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Question:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > *Big post about cat scratch fever from a bite* > I’m going to go out on a limb here. Perhaps I’m totally off base, but the > idea that you’d declaw your cat because he bit you and you didn’t have the > common sense to clean it is appalling. That person never stated that she did not clean her wound and you are an ass to assume so. Cat bites are dangerous, "cat > scratch fever" or not. I was bitten by my cat; his teeth went almost > through my hand, and out the palm. Within 12 hours my hand was the size of > a volleyball, that AFTER soaking it in peroxide, applying bacitracin and > bandaging it. A quick trip to the emergency room, draining the hand and > $100 worth of antibiotics, i got the use of my hand back in a month.  The > doctor also told me that if i had not gone into the emergency room within > 24 hours I would have probably lost my hand, and would have required a > blood transfusion (due to a heart defect I have).  Folks couldn’t believe > that i didn’t have the cat put to sleep, or declawed or anything! I was > amazed that anyone could even think that of me…it was my fault the cat > bit me, and i take full responsibility! I won’t say I deserved a bite of > that magnitude, but Jack felt so bad about it that he stayed in the > highest kitchen cabinet for three days! > Never ONCE did I consider that i declaw my cat because of it. Never once > did i worry that a scratch would kill me, since any deep scratches are > cleaned, and bandaged, and if the area remains red and warm to the touch, > off to the doctor I go.  I’ve never required any medical attention > (besides from the bite) from my cats. > I have three male cats declawed and deballed the neutering was more of a mutilation than the declawing and I know because I am a vet technician and assisted with both surgeries so until you do this kind of work don’t call it mutilation you don’t know what your talkin about. > Folks come up with some pretty creative ways to justify declawing their > cats, and it seems to me that common sense is one of the best defenses > against having to mutilate the cat. Here’s a primer: > Oh an by the way all three of my cat are very happy. > If the cat scratches your young baby, keep the kid and cat away from > eachother until the kid can respect the cat’s boundaries. > An infant can not respect the cat so what do you suggest putting the baby in a kennel for the cats sake. Or maybe your rich enough to own a sepperate wing in a building to store the child. > If the cat scratches your furniture, put tin foil over it, or put a > scratching post in front of it, or keep your cat away from the furniture > while you keep the furniture cat-scent free (that’s why they go back to > that spot). > If your cat is mean and scratches you for no reason, visit your vet for > help in behavior modification. > How many vets do you know that have a behavior modification for pets. Get real. Obviously you are living in your own little world. > If your cat scratches you because he’s clumsy, keep plenty of neosporin in > the house, and keep your tetnus shots up to date. > Neosporin and tetus shots do not prevent csf or any other infections. > If your cat is mean to your other cat and you worry about the other cat’s > safety, again, visit your vet about behavior modification, and try to keep > them separated when you’re not home. > Like I said what vet has behavior modification other than a tranquilizer. > I think the only time i would not argue against declawing is in the case > of the cat doing harm to HIMSELF with claws, and certainly would exhaust > every other possiblity before i would resort to declawing.  And i mean, > REALLY exhaust, not just put in a token appearence at a behavior > modification office, or buy a squirt bottle and use it once. > Go get your self a job working for a vet and see the surgery done before you act like you know what you are talking about. > My cat had an infected claw and the vet said "well, you can be really > diligent and keep it clean several times a day for a month, or we can just > take that claw out". The choice was obvious. I kept the claw clean, > applied meds, gave pink medicine 2 times a day, and the claw healed. > By the way the pink medication you were giving was amoxicillin 1cc twice daily. Don’t you even know what you are giving your cat. Are you that irresponsible? > Jenna > PS. the worst scratches i’ve ever received were from the BACK claws.

Like I said mine are declawed all the way around they don’t bite and they are very content.

