Reply #38: One reason to declaw s to save the cat. [View All]

[davsand]

I know it sounds strange, but I had a rescue cat that had been horribly abused as a kitten. Literally, she came home with me when the people who had her told me the were planning to kill her that weekend.

Tillie(you bitch) was a beautiful medium haired tabby with perfect emerald green eyes. She slept next to me in the bed every night and she would swat at the phone when it rang.

She was also the most vile tempered cat I have ever known. She bit more than one vet and was not allowed to go back to one local vet clinic because the entire staff was afraid of her.

The first year I had that cat with me my arms and hands looked like hamburger. I was a bloody mess more often than not. Tillie would seek attention by attacking. No matter how long you petted her, no matter how much time you spent with her she would attack you. It was a fact of life with her.

I worked with that cat for a year and could never get past the aggression. It had come to the point that either I was going to have to get rid of her or else have her declawed. (Now, remember,I have had cats all my life and I have NEVER had a mean cat until she came to live with me.)

I called the local animal shelter and talked to them. I told them the situation with the cat and that I just couldn't take any more of the aggression. I told them what I'd tried in re-training her behavior and asked if they knew of any alternatives. They told me point blank that they would euthanize her rather than try and adopt her out. She was not a kitten and she was mean--those two factors were going to mean she was killed.

I had her de-clawed. She lived with me for 17 years and was still a mean cat to anyone except my husband or me(and later our daughter.) I loved that cat a great deal and miss her to this day.

I had a cat declawed, and I don't regret the decision. I hated the fact that I had to do it--but it was either that or throw her away-and I will not do that to any animal.

Would I declaw any other cat? Absolutely not. My current cat doesn't even get his claws trimmed except for when he goes to the vet, and he doesn't scratch unless it is an accident. He does have a cat tree that is carpet and sisal wrapped and he uses it.

Call me evil or stupid or cruel if you want to--but I don't think there were an alternatives.



Laura