Reasons you shouldn't declaw your cat

The day my fiancée and I went to adopt a creature from the shelter, we encountered the most evil of potential cat owners: the de-clawer. She was peering into kitten cages commenting on how cute and fluffy they were, but did the shelter de-claw? She had really nice furniture and she didn't want it to get scratched up. Both my fiancée and I, and the people at the shelter started lecturing her on the evils of removing a cats claws but she just stared at us blankly, visions of her amazing couches floating through her mind.

If you want to own a pet, but you feel the need to remove it's defense mechanisms, perhaps you need a fish. Or ask yourself this: do you enjoy your fingertips? Do you need them to maintain a steady grip on things and non-freak status? Good, we are going to rip them off, sorry.

When you make the decision to declaw your animal you need to realize it's a major surgery. Essentially you are amputating the last joint of your cats toes...they are put under because without an anesthetic the surgery would be torture. From there your cat undergoes ten amputations, since they are as I mentioned removing the joint attached to the claw. The little paws will remained in bandages to soak up blood, and decrease risk of infection. All so....your couch doesn't get clawed?

Cats use their claws everyday [surprisingly, not just to scratch things]...when they run around the claws provide extra traction on surfaces, they stretch and use scratching posts pulling against the claws resistance to “keep in shape” if you will, scratch themselves, and climb things. If you remove the claws, you are putting your animal at risk for danger especially if they are allowed outside. Without claws, your cat will struggle to get away.

This is Boogie, he is the cat we adopted from the shelter. He's amazingly handsome, well behaved, happy and agile and not once has he scratched us or damaged our furniture. Even when I bury my head in his tummy to give him a thousand kisses do his claws not come out...if he's feeling annoyed he just wiggles away, or gentle taps me if to say “okay, get the hell of of me” Boogie doesn't ruin our furniture, nor does he want to. If you provide the right tools to keep your cat (and his claws) happy you will see declawing is completely unnecessary.

Ways we prevent Boogie from destroying furniture:

Scratching posts!

Weekly or bi-weekly nail clippings. Yes, you can trim your cats claws and if you do it correctly they won't try to wiggle away too hard. If you are too scared to try this yourself, your vet will probably do it for free.

A water gun! If you find your cat still wants to claw things give him a gentle squirt..he will get the idea

Fact: Did you know the USA and Candada are the only two countries who still allow cats to be declawed? It's illegal in most other places.

Below is a great declawing website you can check out, for additional information