Response:

*Big post about cat scratch fever from a bite* I’m going to go out on a limb here. Perhaps I’m totally off base, but the idea that you’d declaw your cat because he bit you and you didn’t have the common sense to clean it is appalling.  Cat bites are dangerous, "cat scratch fever" or not. I was bitten by my cat; his teeth went almost through my hand, and out the palm. Within 12 hours my hand was the size of a volleyball, that AFTER soaking it in peroxide, applying bacitracin and bandaging it. A quick trip to the emergency room, draining the hand and $100 worth of antibiotics, i got the use of my hand back in a month.  The doctor also told me that if i had not gone into the emergency room within 24 hours I would have probably lost my hand, and would have required a blood transfusion (due to a heart defect I have).  Folks couldn’t believe that i didn’t have the cat put to sleep, or declawed or anything! I was amazed that anyone could even think that of me…it was my fault the cat bit me, and i take full responsibility! I won’t say I deserved a bite of that magnitude, but Jack felt so bad about it that he stayed in the highest kitchen cabinet for three days! Never ONCE did I consider that i declaw my cat because of it. Never once did i worry that a scratch would kill me, since any deep scratches are cleaned, and bandaged, and if the area remains red and warm to the touch, off to the doctor I go.  I’ve never required any medical attention (besides from the bite) from my cats. Folks come up with some pretty creative ways to justify declawing their cats, and it seems to me that common sense is one of the best defenses against having to mutilate the cat. Here’s a primer: If the cat scratches your young baby, keep the kid and cat away from eachother until the kid can respect the cat’s boundaries. If the cat scratches your furniture, put tin foil over it, or put a scratching post in front of it, or keep your cat away from the furniture while you keep the furniture cat-scent free (that’s why they go back to that spot). If your cat is mean and scratches you for no reason, visit your vet for help in behavior modification. If your cat scratches you because he’s clumsy, keep plenty of neosporin in the house, and keep your tetnus shots up to date. If your cat is mean to your other cat and you worry about the other cat’s safety, again, visit your vet about behavior modification, and try to keep them separated when you’re not home. I think the only time i would not argue against declawing is in the case of the cat doing harm to HIMSELF with claws, and certainly would exhaust every other possiblity before i would resort to declawing.  And i mean, REALLY exhaust, not just put in a token appearence at a behavior modification office, or buy a squirt bottle and use it once.   My cat had an infected claw and the vet said "well, you can be really diligent and keep it clean several times a day for a month, or we can just take that claw out". The choice was obvious. I kept the claw clean, applied meds, gave pink medicine 2 times a day, and the claw healed. Jenna PS. the worst scratches i’ve ever received were from the BACK claws.

Response:

I’ve been reading all the various posts on the declaw issue and I just couldn’t resist the urge to include my opinion here! I personally have 5 cats currently, and only one of them is partially declawed. Before anyone flames me for the one that is partially declwed, please let me explain why we made the decision we did. First of all, it has nothing to do with playful attacking behaviors or him ruining our furniture. We accept those things as a part of cat owner ship. Our pine futon couch looks like a war survivor….. but that’s okay. The whole incident started one day when I accidentally stepped on one of my cats paws. As a result he bit me, and I couldn’t really blame him for that. After all he woke up in pain and lashed out, and that seems like a pretty natural thing to me. At the time I didn’t think much of it, but I didn’t know about cat scratch fever back then. In my mind, it had always been some Ted Nugent song and nothing more, until I came down with a case of it myself. Two days later I noticed a tiny bit of infection in the bite so I decided to call my Dr’s office. I wasn’t expecting the reaction I got. The nurse took my information, consulted a doctor and called me back shortly afterwards. She said I was to get to the Dr’s office ASAP!!! She stressed that it was crutial I do this as fast as I could, so I called everyone I could think of until I found a ride. It turns out I had gotten cat scratch fever from my cat, and that can be a VERY serious illness for a human, even fatal! The Doctor kind of scared me when he said if I had waited 24 more hours to call, I would have had to have been hospitalized! Any longer than that, well, we could have been talking leg amputation or worse. He storngly recommended I get rid  of the cat, but they shelter said they euthanize cats like him and I couldn’t find anyone brave enough to take such a cat, so we kept him and searched for other answers. We turned to our vet for help, but he said CSF was harmless to the cat and they had no cure for it. Luckily the Pet Dept. soon came to my rescue again when they did a peice on how to train your cat out of biting. (A form of water gun training was called for, by the way.) Well, after a few months we had trained him not to bite, but I still had those occasional scrathes to worry about. Casey (the cat in question), is a sweet but somewhat clumsy lap cat, and I kept getting scrathes from him trying to jump on me  when I didn’t see him coming; he’d loose his balance and try to regain it by digging in and getting a good hold. This happened fairly regularly, and I was really worried with each scratch I got. The potentials the Dr had mentioned kept floating through my mind – things like death and amputation – and we decided to look into having him declawed. Originally we were going to have all his claws pulled, but when the doctor said back paw declawing is MUCH more painful and sometimes causes mental problems in adult cats, we decided to be as humane as we felt we could and only have his front paws declawed since they were the main culprits anyway. I felt bad about having to do this to the poor little guy,but with the healths risks to me we felt this was the best option we had. I could tell his little paws were pretty sore for a few weeks afterward, though he seems 100% fine now, no worse for the wear! I don’t even think he realizes he has no claws! He’s still trying to sharpen them all the time. He doesn’t favor his front paws at all anymore, and he’s still his playful and friendly self. He no longer jumps up on me anymore (I think it’s just to hard for him to get up here without no claws to dig in), and I almost never get scrathed by him anymore. SO that is my personal experience with declawing for whay’s it’s worth. In short, I am against it in general, but I keep an open mind for those unusal cases like mine. Arielle….

