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I'm bringing this back up because I feel quite strongly about this. If the cat's behavior could kill or maim it and the only way to stop that behavior is to declaw the cat, then declaw the cat.
Teaching, training, whatever you want to call it, is worthless if the cat is permanently disabled.
I'm not a fan of elective surgery. I've lost pets to anaesthesia before. However, you have to weigh the options and choose the method which will keep the cat safest.

"I'm bringing this back up because I feel quite strongly about this. If the cat's behavior could kill or maim it and the only way to stop that behavior is to declaw the cat, then declaw the cat."

Obviously, I feel extremely strongly too. I just feel we're crossing signals on this, and no one is going to agree or even acknowledge that we're all trying to do what we think right, so this is largely unproductive. See, for me declawing is just a non-option. Not in the spectrum, not on the radar. For me, I emphasize. I don't care if I had to build the equivilant of a padded kitty-cell, or whatever. I'd do it because I won't declaw. If it were that necessary, if I had a true nut-case kitty on my hands, I would find a way to protect the cat from itself without extreme body changes just as I would a child if they had severe behavior problems. (No, not equivocating that a cat has to equal a child, but I do feel the same sense of responsibility toward any creature in my care.) This is how I feel.

"Teaching, training, whatever you want to call it, is worthless if the cat is permanently disabled. "

But see, I see declawing as just that. Disabling the cat permenantly. Teaching and training is just part, I'm all about changing the environment to accomodate the cat if necessary. Again, this is not necessary for most cats, the cases you're addressing would be fairly unusual.

" However, you have to weigh the options and choose the method which will keep the cat safest."

Certainly so, I could never disagree with keeping the cat safe. I wish this topic had turned out to be more educational for all involved, and less emotional. As always, my only intention was to throw other ideas and options out there that perhaps don't usually occur to people who feel they are at their wit's end, and nothing more. I can certainly see where everyone who has posted is coming from....I can't always agree, but I can say I understand. I hope others can say the same of me. All we can hope for, really, with so many differing views, but still, I think it's a quite nice conclusion. Time to go get covered in kitty fur...

In all fairness, that was the only truely loopy cat I've ever known. It was cat-preservation for that one!
Otherwise, I will only advocate de-clawing for defective claws. These happen far more often that I would like to believe, too. (We do rescue, taking in the infant orphans and bottling them.) We've had litters with defective claws, and individual kits with malfunctioning claws. Oddly enough, these failed to thrive. I don't know what the connection is, but we haven't succeeded with any of these. It's very frustrating. We feed, rub down, keep warm, keep cuddled just like we do with all of our little orphans, but these don't make it. No one we've talked to knows why, either.

I know that in people, children born with one defect often have more. Wonder if that is the same with kits. Would make sense, I guess. Both are babies after all!
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PHWildCat
Cat Board Monitor and Chat Host
Pet Hobbyist
A house without cats is like a garden without flowers

>>We've had litters with defective claws, and individual kits with malfunctioning claws. Oddly enough, these failed to thrive.>>

It's funny that you should mention this and it's something that we never really associated. Oddly enough, we suddenly lost a young kitten that seemed to thrive for awhile, but then suddenly just went downhill very fast. I never put two and two together until you mentioned the defective claw condition and sure enough, little TJ did have 3 claws that were growing at a wierd angle and didn't retract all the way.
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Dottie
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