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Spaying and neutering of cats is not painful. Spaying entails what might be considered major surgery but I have had numerous (probably hundreds!) feral and domestic cats spayed and neutered over many years and with not an "ouch" from any of them, with recovery discomfort related only to coming out from the anesthesia.
As many posters have mentioned, declawing a cat is not recommended for many reasons and indeed many veterinarians refuse to do it. To declaw a cat because the furniture and drapes are worth more than the cat simply doesn't sit well with me. Neither does declawing a new kitten because the first cat is declawed and the "kid" takes a swipe and draws blood. So what? One little claw swipe and the older declawed cat would have quickly realized the consequences and adapted his or her attacks accordingly.
I've had a multi-cat household for donkey's years (literally!) and only once had a previously declawed cat come into the house. She melded well with the other felines, had a very benign personality but I had to take special care in order to prevent her from going outside because of her "handicap." The others would come and go during the day but were always in for the night and I always felt badly that, in all good conscience, I couldn't let her outside because she didn't have her natural defense weapons. She enjoyed being out on the enclosed porch but would have had a fuller life if she had had her basic defenses and was able to go outside with the others just to mess about.
The temptation to go out was obviously too great and, a year or so after I took her in, she managed to skip out one night after a dinner party at my house when people were coming and going. Usually on those occasions contained in the master bedroom, someone opened that door to use the master bathroom and she slipped out.
I was awakened at around 3AM by barking and yelping dogs in my driveway, ran out half-naked and found two dogs dragging this helpless kitty down the driveway. I screamed and yelled and threw rocks at them, they dropped her and ran. To no avail. She drew her last breath, covered in blood, in my arms.
These dogs weren't feral, they belonged to two different people/neighbours who just happened to let them out at night, the dogs got together in "pack" mentality to have fun and they happened to find a cat who they thought they could have simple fun with until they realized she was easy prey.
I figured the dogs might just come back so, the next day, I borrowed a BB gun from a friend and watched carefully. There were now four dogs trotting up the long driveway. I yelled, they turned tail and I blasted them in their arses with the BB gun. Who knows if a pellet actually hit any of them but there was a lot of yelping going on as they exited, and I never saw those dogs again.
In subsequent years I had two more cats attacked by dogs. As traumatic as those experiences were, the cats survived the attacks and the damages to them were relatively minimal with, yes, some surgery involved.
This thread can go on for years but my stance will never change. Declawing a cat is inhumane and is the emotionally poor person's excuse for preserving material things such as carpets, drapes and designer furniture at the expense of the animal's well-being. Some people should simply not have pets in their life.
I do want to say that if the pet is taken care of, loved, fixed and the responsible owner feels declawing is the only way to keep everyone happy, I'm ok with it.
I made the choice to declaw my guy so I could bring him home from college in the summers. He lived a very happy youth and was a rubber ball. His older age is a different story, but I can tell you it has nothing to do w/ having claws or not.
[quote=STT Resident;2295722]Spaying and neutering of cats is not painful. Spaying entails what might be considered major surgery but I have had numerous (probably hundreds!) feral and domestic cats spayed and neutered over many years and with not an "ouch" from any of them, with recovery discomfort related only to coming out from the anesthesia.
So how do you know have you been spayed?? And my cat never said ouch once when I had her claws out.
Or showed any signs of allot pain, No more than when she was spayed.
Spaying and neutering of cats is not painful. Spaying entails what might be considered major surgery but I have had numerous (probably hundreds!) feral and domestic cats spayed and neutered over many years and with not an "ouch" from any of them, with recovery discomfort related only to coming out from the anesthesia.
As many posters have mentioned, declawing a cat is not recommended for many reasons and indeed many veterinarians refuse to do it. To declaw a cat because the furniture and drapes are worth more than the cat simply doesn't sit well with me. Neither does declawing a new kitten because the first cat is declawed and the "kid" takes a swipe and draws blood. So what? One little claw swipe and the older declawed cat would have quickly realized the consequences and adapted his or her attacks accordingly.
Actually, that "little swipe" involved a minor surgery to remove a piece of claw that was stuck in the wound and SEVEN stitches.