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > *Big post about cat scratch fever from a bite* > I’m going to go out on a limb here. Perhaps I’m totally off base, but the > idea that you’d declaw your cat because he bit you and you didn’t have the > common sense to clean it is appalling. That person never stated that she did not clean her wound and you are an ass to assume so. Cat bites are dangerous, "cat > scratch fever" or not. I was bitten by my cat; his teeth went almost > through my hand, and out the palm. Within 12 hours my hand was the size of > a volleyball, that AFTER soaking it in peroxide, applying bacitracin and > bandaging it. A quick trip to the emergency room, draining the hand and > $100 worth of antibiotics, i got the use of my hand back in a month.  The > doctor also told me that if i had not gone into the emergency room within > 24 hours I would have probably lost my hand, and would have required a > blood transfusion (due to a heart defect I have).  Folks couldn’t believe > that i didn’t have the cat put to sleep, or declawed or anything! I was > amazed that anyone could even think that of me…it was my fault the cat > bit me, and i take full responsibility! I won’t say I deserved a bite of > that magnitude, but Jack felt so bad about it that he stayed in the > highest kitchen cabinet for three days! > Never ONCE did I consider that i declaw my cat because of it. Never once > did i worry that a scratch would kill me, since any deep scratches are > cleaned, and bandaged, and if the area remains red and warm to the touch, > off to the doctor I go.  I’ve never required any medical attention > (besides from the bite) from my cats. > I have three male cats declawed and deballed the neutering was more of a mutilation than the declawing and I know because I am a vet technician and assisted with both surgeries so until you do this kind of work don’t call it mutilation you don’t know what your talkin about. > Folks come up with some pretty creative ways to justify declawing their > cats, and it seems to me that common sense is one of the best defenses > against having to mutilate the cat. Here’s a primer: > Oh an by the way all three of my cat are very happy. > If the cat scratches your young baby, keep the kid and cat away from > eachother until the kid can respect the cat’s boundaries. > An infant can not respect the cat so what do you suggest putting the baby in a kennel for the cats sake. Or maybe your rich enough to own a sepperate wing in a building to store the child. > If the cat scratches your furniture, put tin foil over it, or put a > scratching post in front of it, or keep your cat away from the furniture > while you keep the furniture cat-scent free (that’s why they go back to > that spot). > If your cat is mean and scratches you for no reason, visit your vet for > help in behavior modification. > How many vets do you know that have a behavior modification for pets. Get real. Obviously you are living in your own little world. > If your cat scratches you because he’s clumsy, keep plenty of neosporin in > the house, and keep your tetnus shots up to date. > Neosporin and tetus shots do not prevent csf or any other infections. > If your cat is mean to your other cat and you worry about the other cat’s > safety, again, visit your vet about behavior modification, and try to keep > them separated when you’re not home. > Like I said what vet has behavior modification other than a tranquilizer. > I think the only time i would not argue against declawing is in the case > of the cat doing harm to HIMSELF with claws, and certainly would exhaust > every other possiblity before i would resort to declawing.  And i mean, > REALLY exhaust, not just put in a token appearence at a behavior > modification office, or buy a squirt bottle and use it once. > Go get your self a job working for a vet and see the surgery done before you act like you know what you are talking about. > My cat had an infected claw and the vet said "well, you can be really > diligent and keep it clean several times a day for a month, or we can just > take that claw out". The choice was obvious. I kept the claw clean, > applied meds, gave pink medicine 2 times a day, and the claw healed. > By the way the pink medication you were giving was amoxicillin 1cc twice daily. Don’t you even know what you are giving your cat. Are you that irresponsible? > Jenna > PS. the worst scratches i’ve ever received were from the BACK claws.

