Cats in surgery today

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message ...
"Steve G" wrote in message
om...
(-L. wrote in message
. com...
(...)

Not really. The life of a cat with declaw issues can be miserable. I
have met many who would have been much better off having been

euthanized.

Many, perhaps - but that's not all. Automatically saying a cat would
be better dead than missing its toes is a bit deranged, really, even
if declawing is a terrible thing. I hope you don't think that human
amputees are better off dead!

Steve.

In my opinion, it really is an extreme (and incorrect stance) to
automatically assume that a cat is better off dead than declawed. In my
opinion, the problem is that it should not be an "either/or" option -- there
is no reason to assume that a cat needs to be either declawed or euthanized.
Instead, why not learn to love a cat for what it is (including claws) and
work on showing a cat how to use scratching posts. After all, would anyone
dare to suggest cutting off the tips of a child's fingers if the child
smeared food on the walls? Of course not!!! Likewise, there is no need to
declaw a cat simply because a person wants nice furniture. Cats can be
trained! Claws can also be trimmed, and some people use alternatives such
as "soft paws" (an alternative that I have never needed because I have found
it remarkably easy to train each of my cats to use scratching posts -- one
simply needs to provide a variety of surfaces and make the posts readily
available to cats by positioning them in various rooms).

MaryL

The truth is, however, that *many* people use the "declaw this cat or
I will put it down" blackmail threat when they approach their vets for
declawing. IME, if the vet is resistant at all, this is usually what
is thrown out as a retort. Sad, but true.

My stance is that a cat that resides in such a home is better off
surrended to a shelter where it gets a chance to be placed in a
loving, permanent home - because if someone is willing to euthanize a
cat for clawing it is unlikely they will be tolerant of other cat
behaviors.

-L.

(Steve G) wrote in message . com...
(-L. wrote in message . com...
(...)

Not really. The life of a cat with declaw issues can be miserable. I
have met many who would have been much better off having been
euthanized.

Many, perhaps - but that's not all. Automatically saying a cat would
be better dead than missing its toes is a bit deranged, really, even
if declawing is a terrible thing. I hope you don't think that human
amputees are better off dead!

Steve.

My brother is a human an and for many, many years he would have
answered that statement with "Yes, I would have been better off dead".
Having seen what he went through, there is no way I could *ever*
advocate declawing (not that I would, anyway, besed on my experience
as a vet tech).

-L.

(Steve G) wrote in message . com...
(-L. wrote in message . com...
(...)

Not really. The life of a cat with declaw issues can be miserable. I
have met many who would have been much better off having been
euthanized.

Many, perhaps - but that's not all. Automatically saying a cat would
be better dead than missing its toes is a bit deranged, really, even
if declawing is a terrible thing. I hope you don't think that human
amputees are better off dead!

Steve.

My brother is a human an and for many, many years he would have
answered that statement with "Yes, I would have been better off dead".
Having seen what he went through, there is no way I could *ever*
advocate declawing (not that I would, anyway, besed on my experience
as a vet tech).

-L.

My stance is that a cat that resides in such a home is better off
surrended to a shelter where it gets a chance to be placed in a
loving, permanent home - because if someone is willing to euthanize a
cat for clawing it is unlikely they will be tolerant of other cat
behaviors.

-L.

That's the way I've always thought. If someone can't tolerate claws, they're
not going to put up with peeing / pooping outside the box, cat hair all over
the place, and all the other things we all here probably just take in stride.
Declaw or Die is so bogus. That's how the vet I use justifies the fact that he
declaws, that he's "saving" them from being dumped in a shelter. He submitted
an article on that very topic to our newsletter, and being the fascist editor
that I am, I wouldn't print it. In retrospect, I should have printed it, then
written a rebuttal. I missed a golden opportunity.
Sherry

My stance is that a cat that resides in such a home is better off
surrended to a shelter where it gets a chance to be placed in a
loving, permanent home - because if someone is willing to euthanize a
cat for clawing it is unlikely they will be tolerant of other cat
behaviors.

-L.

That's the way I've always thought. If someone can't tolerate claws, they're
not going to put up with peeing / pooping outside the box, cat hair all over
the place, and all the other things we all here probably just take in stride.
Declaw or Die is so bogus. That's how the vet I use justifies the fact that he
declaws, that he's "saving" them from being dumped in a shelter. He submitted
an article on that very topic to our newsletter, and being the fascist editor
that I am, I wouldn't print it. In retrospect, I should have printed it, then
written a rebuttal. I missed a golden opportunity.
Sherry

"Sherry " wrote in message
...
My stance is that a cat that resides in such a home is better off
surrended to a shelter where it gets a chance to be placed in a
loving, permanent home - because if someone is willing to euthanize a
cat for clawing it is unlikely they will be tolerant of other cat
behaviors.

-L.

