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| We found a stray and can't find her owners so we have brought her into our house as a new permanent pet. The humane society guesses, based on her teeth and eyes, that she is 7-10. She is declawed. It seems to me that declawing has been out of style for a while now. Does anyone know when that became less popular? (that might help me narrow in on her age) |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by pamghatten (My Page) on Thu, Sep 22, 11 at 12:21
| Well, I've had cats for over 20 years and have always thought de-clawing was inhumane. Mutilating animals has never been in style in my mind. Sorry that doesn't help answer your question though since she's only 7 - 10 ... |
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- Posted by kashka_kat (My Page) on Thu, Sep 22, 11 at 13:04
| Well unfortunately there's still enough people for whom it hasn't gone out of style - so I don't think that would be a reliable way to judge a cat's age. I would guess though that its been in the last 5-7 years that people have begun to be more aware and informed about the bad effects it can have on a cat - pain, behavior problems, biting, avoiding litter box because cat learns to associate box with pain, etc.). And the alternatives are more well known now (scratching post, regular nail trim, "soft-paws," etc.) Congrats on your new kitty/family member- she is luck to have found you!! |
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| Not an expert by any means, but isn't declawing kinda like cutting off the first knuckle of your fingers?? Have only been a cat person for about 3 years and luckily inappropriate scratching has not been a big problem with June. |
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| My friends routinely claw any cats they get. I tried to talk one out of it, but she was worried about her furniture. The cat never showed any inclination to scratch the furniture, and she didn't even give it a chance with a cat condo. Yes, klseiverg, it is an amputation of the tips of the toes. That's what they should call it. |
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- Posted by kashka_kat (My Page) on Thu, Sep 22, 11 at 18:50
| It's more like amputation of the first finger joint - cats use their paws/claws a lot like hands. |
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| I'm not sure when it became taboo but vets seem to be able to estimate their age reasonably accurately based on other factors. I will add that I've adopted several declawed cats and they had absolutely no problems of any kind. I have also had cats that weren't declawed that did do significant damage to carpet and woodwork - in spite of a variety of efforts to prevent that. I hate the idea of declawing as much as anyone else but I would have a hard time with a cat that damaged things with its claws. Hence I seek out the already declawed cats. I also do that because I know then they WILL be kept indoors where declawed cats belong. I think a lot worse things are happening to many cats other than declawing. If you equate declawing to human amputation, I can personally attest that there are many things much worse than that, having experienced it myself. |
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