Like I said mine are declawed all the way around they don’t bite and they are very content.

Response:

*Big post about cat scratch fever from a bite* I’m going to go out on a limb here. Perhaps I’m totally off base, but the idea that you’d declaw your cat because he bit you and you didn’t have the common sense to clean it is appalling.  Cat bites are dangerous, "cat scratch fever" or not. I was bitten by my cat; his teeth went almost through my hand, and out the palm. Within 12 hours my hand was the size of a volleyball, that AFTER soaking it in peroxide, applying bacitracin and bandaging it. A quick trip to the emergency room, draining the hand and $100 worth of antibiotics, i got the use of my hand back in a month.  The doctor also told me that if i had not gone into the emergency room within 24 hours I would have probably lost my hand, and would have required a blood transfusion (due to a heart defect I have).  Folks couldn’t believe that i didn’t have the cat put to sleep, or declawed or anything! I was amazed that anyone could even think that of me…it was my fault the cat bit me, and i take full responsibility! I won’t say I deserved a bite of that magnitude, but Jack felt so bad about it that he stayed in the highest kitchen cabinet for three days! Never ONCE did I consider that i declaw my cat because of it. Never once did i worry that a scratch would kill me, since any deep scratches are cleaned, and bandaged, and if the area remains red and warm to the touch, off to the doctor I go.  I’ve never required any medical attention (besides from the bite) from my cats. Folks come up with some pretty creative ways to justify declawing their cats, and it seems to me that common sense is one of the best defenses against having to mutilate the cat. Here’s a primer: If the cat scratches your young baby, keep the kid and cat away from eachother until the kid can respect the cat’s boundaries. If the cat scratches your furniture, put tin foil over it, or put a scratching post in front of it, or keep your cat away from the furniture while you keep the furniture cat-scent free (that’s why they go back to that spot). If your cat is mean and scratches you for no reason, visit your vet for help in behavior modification. If your cat scratches you because he’s clumsy, keep plenty of neosporin in the house, and keep your tetnus shots up to date. If your cat is mean to your other cat and you worry about the other cat’s safety, again, visit your vet about behavior modification, and try to keep them separated when you’re not home. I think the only time i would not argue against declawing is in the case of the cat doing harm to HIMSELF with claws, and certainly would exhaust every other possiblity before i would resort to declawing.  And i mean, REALLY exhaust, not just put in a token appearence at a behavior modification office, or buy a squirt bottle and use it once.   My cat had an infected claw and the vet said "well, you can be really diligent and keep it clean several times a day for a month, or we can just take that claw out". The choice was obvious. I kept the claw clean, applied meds, gave pink medicine 2 times a day, and the claw healed. Jenna PS. the worst scratches i’ve ever received were from the BACK claws.