That's the way I've always thought. If someone can't tolerate claws,
they're
not going to put up with peeing / pooping outside the box, cat hair all
over
the place, and all the other things we all here probably just take in
stride.
Declaw or Die is so bogus. That's how the vet I use justifies the fact
that he
declaws, that he's "saving" them from being dumped in a shelter. He
submitted
an article on that very topic to our newsletter, and being the fascist
editor
that I am, I wouldn't print it. In retrospect, I should have printed it,
then
written a rebuttal. I missed a golden opportunity.
Sherry

Gary Landsberg - a self-proclaimed Canadian "behaviorist", uses the declaw
or death/surrender routine all the time and is probably single-handedly
responsible for that attitude in the general population. Here's one of his
more notable statements:

"Perhaps the most startling statistic is that an estimated 50% of all
declawed cats would not have been kept by their owners had they not been
declawed. This means that in the province of Ontario (Canada) alone, where
approximately 100,000 cats are declawed each year, as many as 50,000 cats
would not have had homes if they had not been declawed." (100K declaws/yr. -
that's a lot of money)



Yngver found another statement by Landsberg that said 98% of the people who
had their cats declawed would have kept their cats if they could not be
declawed...



Declawing is similar to the annual vaccination fallacy that needs to exposed
publicly on a national level.

Phil

"Sherry " wrote in message
...
My stance is that a cat that resides in such a home is better off
surrended to a shelter where it gets a chance to be placed in a
loving, permanent home - because if someone is willing to euthanize a
cat for clawing it is unlikely they will be tolerant of other cat
behaviors.

-L.

That's the way I've always thought. If someone can't tolerate claws,
they're
not going to put up with peeing / pooping outside the box, cat hair all
over
the place, and all the other things we all here probably just take in
stride.
Declaw or Die is so bogus. That's how the vet I use justifies the fact
that he
declaws, that he's "saving" them from being dumped in a shelter. He
submitted
an article on that very topic to our newsletter, and being the fascist
editor
that I am, I wouldn't print it. In retrospect, I should have printed it,
then
written a rebuttal. I missed a golden opportunity.
Sherry

Gary Landsberg - a self-proclaimed Canadian "behaviorist", uses the declaw
or death/surrender routine all the time and is probably single-handedly
responsible for that attitude in the general population. Here's one of his
more notable statements:

"Perhaps the most startling statistic is that an estimated 50% of all
declawed cats would not have been kept by their owners had they not been
declawed. This means that in the province of Ontario (Canada) alone, where
approximately 100,000 cats are declawed each year, as many as 50,000 cats
would not have had homes if they had not been declawed." (100K declaws/yr. -
that's a lot of money)



Yngver found another statement by Landsberg that said 98% of the people who
had their cats declawed would have kept their cats if they could not be
declawed...



Declawing is similar to the annual vaccination fallacy that needs to exposed
publicly on a national level.

Phil

(-L. wrote in message . com...
(...)

My brother is a human an and for many, many years he would have
answered that statement with "Yes, I would have been better off dead".

For many years ... but not for his whole life?

Regardless, there are always exceptions, and there are also
exceptional people who do more with missing bits than most people with
the full complement of limbs. Christopher Reeve is an apposite example
at this time (OK, he wasn't actually an amputee). Norman Croucher is
an excellent example, too (http://www.normancroucher.co.uk/index.htm).


Having seen what he went through, there is no way I could *ever*
advocate declawing (not that I would, anyway, besed on my experience
as a vet tech).

Yes, but there's a big difference between disagreeing with declawing
and suggesting that all declawed cats would be better off dead.

S.

(-L. wrote in message . com...
(...)

My brother is a human an and for many, many years he would have
answered that statement with "Yes, I would have been better off dead".

For many years ... but not for his whole life?

Regardless, there are always exceptions, and there are also
exceptional people who do more with missing bits than most people with
the full complement of limbs. Christopher Reeve is an apposite example
at this time (OK, he wasn't actually an amputee). Norman Croucher is
an excellent example, too (http://www.normancroucher.co.uk/index.htm).


Having seen what he went through, there is no way I could *ever*
advocate declawing (not that I would, anyway, besed on my experience
as a vet tech).

Yes, but there's a big difference between disagreeing with declawing
and suggesting that all declawed cats would be better off dead.

S.

(-L. wrote in message . com...
(...)

The truth is, however, that *many* people use the "declaw this cat or
I will put it down" blackmail threat when they approach their vets for
declawing. IME, if the vet is resistant at all, this is usually what
is thrown out as a retort. Sad, but true.

TBH, in these cases I think the vet should be able to say 'Go on then
- they're your morals, and it'll be your guilt', or somesuch.


My stance is that a cat that resides in such a home is better off
surrended to a shelter where it gets a chance to be placed in a
loving, permanent home -

Quite possibly. However, this is a different stance than saying that
declawed cats would be better off dead!

because if someone is willing to euthanize a
cat for clawing it is unlikely they will be tolerant of other cat
behaviors.

Yes.

Steve.