Declawing and fixing

[Enigmatic.eyez]

General rule do thumb most vets tell you to fix at six months of age. Will this hurt the kittens growth or anything else? I want a pet not a breeding cat.

Also opinions on declawing?


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[WitchyWoman]

Early or later spay/neutering -- there's no evidence that either are harmful. There is evidence that early spay/neutering allows for larger growth (a bigger cat). You can search the forum for more info about this.

There are two divisive arguments to the declaw debate -- one argument is that it's ok and doesn't harm the cat; the other is that it is inhumane and causes physical and behavioral issues in the long term. There is no compromise usually seen between the two arguments. You'll have to do your own research and make up your own mind.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Fixing does not hurt growth of males or females. Opinions on what age to spay/neuter has changed with the times, some vets advise earlier than that.

I would never declaw a cat. I know that there might be some rare situations where it is a decent choice for those people (I've read many many arguments about this subject), but I have lived with F1 through F5s for 13 years and never felt it necessary. To me it is a barbaric and unnecessary procedure. My vet hospital will NOT do it.

 

[Pam and Will]

For the fixing, we're doing the about 6 months old for Stilgar, coming soon...

For declawing when we first started doing our research on SV's we considered the option and after reading and viewing what the procedure was we decided against it. Not worth the risk... and frankly our boys love to climb the poles I've put up for them. Which then brings up the subject... we've never had a problem with them clawing the leather couch, or bed or... anything besides some old kitchen chairs cause those feel the same as the sisal scratchers we have around the house. So my advice if furniture scratching is what the concern is provide better alternatives.

Those kong or other scratchers you find at Petco or other shops just won't cut it in my opinion. Get or make some large scratchers. There are some 3ft ones out there that will work too. The bigger the better, my guys love to stretch out full length on them and .. Leto can probably get up over 3.5 feet easy and dig his claws into the pole.

Just do some digging around and you can find stuff out there. With other/better things to scratch hopefully your furniture will be safe.

 

[SV Dad]

FWIW, Long ago we declawed. Not now. I love watching the cats climb up the sisal columns. It is very easy to train them with simple praise, especially as kittens. Should they ever get out, they still retain a basic form of defense. I agree with the others, it's quite a divisive argument.

 

[NikkiA]

We have three boys. F5 Diablo was neutered at 3 1/2 months, F3 Jarvis was neutered at 6 months, and F4 Mickey was neutered at 12 weeks.

All three of them have their claws. They all tolerate weekly manicures, two of the three will lay in my lap and purr while I clip their nails, and the third, our F3 Jarvis who arrived unwilling to let us so much as touch his paws, now whines, and glares at me, but doesn't struggle. Jarvis will be 2 in February.
Jarvis was a scratcher as a kitten. He would use his claws in a way I thought was aggressive. I thought he was trying to get his way, it turned out he was scared. Once we removed fear from the equation, we removed all offensive use of claws. My 3 year old niece can drag him around by the head, and he doesn't like it, but he doesn't scratch her and he never has. I only get scratched when he is straight up terrified (ie I pick him up and the refrigerator delivery man drops- and I do mean drops the fridge). It has been a very long time since he has intentionally scratched anyone.

He does on the other hand scratch the couch. For a time Mike would reward him for scratching the couch by picking up a toy to "distract" him with play (in reality Jarvis trained Mike to play). We are still working on breaking that one, but now that Mike has come around to the idea that Jarvis was training him, and stopped allowing it to happen, it has improved.

 

[cbain]

All our cats have been fixed so they won't spray to mark their territory . We don't cut the toes off our cats and never will, we bought different scratching posts to find what our cats like and they use them. If cat ever gets outside it will have no defence against a aggressive dog.

 

[Kristin]

My girl was spayed before 12 weeks, which I am quite happy with. Less stress for me, and she is a beautiful girl, although not completely full grown yet.

As for declaw, as Deb said, do your research and make up your own mind. My personal experience is that we declawed my DSH as he was a very aggressive kitten. I would NEVER do it again. There are many alternative routes to take for inappropriate scratching, and declawing can create emotional trauma, as well as long lasting physical trauma.

My savannah is a perfect lady with her nails, and only scratches her cat tree. With coaxing and the proper scratching outlets, you shouldn't have a need to declaw.

 

[jungle boy]

We here at the Jungleboy home do not declaw ( amputate toes at the first digit )
We believe if your furniture is that important to you or is really expensive we feel you should not get a cat
We love how they can climb or practically fly up vertical surfaces with those claws
We love how when they are falling off the couch or cat tree they can just hook on and "save" themselves
We don't want to cause them pain and suffering
We love to see them have so much fun with those things!
We know that claws and toes are a very important part of their anatomy
We wish people would just not get a cat if they plan on the amputation surgery
We feel it is cruel, barbaric and selfish
We love to watch them climb the cat trees and swing from the carpeted shelves like friggin' monkeys!
We love how they pick up and "steal"small objects with those things
We know it can hurt them psychologically AND physically
We know that these poor innocent souls depend on US to do right by them
We can't bear to see them wake up post surgery missing body parts and looking at us like what happened?
We want complete "whole" cats, not just the parts that we like or are convenient
We know that posts like this will make pro-declaw or neutral minded people uncomfortable
We don't want them to hate on us and think that we are closed minded
We also know that these babies have no voice to speak up for themselves so WE must!
We know we must push on whether people start hating on us or not BECAUSE it is the right thing to do
We wish declawing was illegal

I could go on and on, and maybe later I will, but I gotta get to the gym, LOL!

 

[Dantes]

"Make up your own mind"? Seriously? I can't believe people on this forum are saying that.

Declawing causes all sorts of behavioral problems, mental problems, litterbox problems, and is a disgusting and prehistoric practice. Not to mention illegal in many countries.

If you're not willing to amputate your own fingers at the first knuckle, you should not do it to your pets animal family.

If your furniture and belongings are more important to you than your pets, you should not have pets. animal family.

You can have nice furniture and not declaw your cats, you just have to be willing to put in the time and patience to train them. If you're not willing to put in the time to train them, why have cats at all?