Whatever you do, don't take my finger!
 

Get Fuzzy. Great comic by Darby Conley. I often quote it in my sigs. This week he's been doing a humorous/informational "cat facts" series. This one struck me as kinda odd...a bit of activist ideology conflict if you ask me.



Go ahead an cut it's nuts off, but for heavens sake, don't hurt those little fingers!

I'm all about not de-clawing outdoor cats. That's just cruel and begging for them to get mauled. But an indoor cat? When your argument involves appealing to the "it's mutilation" thing, that doesn't really work when you've got "slice it's balls off" two bullet points up. If it allows a cat a comfortable home and isn't going to adversely affect it, so be it. It's a perfectly safe procedure, just like spaying and neutering.

It just doesn't jive for me.

I wonder if he has had his leather couch ripped to shreds by the family cat.....Just wondering....

For a short period of time, declawing was thought to be humane. And, yes, it was much more "convenient" for us to protect the dear furniture rather than care about the cat. But, thankfully, there is a lot of information about this mis-treatment and there are many vets that will not do this proceedure any longer.

If your furniture is that important to you, don't get a cat. If you do get a cat, provide alternate places where your cat can scratch and keep it claws trimmed. If you cannot handle the responsability of either one of these alternatives, then there is a proceedure that is much less painful that severes the tendon that causes the claws to move in and out.


We seem to do a lot of inhume things when we don't know better. China thought is was OK to bind the feet of women. Well, it's not ok. And people need to stop declawing their cats.

But how is that more inhumane than spaying and neutering?

yah-

Sera was my brothers cat- and he was declawed because my bro and his ex-wfe lived in an apt that required it. I had one cat who was totally declawed for the same reason-

On the fip side- Tumbles, my newest baby, has all his claws- and he has caused some havoc but not much. I would never do that to him- or another cat, and my cats are all indoors.

They are also both neutered-

About as cruel as the surgery that makes it so a dog can't bark!

Plus humans "spay and neuter" themselves too, for equally important reasons. I don't think it's inhumane, even if it involves major surgery, because it's for a genuinely good purpose. <----- spaying and neutering, I mean, not de-clawing.

A dog that can't bark will have some serious socialization issues. An indoor cat's claws do little for it. So the only argument I've seen comes back to the "cruel" surgery which I still haven't figured how it's worse than cutting its nuts off.

For the record, I'm not advocating that everyone should get their cats declawed. I just don't follow the activism against it when there's so much accepted activism for fixing.

I don't agree with Conley in this case- I think that any surgery is a risk to a pet. Just like humans they can react badly to anesthesia- there can be infections, complications and they can die- just like we can, even from minor surgeries.

I would not personally declaw my cats anymore- because I do not find it necessary- but I do not think it worse than neutering-

I don't think I'm being clear am I? LOL- bamboozled sort of day! Sorry!

I do think cutting a dogs vocal cords so it can't bark IS cruel-

You must not be, because it sounds like you're........agreeing with me! :eek:

For males, neutring is very minor surgery. It could easily be done at home without anathesia. You basically just name a small slit in the sac, squeez out the little marble-sized thingie inside and it heals on its own. Easy as pie and not at all disruptive to the cat - but it sure makes him a nicer boy.

Spaying is major surgery and really doesn't need to be done if a cat is indoors. However, your cat will have a mensus about 2x a year and all of the local boys will want to visit her. Having litters will shorten a cat's life plus the cat population does not need to be increased, therefore, spaying and neutering is for the good of cats as a whole species.

I could probably neuter men too if they wanted it. Can't be MUCH more difficult. ;)