Response:

I’ve been reading all the various posts on the declaw issue and I just couldn’t resist the urge to include my opinion here! I personally have 5 cats currently, and only one of them is partially declawed. Before anyone flames me for the one that is partially declwed, please let me explain why we made the decision we did. First of all, it has nothing to do with playful attacking behaviors or him ruining our furniture. We accept those things as a part of cat owner ship. Our pine futon couch looks like a war survivor….. but that’s okay. The whole incident started one day when I accidentally stepped on one of my cats paws. As a result he bit me, and I couldn’t really blame him for that. After all he woke up in pain and lashed out, and that seems like a pretty natural thing to me. At the time I didn’t think much of it, but I didn’t know about cat scratch fever back then. In my mind, it had always been some Ted Nugent song and nothing more, until I came down with a case of it myself. Two days later I noticed a tiny bit of infection in the bite so I decided to call my Dr’s office. I wasn’t expecting the reaction I got. The nurse took my information, consulted a doctor and called me back shortly afterwards. She said I was to get to the Dr’s office ASAP!!! She stressed that it was crutial I do this as fast as I could, so I called everyone I could think of until I found a ride. It turns out I had gotten cat scratch fever from my cat, and that can be a VERY serious illness for a human, even fatal! The Doctor kind of scared me when he said if I had waited 24 more hours to call, I would have had to have been hospitalized! Any longer than that, well, we could have been talking leg amputation or worse. He storngly recommended I get rid  of the cat, but they shelter said they euthanize cats like him and I couldn’t find anyone brave enough to take such a cat, so we kept him and searched for other answers. We turned to our vet for help, but he said CSF was harmless to the cat and they had no cure for it. Luckily the Pet Dept. soon came to my rescue again when they did a peice on how to train your cat out of biting. (A form of water gun training was called for, by the way.) Well, after a few months we had trained him not to bite, but I still had those occasional scrathes to worry about. Casey (the cat in question), is a sweet but somewhat clumsy lap cat, and I kept getting scrathes from him trying to jump on me  when I didn’t see him coming; he’d loose his balance and try to regain it by digging in and getting a good hold. This happened fairly regularly, and I was really worried with each scratch I got. The potentials the Dr had mentioned kept floating through my mind – things like death and amputation – and we decided to look into having him declawed. Originally we were going to have all his claws pulled, but when the doctor said back paw declawing is MUCH more painful and sometimes causes mental problems in adult cats, we decided to be as humane as we felt we could and only have his front paws declawed since they were the main culprits anyway. I felt bad about having to do this to the poor little guy,but with the healths risks to me we felt this was the best option we had. I could tell his little paws were pretty sore for a few weeks afterward, though he seems 100% fine now, no worse for the wear! I don’t even think he realizes he has no claws! He’s still trying to sharpen them all the time. He doesn’t favor his front paws at all anymore, and he’s still his playful and friendly self. He no longer jumps up on me anymore (I think it’s just to hard for him to get up here without no claws to dig in), and I almost never get scrathed by him anymore. SO that is my personal experience with declawing for whay’s it’s worth. In short, I am against it in general, but I keep an open mind for those unusal cases like mine. Arielle….

