Declawing?

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2004
Declawing?
5
Tue, 11-23-2004 - 7:45am

Twice over the past month when I've been in our local Petsmart I have run into a situation that I really don't know what to do about. In both situations I over heard people talking about declawing other people's cats. The first time it was a boyfriend / girlfriend couple. He was getting a cat and made the comment about needing to go get a scratching post. His girlfriend said "What, you aren't just going to get the thing declawed?" He just looked at her and walked away to the scratching post area. (I think he had it under control).

The second time it upset me more. A woman was looking at some products and asked a sale clerk to bring a vet or vet tech out to help her pick a product out to stop her cat from scratching her Persian rug. The clerk went and got a person from the grooming department who told the lady that if she wanted to save her rug she should just have her cat declawed. That it wouldn't hurt her cat at all. The woman asked the groomer if she had any cats and the groomer said no, just dogs. They both knew I was listening in on their conversation. Rude, I know, but how could an employee every make the recommendation that a cat should 'just be declawed' really upset me.

What would you recommend doing in this situation?

 

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-04-2003
In reply to: boone37
Tue, 11-23-2004 - 8:31am
I WOULD TELL THE PERSON HOW THEY DECLAW AND ASK THEM IF THEY WOULD LIKE HAVEING IT DONE TO THERE TOES. SOME DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY DO TO REMOVE CLAWS THERE SO MANY THINGS THAT A CAT OWNER CAN DO WITH REMOVEING CLAWS. JOANN
Avatar for cl_lcni
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
In reply to: boone37
Tue, 11-23-2004 - 10:20am

Hi Boone37.


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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2004
In reply to: boone37
Tue, 11-23-2004 - 1:42pm
I do have cats. I have two. Both are about 6 years old. My female, Essence, is a calico and my little baby girl. My male, Foppa, is my buddy and he is a long haired orange.

 

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Avatar for cl_lcni
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
In reply to: boone37
Tue, 11-23-2004 - 5:02pm

Thanks for telling us a little about your kitties.


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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2003
In reply to: boone37
Tue, 11-23-2004 - 10:13pm
Ooo... tough situation. I'm taking it that you were just in the store at the moment the comments were made? I volunteer for a cat rescue and one of our critical points of adoption is that the cats are to NEVER be declawed. I'm used to giving people a curteous and informative description on what declaw actually entails. I think the problem is that declaw is so common here in the states that nobody stops to question it: they assume it is just something to do. Thank God someonbody told me right beofre I had Allen done, because I had his appointment all set to have him declawed and backed out the day I dropped him off. I think that if you approach the person who asked about help in prevention and you respectfully talk to them saying something like "Excuse me, I didn't mean to overhear, but I feel compelled to say something...." and then just go into a brief detail of the operation.