Can cats be declawed?

well, she'd like to hunt! She spends a lot of time in the garden lookiing at the birds with a twitching tail, and goes mad if a moth comes indoors. Got her from a rescue centre so don't know how old when parted from her mother. But all her kitten-play was stalking and pouncing. And she still will attack your feet if you move them while lying in bed. Great fun.

Don't declaw. Cats need claws as a defence mechanism if the are outdoors at all.

I am surprised at the cats scratching the car. I have never experienced this with our cars/cats and they love sitting on the bonnet. Water is a good way to stop a cat going/being somewhere. They hate getting wet but I would suggest on good drenching (not a sprinkle), it doesn't harm them but gets the message across in one go. I have done this when out cats started eating the dogs food,a single saucepan of water and it never happened again.

On the furniture issue, surely the solution is to trim the cats claws? Not Declaw but trim, a cat scratches furniture to sharpen his claws (for defense) and to trim his claws. Sometimes if a cats claws get too long you can hear him or her "tapping" rather than "padding" across your lino or wooden floor. If the claws are too long it can irriate his pads and be quite painful. If you trim (you can buy a claw scissors in vets or most good pet shops or you can go to the vet and he'll do it) youve decreased the need for pussy to scratch your furniture, he'll still give it a shot but the need will be gone. He'll still have claws for fighting and giving his owners a quick swipe to remind them who's boss.

According to [broken link removed] site cats kill 75 Million birds a year in the UK. The RSPB say it's 55 million and that it has no significant effect on bird populations. This may well be the case but cats are pets and so are not a part of a balanced ecosystem. They can, and in many cases have, caused huge problems where they live in large numbers. If de-clawing is too cruel so be it but I don't accept that a bell on their collar is a form of torture. If there is no humane way of controlling cats then they are not suitable to be kept as pets. The argument that it's their nature is not good enough. If my dog kept getting into my neighbours garden I would not shrug my shoulders and say he’s a good climber.

RainyDay said:

I take it your car never murders any insects or anything while driving around, right??

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Are you serious?

RainyDay said:

Anyone considering declawing should have their own fingernails & toenails removed first to find out how good an idea it is?

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Does this apply to your balls if you are considering neutering?

Purple said:

According to [broken link removed] site cats kill 75 Million birds a year in the UK. The RSPB say it's 55 million and that it has no significant effect on bird populations....but cats are pets and so are not a part of a balanced ecosystem.

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Hi purple,

I think you are raising an interesting point but Im kind of confused by it.

Domesticating cats, I would think would reduce the number of cats out there, and therefore the effect on birds.
Domestic cats and cats in cat homes are usually nutuered. If cats werent domesticated and allowed go wild (Im making the assumption here that you cant kill or nutuer them as that is also playing with the ecosystem) they would multiply in vast numbers and as they arent feed by owners are hungry and likely to kill more. The impact on birds would increase exponentially.

Purple said:

They can, and in many cases have, caused huge problems where they live in large numbers.

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This would very much be the case with wild cats in my example above, by domesticating them they are less likely to form and hunt in packs.

I think you are raising an interesting point about domestication and the impact on eco systems, obviously the pros and cons apply to all domestic animals and not just cats.

I heard a lady from the DSPCA on the radio a year or so ago. She said that the number of feral cats in Dublin would outnumber people within a few years. I can't find any solid information on this though. The point about cat’s impact on wildlife is that they are not part of the ecosystem in the first place so any impact should be minimised.

Purple said:

Does this apply to your balls if you are considering neutering?

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Touché!

I don't quite see the logic of your concern about cats not being part of the eco-system. Your car isn't part of the eco-system, and I guess it kills millions of insects on its regular travels. Should we be seeking to minimise your car use?

[No, of course I'm not serious - but it's the same logic, isn't it?]