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > *Big post about cat scratch fever from a bite* > I’m going to go out on a limb here. Perhaps I’m totally off base, but the > idea that you’d declaw your cat because he bit you and you didn’t have the > common sense to clean it is appalling. That person never stated that she did not clean her wound and you are an ass to assume so. Cat bites are dangerous, "cat > scratch fever" or not. I was bitten by my cat; his teeth went almost > through my hand, and out the palm. Within 12 hours my hand was the size of > a volleyball, that AFTER soaking it in peroxide, applying bacitracin and > bandaging it. A quick trip to the emergency room, draining the hand and > $100 worth of antibiotics, i got the use of my hand back in a month.  The > doctor also told me that if i had not gone into the emergency room within > 24 hours I would have probably lost my hand, and would have required a > blood transfusion (due to a heart defect I have).  Folks couldn’t believe > that i didn’t have the cat put to sleep, or declawed or anything! I was > amazed that anyone could even think that of me…it was my fault the cat > bit me, and i take full responsibility! I won’t say I deserved a bite of > that magnitude, but Jack felt so bad about it that he stayed in the > highest kitchen cabinet for three days! > Never ONCE did I consider that i declaw my cat because of it. Never once > did i worry that a scratch would kill me, since any deep scratches are > cleaned, and bandaged, and if the area remains red and warm to the touch, > off to the doctor I go.  I’ve never required any medical attention > (besides from the bite) from my cats. > I have three male cats declawed and deballed the neutering was more of a mutilation than the declawing and I know because I am a vet technician and assisted with both surgeries so until you do this kind of work don’t call it mutilation you don’t know what your talkin about. > Folks come up with some pretty creative ways to justify declawing their > cats, and it seems to me that common sense is one of the best defenses > against having to mutilate the cat. Here’s a primer: > Oh an by the way all three of my cat are very happy. > If the cat scratches your young baby, keep the kid and cat away from > eachother until the kid can respect the cat’s boundaries. > An infant can not respect the cat so what do you suggest putting the baby in a kennel for the cats sake. Or maybe your rich enough to own a sepperate wing in a building to store the child. > If the cat scratches your furniture, put tin foil over it, or put a > scratching post in front of it, or keep your cat away from the furniture > while you keep the furniture cat-scent free (that’s why they go back to > that spot). > If your cat is mean and scratches you for no reason, visit your vet for > help in behavior modification. > How many vets do you know that have a behavior modification for pets. Get real. Obviously you are living in your own little world. > If your cat scratches you because he’s clumsy, keep plenty of neosporin in > the house, and keep your tetnus shots up to date. > Neosporin and tetus shots do not prevent csf or any other infections. > If your cat is mean to your other cat and you worry about the other cat’s > safety, again, visit your vet about behavior modification, and try to keep > them separated when you’re not home. > Like I said what vet has behavior modification other than a tranquilizer. > I think the only time i would not argue against declawing is in the case > of the cat doing harm to HIMSELF with claws, and certainly would exhaust > every other possiblity before i would resort to declawing.  And i mean, > REALLY exhaust, not just put in a token appearence at a behavior > modification office, or buy a squirt bottle and use it once. > Go get your self a job working for a vet and see the surgery done before you act like you know what you are talking about. > My cat had an infected claw and the vet said "well, you can be really > diligent and keep it clean several times a day for a month, or we can just > take that claw out". The choice was obvious. I kept the claw clean, > applied meds, gave pink medicine 2 times a day, and the claw healed. > By the way the pink medication you were giving was amoxicillin 1cc twice daily. Don’t you even know what you are giving your cat. Are you that irresponsible? > Jenna > PS. the worst scratches i’ve ever received were from the BACK claws.

Like I said mine are declawed all the way around they don’t bite and they are very content.

Response:

*Big post about cat scratch fever from a bite* I’m going to go out on a limb here. Perhaps I’m totally off base, but the idea that you’d declaw your cat because he bit you and you didn’t have the common sense to clean it is appalling.  Cat bites are dangerous, "cat scratch fever" or not. I was bitten by my cat; his teeth went almost through my hand, and out the palm. Within 12 hours my hand was the size of a volleyball, that AFTER soaking it in peroxide, applying bacitracin and bandaging it. A quick trip to the emergency room, draining the hand and $100 worth of antibiotics, i got the use of my hand back in a month.  The doctor also told me that if i had not gone into the emergency room within 24 hours I would have probably lost my hand, and would have required a blood transfusion (due to a heart defect I have).  Folks couldn’t believe that i didn’t have the cat put to sleep, or declawed or anything! I was amazed that anyone could even think that of me…it was my fault the cat bit me, and i take full responsibility! I won’t say I deserved a bite of that magnitude, but Jack felt so bad about it that he stayed in the highest kitchen cabinet for three days! Never ONCE did I consider that i declaw my cat because of it. Never once did i worry that a scratch would kill me, since any deep scratches are cleaned, and bandaged, and if the area remains red and warm to the touch, off to the doctor I go.  I’ve never required any medical attention (besides from the bite) from my cats. Folks come up with some pretty creative ways to justify declawing their cats, and it seems to me that common sense is one of the best defenses against having to mutilate the cat. Here’s a primer: If the cat scratches your young baby, keep the kid and cat away from eachother until the kid can respect the cat’s boundaries. If the cat scratches your furniture, put tin foil over it, or put a scratching post in front of it, or keep your cat away from the furniture while you keep the furniture cat-scent free (that’s why they go back to that spot). If your cat is mean and scratches you for no reason, visit your vet for help in behavior modification. If your cat scratches you because he’s clumsy, keep plenty of neosporin in the house, and keep your tetnus shots up to date. If your cat is mean to your other cat and you worry about the other cat’s safety, again, visit your vet about behavior modification, and try to keep them separated when you’re not home. I think the only time i would not argue against declawing is in the case of the cat doing harm to HIMSELF with claws, and certainly would exhaust every other possiblity before i would resort to declawing.  And i mean, REALLY exhaust, not just put in a token appearence at a behavior modification office, or buy a squirt bottle and use it once.   My cat had an infected claw and the vet said "well, you can be really diligent and keep it clean several times a day for a month, or we can just take that claw out". The choice was obvious. I kept the claw clean, applied meds, gave pink medicine 2 times a day, and the claw healed. Jenna PS. the worst scratches i’ve ever received were from the BACK claws.

