Hi Mitch,
I'm not quite sure what the problem is . Do you mean to keep her
inside 24/7?. There's no need to do that . If she wants to come in and
out , let her. You can train her to use a scratching post but she will
also scratch outside.
Alison


wrote in message
...
Well, I posted here many months ago regarding a stray that we
decided
to spay and keep. She turned into a beautiful cat with a nice shiny
coat.

She's still outside, and she sleeps on the deck in a nice little
shingled house that I built for her. She's a good mouser, and we
live
next to a cornfield, o she get alot of hunting in.

People keep telling me I should just make the leap and bring her
into
the house.

I had always just assumed that declawing was a "normal" part of
owning
an indoor cat. I'm glad a sifted through the many posts and
opinions.
I didn't realize that so many people consider it to be a horrible
mutilation. I was also interested to read the data regarding the
effect on behavior (soiling, etc.)

Now I'm not sure what to do. I absolutely will not tolerate
destruction of our carpet or furniture. We already raised two
babies
that vomited on or marked with markers everything we own. We
finally
have a nice house now, and I won't stand by and watch a cat shred
it.

Should we try to find her another home?
We tried before, and failed.