I see the last post got axed after I tried to reply... I'm assuming because of the non target post. However wanted to give a viewpoint /additional info from a vet. If you feel this post is still inappropriate I understand.

So as far as the declaw goes, Yes you remove the last bone in each paw. Yes it is likely a painful procedure for a cat. Hopefully most veterinarians are using pain control to manage this. I do believe animals perceive pain differently than people do. Kittens undoubtedly handle it a lot better than older cats. However even older cats often go home after a day with little to no signs of pain. I hear regularly about people that have tried scratch posts different toys pheromones etc of all kinds to get them to stop. I currently work with a technician that used to be on the absolutely no declaws ever crowd as the above alternate therapies and scratching posts always worked for her. One of her last cats she adopted none of the above worked and the cat wrecked furniture cabinets carpets etc. She did have that cat declawed as otherwise it would have had to be an outside cat and Likely no place would want such a cat. Reality of it is is that sometimes declaw is the difference between cats having a home and not/ being put down. Maybe not in the original situation. There are plenty of veterinarians that don't feel comfortable doing them and I respect that 100%. For the above reasons however I think it's reasonable. All that being said If you think there could be a chance you do it the future I'd prefer to do it as a veterinarian when they are younger rather than older.
Now as far as complications go I have been lucky enough at this point in my early career to not have any postoperative complications with the declaws I have performed. I have heard of many horror stories. Some of which come from poor communication about post operative home care or most of which is failure on the owner's part to comply with take home care. I had a colleague that quit doing them for the latter of those two reasons. As far as perioperative complications these are much more rare, but it happens to nearly all veterinarians at some point in their career. Some are minor some can be as complicated as death. Yes these thingss can even happen on a spay / neuter.
Personally I'm not a big cat person. We have farm cats so for me a declawed cat is basically worthless as they shouldn't be outside.

I dumped the last thread because of ignorant comments. Not because of the subject.

Ok, I’ll post again. We had a stray come up about 10 years ago. On two separate occasions it was attempted to get rid of said stray. When the stray showed back up a third time, compassion took over and I named it. It got spayed and declawed. It lives inside during the day and outside at night. She’s as harmless to prey as anything I’ve ever seen. She will however bite the fool out of you for disturbing her nap. My oldest son and her have the best relationship even to this day. He walks in and she bites him then sits in his lap to sleep.
Never once has she shown any discomfort with not having front claws. She still has her back claws for defensive purposes. I’ve seen her sunning outside and a pigeon landed beside her and she rolled over and hissed at it and went back to sleep. The pigeon ate food all around her and neither cared. Don’t know if the spaying or declawing took out her prey drive or not.

Being you brought up biting. Yes cats can still use this as defense. I'm glad your cat is usually gentle.
Some people want their cat declawed strictly due to aggressiveness I don't reccomend that as often aggressive cats resort to biting which cat bites can be serious medically for people.

My wife has outside cats I have one that winters in my fur shed they eat my carcasses for me so they have a usefulness to the place. They are not big hunters no need to be, a few catch bullheads behind the house.

We don’t want any more cats but if sick or injured they get cared for if they die they die that’s life.

Thanks for the informative post ccoyote. I've got a house cat that's declawed and it stays inside unless it escapes out and then is rounded up as soon as possible. It usually doesn't take long thankfully. We love our pets.

For those that don't like cats so be it. I never thought I would have one but it came here as a 7 month old kitten and never left other than me taking it to the vet to see what to do with it. They recognized it as it was adopted out from that vet clinic to an idiot and that person dumped it. He's our buddy and the dog and him get along great.

There seemed to be quite a disconnect with a pet cat and a feral cat on the last post, quite disturbing and extremely stupid.

Thanks for taking control of the stupidity White.. and I appreciate the thought-out helpful comments.

Declawing is for wimps.

Let me clarify biting...she just grabs ahold of you. In fact, we joke about the time she went a couple of weeks without biting anyone and we got concerned and took her to the vet, lol. For the record, I hate cats. This one just earned her life she has now.

The one reason I like the one cat that I winter in the fur shed is it comes if you call it by name. LOL This year he has a buddy a runt that would not see spring living outside. So ya I don’t like all cats but I do like a few.

I hate cats, but have had a few that stayed at our house that I wouldn't have traded for a nice shotgun.
Hard to explain it.

I don't mind cats that stay indoors and don't decimate native fauna.



My ex got this guy for our daughter last year while we were still together, then after the split she moved into an apartment that doesn't allow cats. So I either had to take him in or he had to be rehomed. I just couldn't bring myself to do that to my daughter, she loves this cat. He's got all his claws, just trim them when they get sharp and he doesn't scratch on anything he's not supposed to. Works over his scratching post pretty good though.

We have two cats. Neutered but not declawed. They will come to me like dogs when I whistle. They go outside some in the day. Kill a few birds. Not as many as I killed with my BB gun when i was in grade school though. Seem to have plenty of birds around still. They kill a lot of moles, a few mice. Rabbit every year or so. I like them.