I would never declaw a cat because of my "poor furniture, boohoo." business.
As for neutering not hurting, you're probably right. However, stitches are very uncomfortable, and it bothered him. He had to be constantly watched. His front paws (because he still has his back claws, btw) weren't a problem.
Like I said, he still thinks he has front claws.
I will add, that because many people tell horror stories about cats and kittens in undying amounts of pain from the declawing - I paid an extra $300 to get take-home "Kitty Vicodin" just in case he did appear to be in pain.
Humans and animals have all types of surgery, take pain meds afterward, and it all turns out fine. Some people prefer to have their cats declawed (myself included) for many valid reasons. I would rather see people happy with their pets and providing them a good home instead of bashing them for making a choice that they feel is necessary. Just my opinion.
I can see this is a touchy subject to some and I agree with greentown..
And....
Yes..It may be painful to have a cats claws removed, or to have them spayed or neutered can be painful also.. but what procedure isn't painful.. lordy even having your finger pricked is painful.. And just because someone had their cats de clawed doesn't mean they don't love their cats!
All of my cats are inside cats..They had the surgery done about 6-9 years ago and they are just fine with not having claws..after the surgery- within a week their back to their normal cat self.. mine didn't have any recovery problems at all.
The one talking about the dogs attacking the cat above.. It wouldn't have mattered if the cat had claws or not.. Cats don't win against a pack of dogs. They were dogs and dogs can kill cats no matter if they had claws or not...And I surely hope the owners of the dogs paid some type of price for their dogs viciously attacking your cat!
My cat was already front AND back declawed when I adopted her from a shelter. As a first-time cat owner, I was a bit worried about having to deal with scratching (moreso on my skin than my furniture), so I was only interested in adopting a declawed cat. I realize that it's considered an inhumane procedure, so I did not want to get an unaltered cat and then declaw it later on.
As for the cat I did choose, she's a total sweetheart. She was actually found wandering outside before she was taken to the shelter. They had no idea how she got outside or how long she even managed to survive on the streets without claws. Obviously, she's a survivor! She is a bit fearful in that she doesn't like to be picked up and she's jumpy at times, but she loves being around people and she doesn't mind being petted. She does give "warning bites" in that she will just make a biting motion toward my hand when she's tired of the petting, and she loves to playfully attack my feet when I walk past, but aside from that, she's not aggressive at all. We have a wicker chair that she loves to "scratch" on because I think the pulling sensation makes her feel like she still has claws. Anyways, I obviously can't tell other people what to do with their own cats, but if scratching is a concern, I would suggest just getting a cat that's already declawed if you can.
I don't know if it's fair to compare declawing to spaying/neutering.
Spaying and neutering is a necessary procedure in our society today. We've chosen to keep cats as pets and one side effect of that is a cat overpopulation problem......therefore, spaying and neutering is necessary with few exceptions.
Declawing is, almost without exception, an alteration done for the convenience of the cat owner - not a necessary procedure. No matter what the reason - be it saving your drapes or evening up the defenses of all the cats in your household - the end result is the same, a declawed cat.
From an ethical and health standpoint, many veterinarians have made the choice to no longer offer the procedure - I think this speaks volumes.
I wonder.. The ones who thinks that it is inhumane to have a cats claws removed that your thinking we have front and back claws done.. MOST VETS will not remove the cats back claws.. they only remove the front. There are plenty of vets around here that will do this procedure. It really doesn't matter what you people think any ways if someone wants their cats claws removed then they will get them removed.. no different than, whether or not they want their dogs ears cropped or tail docked (in which I have heard this is inhumane also, even if it is due to injury) Which if thats the case well then I guess I am a bad person because we just had to have our dogs tailed amputated due to injury..
And Truthfully it is none of anyones business whether or not someone has their cats claws removed accept for the doctor and the owner of the pet! .. It is a choice in the home of which they live and no one out there has a right to tell anyone whether they can have this done or not. Sorry for lashing out but I can't stand for anyone to think just because they don't think something is right that they can rally and tell someone they can do or can't do.. It is BS. Now as for abusing an animal I do not think is right but this is a totally different subject!
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I should really read my posts before posting.