NOT ABOUT BIRDS BUT STILL IMPORTANT

[Dave007]

No Forum for this so I didn't know where to put it.--For Admin,--Delete it if necessary or offensive.

 

I'm not a cat person but lets put it this way------

 

A cat's claws are akin to your fingers. They use them for every day chores and living. Defense, manipulation, marking, etc. A cat is an animal. Humans are animals. You can be in harmony with nature, by allowing a cat to express his need to

"sharpen" his claws..... trim his claws when they get too long, and he won't scratch them to "wear" them down, and his "marking" of territory. To a cat, he's just trying to fit in. Be comfortable, so make him comfortable.

 

Or you could take the more typical human approach, and declaw him. It's akin to cutting a person's fingers off. You can no longer type, open doors, manipulate objects, defend yourself etc. It is "easier", it makes vets money, its akin to what humans usually do, we prefer to take the *easy* route, and control our environments rather than live in harmony with it. We prefer to dump pollution in rivers and water rather than develop clean exhaust systems, we would rather drive huge expensive SUVs rather than use clean vehicles.

 

A person wth their fingers cut off will be very distressed. Maybe you HAD to cut their fingers off because they were not living well/adapting to your environment. So now they spend the *rest* of their life as a cripple, then maybe one day you don't want them around anymore...so you cast them out...and leave a homeless cripple to fend for himself.

 

A cat, is not a person, but the analogy is the same.

Declawing is the same to putting a person forever in a straight jacket, or amputing their limbs. It is the absolute *last* resort, and the pity is people use it all too frequently because they do not respect their pets.

 

If you declaw your cat, you have an obligation to take care of it for the rest of its natural life...honor demands nothing less. It is now defeneless, not able to fend for itself and what not.

 

Spaying and neutering you could argue are the same, but they are not, that is an attempt to control the population, animals are incapable of higher level decisions as we humans, and do not have birth control techniques/technology etc., so it is up to us to do it for them since we brought them to this environment.

 

Declaw? Last resort only. And only if all else fails. I would rather set a cat free then declaw it. Or better yet, help it seek a home where it would be happy.

 

To me it boils down to this: respect and the desire for a compinaion who will always love you unconditionally.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/12/01 20:37

[danmcq]

Amen!

 

If you must physically deformed any critter to keep it in your home. Do not get one. Let it go to a home that will honor the critters god given attributes that keep it safe, happy and not handicapped.

[JillyBeanz]

Not offensive at all Dave - absolutely 100% true!

 

I too am not a cat person - but cannot stand any type of "adjustments" to family pets to make them more acceptably jigsaw like - to fit into the homes of their captors, rather than their captors changing their lifestyles to accommodate their animals.

 

It's quite rightly as you put it and boils down to one crucial word - RESPECT.

 

Karma to you for such a powerful piece (of sense).

[Luvparrots]

I am not a cat person, never have been but two of my children are. Neither have declawed their cats but they have spay and neutered them. Partly because of overpopulation but mostly because they love their pets and when in heat their animal instincts to "cat around" overcomes commonsense. These tame house cats could not survive in the cold hard asphalt jungle of warm engines on a winter morning or speeding trucks and cars. However just in case their cats should want to go on an adventure they do want them to have a chance to survive.<br><br>Post edited by: luvparrots, at: 2009/12/02 23:14

[she]

not offensive to me at all. I could not agree more with you.

I liken de clawing to wing clipping.

When I first got Charlie I had a long talk with my vet about clipping and what changes it makes to a birds lifestyle,health and well being, my vet summed it all very nicely by saying "if you dont want a pet that flies,get a hamster" The same goes for a cat,they have claws and use them to do catty things. Spaying and neutering is totally different and is done for the cats benefit and to prevent hundreds of other cats ending up in shelters or on the streets living wild.<br><br>Post edited by: she, at: 2009/12/02 08:40

[JillyBeanz]

I agree with both Sheila & Pat about spaying - it is for the good of the cat population - you can't control an outdoor cat and their urges

[judygram]

I am a cat person, always have been and have had at least one cat at any given time and I did declaw one cat but never again. I felt so bad afterward about what I had done, no cat should have that done to them and I thought she was going to hate me for it but she didn't.

 

I do spay and neuter my cats for they make nicer pets that way and of course it cuts down on the cat population since there are too many out there in need of homes as it is.

 

Very nice post Dave and you couldn't have said it better, thanks for doing that.

[pearllyn]

An excellent post and I agree 110%.

"I'd like a greyhound but they run so darn fast - shall we just lop a leg off to slow it down a bit?!"

It amounts to the same thing doesn't it!

Ooh some people make me:angry: !