I suppose you could put cat, litter box, water and possibly food in an enclosure of sorts.
I’ve had a few cats over the years, and still have one now, and I haven’t had an issue with destruction. I do give them appropriate things to scratch on though, and direct them to said thing.
We had a declawed cat when I was a kid, because my parents just didn’t know any better and the vet didn’t dissuade them or anything.
When we agreed to adopt five barn cats (formerly had zero) the rescue lady that brought them here also brought large wire cages for each one of them with litter boxes inside, a cat box to hide in and food/water bowls that attached to the wires of the cage…so above-ground and not taking up floor-space. They were in there three weeks. I had to go in and clean litter boxes every day and do food and waters twice a day, but we all survived. The cats got locked into our farm very well doing all of that too.
What you are asking is this: is it better to cut off the cat’s fingers to keep it inside, or should we let it out to kill birds instead? Because that is what declawing a cat is - cutting off their fingers. NOT pulling the claws out (not possible) but actually amputating the first joint of the cat’s toes. So I ask you, which is better? If people find cats too destructive, they shouldn’t have cats. Period.
Declaring cats is illegal in several states and many foreign countries
That’s a bit dramatic.
I’ve had two declawed cats, both of whom were rescues and came to me already declawed. Both were happy, healthy, active cats who appeared to suffer absolutely no negative effects from the declawing.
I hope those who are so strongly and emotionally against declawing are equally strong in your feelings against ear and tail cropping in dogs.
And how do you feel about spaying? Spaying is done almost always for the convenience of the pet’s owner. One can contain a dog or a cat that’s in heat.
But it’s such a bother. /s
To be clear, I would never keep an unspayed female dog or cat.
Spaying reduces the risk of mammary cancer. Spaying reduces unwanted puppies. Spaying reduces the risk of entire dogs breaking into your yard and savaging your male dogs to get to a female in heat. Spaying can increase quality of life (I have a mare who would agree). I put both my dogs through elective gastropexies, again to improve the potential for longevity and reduce the risk of a terrible, horrendous death. None of this was for “convenience”, but to improve the quality of life. Also, as both my dogs are purebreds and uncommon AND there is a high demand for cross-bred “designer dogs” using the breed, I also had both desexed to prevent pet theft. Their collars do not say “My name is…”, they say “I am desexed and microchipped”.
That is not “convenience”, that is good pet management and having an animal’s welfare at heart.
The same cannot be said for cropping, docking, or declawing. Dew claws, yes, in individuals where the claws snag and tear. But a tail? Ear flaps? Knuckles? No. My breed was docked for years. I would never - ever - buy from a breeder who supports docking now (moot point as it is illegal here). A long tail is a beautiful thing in all dogs.
I have never seen a dog with cropped ears who looked better than they would with normal ears. I have never had a dog with a docked tail either. So, yes. I do feel the same.
As for a declawed cat, I had a Siamese who had one of his toes removed (essentially a declawing) because of a bad burn from a wood stove. He was often lame on that foot sometimes preferring to go three legged vs running on it.
So cats we have seen who were “just fine” after declawing may well be lame in both front feet.
That’s different than what I’m asking though - I had the same experience as you when we took on 8 ferals at once at my old barn!
I’m interested in the idea that the cat is out and about when you’re home, but gets crate trained and is contained when the owner is away.
FWIW there is some evidence that neutering, particularly immature dogs, in dachshunds is correlated with back issues.
i see no reason why they cannot be crated during the day. I’d have a cozy and a litterbox, food and water… just like in that photo i shared. It sure worked for those cats.
… does anyone actually do it though?
I’d imagine that it would take some serious conditioning and the right kind of cat to get that to be a consistent routine - most cats by day 3 are going to know what’s up and NOPE on out of there.
i have a dog that sleeps in a crate at night (older dog, incontinence) and during the day the cat goes in and spends most of her naptime in there! Willingly, and the crate door is open, but the cat likes it in there. And whenever we have workers in the house, and comings and goings, i will just close the door to the crate. Cat seems none-the-worse when i open it … he usually just continues on napping. Or goes to use his litterbox.
edit: He was a feral. a friendly feral. Came from the backside of the Walmart in Owensville.
Partial docking is done in vizslas since they naturally have long whippy happy tails that can split open, not be able to heal, and eventually need to be amputated. For such dogs, docking the tip at birth would have been better than amputating the tip as an adult.
In many cases docking lands in the “was functional, now aesthetic” bin where it should just fall by the wayside, there are some functions to the practice that still exist.
I have personally known more than 1 boxer who wagged so enthusiastically they fractured their tails and needed amputation.
I really wish we lived in a world where we wouldn’t need laws to ban things like declawing. I do think vets should have latitude to use their judgment. The only declawed cats I have ever known were surrenders at the shelter after their elderly owners passed.
What we at COTH believe is bare minimum welfare for their animals is vastly VASTLY above not only the practices but often the financial reach of the majority of the rest of the world.
I used to be very militantly anti-declaw. These days…would I expect a parent with an immunocompromised child to risk infection from cat scratches? Or an elderly owner who otherwise cherishes their cat to glue Soft Paws on their cat every week, or erect a large indoor/outdoor catio complex to ensure Mittens is never tempted to scratch the furniture?
Now that they cannot declaw, they will simply have to surrender their cats.
Is this preferable?
Same with Dobermans. We didn’t do their ears, but we definitely did their tails. And dewclaws.
I cannot stand ear cropping. 99.9% of the time it’s done for aesthetics. Human preference. Totally unnecessary and illegal in some other civilized countries.
I have a Cane Corso and she has her natural ears. Any Corso I ever have will, aside from one that might be a rescue or something like that.
The Cane Corso typically has cropped ears, a docked tail and hind dew claws removed. I can deal with the last one. I absolutely hate that cropping and docking is the “breed standard” and promoted in the US show ring.
I have a 6 month-ish kitten and did it for 2 weeks. She showed up at my door and I was not prepared to have a kitten indoors (tack room already has two getting ready for spay procedure). I put a litter box and bed and food/water. It actually wasn’t a problem - I let her out all day and in at night.
I decided to keep her and got a room set up to be cat proof so now she is out 24/7. If the crate is big enough to move around and they have somewhere to hide I don’t think it would be traumatizing.
To make this simpler for horse people, declawing REMOVES p3 from each toe in a cat. All weight is then put on p2. Imagine a horse without p3, walking on p2. Then think about why you deserve to own a cat if you cant/won’t handle cat behaviors and think declaring is appropriate. We don’t remove the front teeth of cribbers and wood chewing horses, but wouldn’t that work so much easier and save so much property damage? You’d not have to worry about being kicked out of your boarding barn, and you can just feed soaked mash!
Also, if the pony in the article stuck its tounge out when being ridden, what are the chances that it stuck out its tounge one ride, bit down on it and couldn’t readjust due to the flash/noseband, and developed and unseen crush injury to the tounge that went necrotic? Not defending anyone but I can see a crushed/bitten tounge from the rider strapping the mouth shut to try and keep the tounge in before I see a cartoon villian rider, owner and vet.
Not an exaggeration at all. To declaw a cat. The first joint of each toe is removed. It is horrificly painful. If you don’t know that, do your research. It’s abominable.
Holy $h!t!!! I’ve always been against declawing but I guess didn’t realize the extent to with the de “claw” ing went. I cannot even begin to imagine how painful that must be for the kitty.
Good grief, what is wrong with humans.
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