in for behavior issues. I am having a hard time seeing this as the better alternative as you seem to think it is.
Name the health benefits to the cat for spaying if they are an indoor cat and won't get pregnant. Ditto for neutering an indoor cat. What are these health benefits?
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Spaying and neutering benefits the cat because they no longer experience a sex drive that they can't do anything to alleviate. They can't just masturbate it away.
It also cuts down on testicular, mammary and uterine cancers. I hear more about canines being at risk for pyometra, but if there is a feline risk, that too is eliminated.
Spay/neuter ALSO keep cats in their homes because, if done early enough, spraying is prevented. My own cat was spayed at 3 months by her first owner (I am her 3rd). Both sexes spray, not just the toms. And cat urine does far more damage to furniture, walls and carpeting than claws do. I rent, so I can't have sprayers or litter box aversion for any reason, and that includes pain from declawed paws hurting too much to dig in the box to bury waste.
Plus, the risk of escape is cut down because they no longer have the urge to find a mate when the queen goes into heat and the toms sense a queen in the area that is in heat. They can detect them even if the female is inside a building and the male is outside.
I'm very surprised that you have a cat and yet still need to ASK for an answer to such a basic question. Anyone who "knows" cats knows that intact cats are useless for anything but breeding.
If declawing were banned here I'd be sending cats to the humane society until I found one that didn't claw. How is that better??
WRT declawing, why don't you consider having a home a health benefit?
If they ban declawing only cats that don't claw furniture will have homes. Cats like J will be put down. Cats like S would likely end up outdoor cats if they were kept at all and outdoor cats have a very short life expectancy.
We will have to agree to disagree. I see spaying and neutering as the things I do that are not of benefit to my cat. I do them so they won't yowl when in heat and spray. I declaw so I can keep a cat I otherwise would not be able to keep. I consider that a great benefit to the cats health and welfare.
Well that'd your choice, there are plenty of cat owners out there who don't require declawing. Having a home with an owner who doesn't declaw is preferable to having a home with an owner who does.
Spaying reduces or eliminates the risks of cancers of the reproductive organs, that's a pretty big health benefit, not to mention the fact that having sexual urges you're unable to satisfy cannot be pleasant for them.
Are you saying that American cat owners are inherently more selfish than cat owners elsewhere because declawing being illegal doesn't stop people from bringing cats into their homes, despite the risk to their furniture and children.
Trauma is the leading cause of death among British cats overall. Communicable disease is quite high on the list of causes of death as well. And that's not taking into consideration the animals that are painfully injured or infected, but recover. I'm not sure if I can describe a cat as having a much happier life if said life involves getting crushed by a truck or mauled by a dog.
Keeping an indoor cat requires putting some actual effort into litterbox maintenance, training the cat, and enriching the cat's environment. IMO for all that people dress it up as "cats love to be free!" really it's more like "owners love to be lazy."
I'm sure UK residents really appreciate their neighbors' cats eliminating and caterwauing all over the place, too.
Loose unattended domesticated animals are illegal where I live, thankfully.
I agree mostly. I adopted two cats two years ago they are 4 years old each now they came from a smaller house than mine and were indoor only then also . I love them and do the best I can for them. I bought 2 cat condos one over 8 ft tall the other about 5 ft which they use ALL the time, loads of toys and give them some play time every night when I get home. They wait at the door (like dogs do) when I come home. They are best friends ( both male fixed) from the same litter. They play with each other and social groom which takes some load off me being that I am gone all day working and work on music at night often and I am single so they are alone all day 5 to 6 days a week while I am at work.
They are indoor only, I have a 1800 sq ft house that they have access to all of it. Although sometimes I feel guilty because I can see they get bored sometimes and when they see the squirrels and other cats roaming outside I can tell that they want to interact with that but I won't let them out knowing how happy go lucky they are and all the dangers there are outside not to mention them bringing fleas and ticks back in the house if I did.
My cats have their claws, they never cause any problems I bought several scratching pads and posts the only thing I did reluctantly was cover my nice leather couch to prevent scratches on it.
I am thinking about adding a outdoor screened porch to the house to give them outside access without actually going outside because in the winter when I open the windows they sit looking and smelling the outdoors for hours, but I can't do that in summer, too hot it's about 95 degrees here today
So teach the little brats how to properly treat animals and they won't have to worry about being scratched! Any kid who pulls a cat's tail or otherwise treats a cat like it isy if not a stuffed animal that moves and breaths on its own deserves what they get back.
Many if not most kids are awful to animals. Our cats flat out disappear when the nephews come to visit. The younger one is into 4H and is better with animals than most. The other will try to pet the cats when they are brave enough to come around.
I'm proud of my cats' maturity and ability to have to compassion to give a warning shot "Back off or I'll cut you bad!"
The problem with one of my cats is that he is so kind and loving at first, rubbing up against them and purring... (my SIL and FIL), then they go to petting him, he backs up a bit, gives them a sniff, then realizes that they don't smell right, then whacks them four or five times on the arm with those razor claws and before they know it, they are bleeding in about four or five places.
It's sort of sad, but I've seen declawed cats bite harder. Or they'll whack you with those back claws.
So teach the little brats how to properly treat animals and they won't have to worry about being scratched! Any kid who pulls a cat's tail or otherwise treats a cat like it isy if not a stuffed animal that moves and breaths on its own deserves what they get back.
Many if not most kids are awful to animals. Our cats flat out disappear when the nephews come to visit. The younger one is into 4H and is better with animals than most. The other will try to pet the cats when they are brave enough to come around.
I'm proud of my cats' maturity and ability to have to compassion to give a warning shot "Back off or I'll cut you bad!"
The problem with one of my cats is that he is so kind and loving at first, rubbing up against them and purring... (my SIL and FIL), then they go to petting him, he backs up a bit, gives them a sniff, then realizes that they don't smell right, then whacks them four or five times on the arm with those razor claws and before they know it, they are bleeding in about four or five places.
It's sort of sad, but I've seen declawed cats bite harder. Or they'll whack you with those back claws.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lionking
They play with each other and social groom which takes some load off me being that I am gone all day working and work on music at night often ...
I know huh? Darn near impossible getting all that fur out of my mouth.
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