[FEL-L] no preference

[Sabira Woolley]

I am generally against declawing felines, unless it is in a situation  
where it is deemed truly necessary. I do not believe I can make a  
blanket rule for others about what makes it necessary. I do believe  
we can all educate one another and help better decisions to be made.

Here is a question - In the case of big cats, can the claw removal  
procedure be done in which they remove the claw without removing the  
bone?

An informative and respected cattery website that lists 3 ways to do  
declawing, only approves of this method -

Claw Removal:  Involves making a tiny incision in each toe and  
removing the claw ONLY.  Recovery is speedy and although there is a  
small risk of the claw growing back, this is more common in animals  
with very thick claws and is not frequently observed in cats.

When this topic came up before on another list, I spoke with my  
mother (a lifelong animal lover and raiser) about it. She grew up in  
Europe. She insists claw removal without removing the joint was  
routinely done there at that time, and in the US it was either  
discontinued or not done due to laziness i.e. unwillingness to put  
the time in and develop the skill. She said no one she knew back then  
would have considered the removal of the bone.

This conversation was about a year ago, and at the time, I could find  
all 3 methods of removing claws by doing internet searches - the  
removal of the first digit (with or without lasers), the cutting of  
the tendon, and this method in which only the claw itself is removed  
(which seems to me to be much preferable). When I searched today, I  
found no mention of the "claw removal" method, only scads of sites  
talking about the other two. I am puzzled by this.

Sabira

On Aug 7, 2006, at 9:04 PM, ben willis wrote:

>
> This thread is following exactly the same pattern as
> it always does on the subject of de-clawing. A few
> members will describe the horrors of the practice
> while others cite their own examples of successful
> de-claws. At some point someone will make the absurd
> comparison of de-clawing to neutering.
> What won't happen is someone expressing remorse in
> having their own cat de-clawed. We will only hear the
> success stories and those who attribute the bad ones
> to bad veterinarians.
>
> If we take the absolute best cases of de-clawing, the
> cat becomes less harmful, it might receive more human
> attention, and the furniture gets less damage. There
> may be other positive aspects from the human
> perspective but nothing for the cat.
>
> On the adverse side, botched operations cause
> immeasurable suffering and we have no statistics for
> the numbers. In the best of cases, a claw-less cat may
> be subjected to a horrible death in the event of an
> escape or an ignorant owner allowing it to roam
> freely.
> In other cases, cats are injured from falls while
> trying to climb.
>
> If anyone has a de-clawed cat and have been satisfied
> with the result, it's good to hear. The question is,
> does the convenience and positive aspects of
> de-clawing
> out-weigh all the negatives which are inevitable as
> long as the practice remains legal.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- IMABEASTMASTER at aol.com wrote:
>
>>
>> In a message dated 8/7/2006 4:49:49 P.M. Central
>> Daylight Time,
>> tiger1 at tigerlink.org writes:
>>
>> No  offense meant but I am so tired of seeing big
>> cats suffer for  this.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> all my cats were declawed, either inherited or by my
>>  choice ,  aint none of
>> em ever suffered...   please ...   what kind of cats
>> have you been around that
>> looks  like they are suffering ?
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>
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