Re: Kittens

Lauren Rene Hotchkiss (laurhot@ix.netcom.com)
Mon, 5 Aug 1996 22:50:03 -0700

You wrote:
>
>Have those little kittens declawed NOW. I always had outside cats
until>this one and from some sort of sympathetic sense of naturalism
did not have>her declawed. It is not a bad thing to do to kittens, but
horrible for the>adult cat after they have clawed everything in sight
and you do want to>kill the little darlings.

Steven and Jane,

Slightly off-topic here, but please, please don't advise people to
declaw their cats. This is one of the cruelest "routine procedures"
ever devised by profit-hungry veterinarians as it involves actual
amputation of the first joint of the cat's nail sheath (read toe). It
also leaves the cat with no defense if it does happen to get outside
and either needs to defend itself or climb a tree or fence to escape
danger. It's much better to begin early to condition the cat to a
scratching post or something that serves the same purpose.

Lauren