Declawing A Cat

"-L." wrote in message
oups.com...

Wendy wrote:
They don't want to have to spend any time training the cat nor do they
want
to spend the money on a good scratching post or cat tree. Maybe the cat
tree
doesn't match their decor or something. They never see the problem as
their
problem. The cat is the problem so they have it de-clawed. They bring the
cat home from surgery voilà! problem solved. Instant gratification.

W

Yep. It's pretty much a symptom of our Walmart society. They want
thier stuff NOW, they want it cheap, don't care about quality and they
want it because everybody else has it.

That being said, if you know the person well enough you can usually
talk them out of declawing. My sister was going to declaw two of her
cats - I talked her out of it pretty quick. But she didn't know what
was involved and when I told her she was horrified. But like the OP
said - if they know what it is and still don't care, there isn't much
you can do about it. We once had a Jr. assistant (student) at the vet
office I worked at tell a client to declaw a former feral. I about hit
the roof. Smarmy little bitch looked me in the face and said "Yeah, I
KNOW what it is." I could have slapped her. The head vet tech
eventually told her to quit giving out advice to clients - that it
wasn't her place. Thank god.

-L.

Did you ever find out WHY the Jr. assistant was recommending having the cat
de-clawed? Was she not familiar with alternatives? trying to drum up
business for the vet? Maybe she learned about it from someone who assured
her the cat never notices the loss. Vets who do this surgery have to have
some way to justify themselves.

W

"Niel Humphreys" wrote in
message ...
"Cat Protector" wrote in message
news:XAJhf.28003$4l5.16071@dukeread05...
I think for me the sad part is there was nothing I could really do or
say.
I was cut-off and she told me she didn't want to talk about it. That to
me
said she has probably already heard the side of people like me and didn't
want to hear it. You can't reach people like that so it was hard knowing
that no matter what, they are going to do it anyway. I kind of felt like
a
real failure. The worse part was it was at Thanksgiving dinner which most
people frown on because they don't want to fight and make it unpleasant
for
everyone. Besides you can't talk someone out of declawing their cat if
they
do not care to know the facts or even want to listen.


I'd have just got up and gone home, not after the meal but there and then.
--


I'm sure that would have been helpful.

Cat Protector wrote:
Well when I saw she didn't want to hear it and cut me off short, I just got
up and walked away from the table upset. I could have yelled and screamed
but it would have spoiled it for everyone else. Knowing this cat is getting
declawed on Monday is upsetting but even more is the fact I can't do
anything about it.

Do they live nearby? If so, I would print out some info from some of
the websites and bring it to her house. Does she have email? You
could send some of the pics from www.declawing.com to her. Don't know
if it would help, but I don't think it could hurt.

They actually moved but don't know where there house is. I was told that
their email is down as a result.

--
Cat Galaxy: All Cats! All The Time!
www.catgalaxymedia.com

Panther TEK: Staying On Top Of Your Computer Needs!
www.panthertekit.com
"PawsForThought" wrote in message
oups.com...

Cat Protector wrote:
Well when I saw she didn't want to hear it and cut me off short, I just
got
up and walked away from the table upset. I could have yelled and screamed
but it would have spoiled it for everyone else. Knowing this cat is
getting
declawed on Monday is upsetting but even more is the fact I can't do
anything about it.

Do they live nearby? If so, I would print out some info from some of
the websites and bring it to her house. Does she have email? You
could send some of the pics from www.declawing.com to her. Don't know
if it would help, but I don't think it could hurt.

Wendy wrote:
Did you ever find out WHY the Jr. assistant was recommending having the cat
de-clawed? Was she not familiar with alternatives? trying to drum up
business for the vet? Maybe she learned about it from someone who assured
her the cat never notices the loss. Vets who do this surgery have to have
some way to justify themselves.

W

She was a new hire (to boot!) and all of her cats were declawed. She
was of the mentality that declawing was the way to solve scratching and
aggression problems. The head vet at this practice basically felt the
same way despite all the cats we saw that had post-declaw problems -
arthritis in old age, biting, aggression, etc. He'd just blame it on
something else. This is the same asshole who would bitch at me for
putting "too much" bleach in the wash.

Thank God there was one vet with a conscience (and two that were middle
of the road) or I probably would have quit sooner. It was an
excellent experience, but if I ever do it again, it will not be for a
practice that condones declawing.

-L.