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I’ve been reading all the various posts on the declaw issue and I just couldn’t resist the urge to include my opinion here! I personally have 5 cats currently, and only one of them is partially declawed. Before anyone flames me for the one that is partially declwed, please let me explain why we made the decision we did. First of all, it has nothing to do with playful attacking behaviors or him ruining our furniture. We accept those things as a part of cat owner ship. Our pine futon couch looks like a war survivor….. but that’s okay. The whole incident started one day when I accidentally stepped on one of my cats paws. As a result he bit me, and I couldn’t really blame him for that. After all he woke up in pain and lashed out, and that seems like a pretty natural thing to me. At the time I didn’t think much of it, but I didn’t know about cat scratch fever back then. In my mind, it had always been some Ted Nugent song and nothing more, until I came down with a case of it myself. Two days later I noticed a tiny bit of infection in the bite so I decided to call my Dr’s office. I wasn’t expecting the reaction I got. The nurse took my information, consulted a doctor and called me back shortly afterwards. She said I was to get to the Dr’s office ASAP!!! She stressed that it was crutial I do this as fast as I could, so I called everyone I could think of until I found a ride. It turns out I had gotten cat scratch fever from my cat, and that can be a VERY serious illness for a human, even fatal! The Doctor kind of scared me when he said if I had waited 24 more hours to call, I would have had to have been hospitalized! Any longer than that, well, we could have been talking leg amputation or worse. He storngly recommended I get rid  of the cat, but they shelter said they euthanize cats like him and I couldn’t find anyone brave enough to take such a cat, so we kept him and searched for other answers. We turned to our vet for help, but he said CSF was harmless to the cat and they had no cure for it. Luckily the Pet Dept. soon came to my rescue again when they did a peice on how to train your cat out of biting. (A form of water gun training was called for, by the way.) Well, after a few months we had trained him not to bite, but I still had those occasional scrathes to worry about. Casey (the cat in question), is a sweet but somewhat clumsy lap cat, and I kept getting scrathes from him trying to jump on me  when I didn’t see him coming; he’d loose his balance and try to regain it by digging in and getting a good hold. This happened fairly regularly, and I was really worried with each scratch I got. The potentials the Dr had mentioned kept floating through my mind – things like death and amputation – and we decided to look into having him declawed. Originally we were going to have all his claws pulled, but when the doctor said back paw declawing is MUCH more painful and sometimes causes mental problems in adult cats, we decided to be as humane as we felt we could and only have his front paws declawed since they were the main culprits anyway. I felt bad about having to do this to the poor little guy,but with the healths risks to me we felt this was the best option we had. I could tell his little paws were pretty sore for a few weeks afterward, though he seems 100% fine now, no worse for the wear! I don’t even think he realizes he has no claws! He’s still trying to sharpen them all the time. He doesn’t favor his front paws at all anymore, and he’s still his playful and friendly self. He no longer jumps up on me anymore (I think it’s just to hard for him to get up here without no claws to dig in), and I almost never get scrathed by him anymore. SO that is my personal experience with declawing for whay’s it’s worth. In short, I am against it in general, but I keep an open mind for those unusal cases like mine. Arielle….

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