This is a follow up to my previous article: Hatred or Fear of Cats, where Michael said in a comment:
‘I think there is a subliminal fear of claws which might go back to the beginnings of the human species – millions or at least hundreds of thousands of years. The big cats would have been a real danger to people then and claws are a cat weapon’
It made me wonder if he is right and having thought about it, I think he is, that those people who have their cats declawed are really afraid of claws!
To go even further, maybe the vets who declaw cats are afraid of claws too, they must find it easier to handle and treat a cat who can’t scratch, at an appointment. Although, I think most cats are too frightened to protest at a visit to the vets and handled gently wouldn’t scratch anyone on purpose.
But surely working with animals, it’s part of the job to expect some very nervous cats to struggle and maybe scratch the vet or vet nurse. There’s no big deal about getting a few scratches, certainly not worth disabling a cat for life by the major surgery of declawing.
Declawing kittens because they scratch when playing is very cruel, they haven’t had time to learn ‘claw manners’ and to take away the joys of kittenhood is unthinkable to people who truly love cats.
Are the people who are afraid of claws afraid of scissors and knives too? What about needles? Sharp objects are part of life, we respect them for their uses, we don’t go around removing the sharp bits.
Why don’t we? Because they are necessary to our daily life, just as cats claws are necessary to their daily life.
A message to pro declaw people: Don’t get a cat and adapt him for your own convenience or because you are afraid of those essential parts of his body, his claws, they are embedded in bone because they were never meant to be removed.
If you don’t like claws, you don’t like cats!
A very memorable poster, I love those wise claws and Ruth it’s a very valid point about comparing respecting cats claws to respecting dogs teeth. Something I’ve never been able to come to terms with in all these years we’ve been campaigning against declawing cats is WHY would anyone actually get themselves a cat, knowing that cats come with claws, and then have the claws removed. It’s madness, it’s like buying a motorbike when you daren’t ride it and having the engine taken out to make it into a pushbike! If only declawing wasn’t available so readily, so easily, so cheaply all this cruelty wouldn’t take place, if declawing wasn’t available then people who fear claws for their own safety, for their kids safety when they manhandle the cat, for the sake of their dog when he roughs up the cat, for the sake of their sofas wouldn’t get a cat in the first place, and no, cats wouldn’t be worse off because there would be less homes, in actual fact cats would be better off because they wouldn’t be subject to legal abuse in the form of declawing.
Vets should concentrate on offering discount neutering instead of discount declawing then there wouldn’t be so many unwanted cats.
If declawing was illegal then only people who love cats, claws and all, would adopt a cat. It wouldn’t mean more cats in Shelters, because people wouldn’t be relinquishing cats when the problems from declawing began.
Yes there would still be people making any old excuse to get rid of their cats but far less than there are now, surely?
Poster perfection, as always.
I’d like to ask declawers if they fear claws more than bites from a cat in misery.
Thanks Dee, yes I’d like to ask them that too! No doubt if a declawed cat starts biting he will be called ‘a bad cat’ and end up in a Rescue Shelter…..or dead!
Here’s Monty on his new suspended cat highway:
I love seeing Monty’s walkways photos on facebook, you must write a PoC article with lots of photos of him, it was such a lovely thing to do for your cat, his life is even more enriched now.
I think he will appreciate them more and more over time, as he gets used to them. We have discussed putting a fourth suspended box in the middle of the longest bridge, to create two short bridges instead, since Monty seems not to like the suspension bridges that much, but he will do the short one. We’ll probably wait a few months before adding that, but it is an option to get him using more of it if the addition of carpet over the bridge doesn’t help him to warm up to it.
He’s sitting in the first suspended box right now, looking down at me as I type. My husband just commented that Monty is definitely enjoying being up high.
I just flipped it over for you. I am ecstatic to see Monty on the platform. What a great thing to see. A cat with his own high walkway inside a home. This is rare and special. We look forward to updates and more photos. This one is great.
When it’s actually complete and Monty is using all of it I’ll post an article. Unless you want one now and one later. I think it will be awhile before it’s completely to his liking, and until he has really gotten used to it to the point that he can enjoy everything about it. That’s the good thing, I think. He has an indoor adventure for the times he can’t go outside. Just as he has his patterns outside of what tree he climbs first, and next and last, I’m hoping he will get a pattern of going up and over each bridge, sitting in each suspended box. It’s slow going, but he is getting more comfortable up there.
Fabulous, Ruth.
Wow Ruth I never saw this it’s amazing – you put me to shame!
It’s all my husband really and it’s not much compared to your cat tree forest. You can see more pictures and video on my FB page.
From a purely selfish standpoint I don’t see how having a declawed cat is any fun. There is no way we would have constructed the suspended walkways we made for Monty if he didn’t have claws. It wouldn’t be safe for him to be up there with no claws to aid in balance and help him hold on. We’re going to carpet the walkways as well as the landings because he’ll be safer on carpet– his little claws can grab into the carpet better than onto plain pine boards. Between watching Monty play indoors on his cat furniture and watching him play outside climbing trees, I get tons of enjoyment admiring what he can do. Without his claws he’d just be grounded. I have heard of declawed cats climbing trees, but they would be limited in what they can do and their safety compromised. No declawed cat could get up Monty’s favorite tree by the shed– it’s just a straight trunk with no branches, up to a Y, which is where he sits. Someday I’ll manage to get a video of him climbing down. It’s the only tree he comes down rear end first, because he has too. There is the sound of his little claws on the tree as he makes his way down, kind of circling the tree, hugging it, his tail moving in that way that I have found expresses pleasure and curiosity. There is so little beauty in our lives sometimes– no time for it with work and housework besides. But there, on any ordinary day, I’m treated to one of the most beautiful things I’ll ever see– Monty in action coming down a tree. Sure, he’d still be a handsome boy without claws– but with them he’s sublime, a work of art in motion, form and function combining to create not just the functional, but the beautiful and wonderful.
You are right Ruth, cats in action are a wonderful sight to see. Front declawed cats can still climb trees using their back claws but why should they have to do that, they shouldn’t be outside anyway so defenceless. No matter how hard I try I can’t understand why anyone would ever want to take a cats claws away from him.
Thanks Michael, there is no need to feel fear of claws, just respect for them. We respect a dog’s teeth can bite us, we don’t get his teeth removed, we just don’t do anything to the dog to make him want to bite us.
It’s all about lack of respect for cats and anyone who doesn’t respect their cat and accept him as he comes is an unfit person to have a cat around.
Ruth – once again I cannot add to what you have said. I agree – great poster and great article 🙂
Thanks for your comment Marc, you are always a great support to all cat causes.
I find it sad that anti declaw articles don’t get as many comments as they used to, such as this excellent one by Christine in Canada:
https://pictures-of-cats.org/a-cat-who-started-biting-after-being-declawed.html
I hope people aren’t becoming complacent and thinking the battle is won, yes the anti declaw movement has come a long way but there’s a long way to go yet. I can’t stop writing and designing educational posters until declawing is banned and every last cat in the world is safe from this cruel surgery.
I hope that people can examine their emotions about claws because of your article and if they decide they are a bit frightened of them (and it’ll take some honesty to decide that) then address the fear and learn to like and admire them as we do.
Or even for people to realise how wrong it is to take a cats claws because of their fear of them. Those people should not have a cat, it’s unfair to get a cat and adapt him instead of accepting him and every part of him.
Thanks for quoting me 😉 Your poster is very creative and looks great on PoC.
I believe that the behavior of people is often affected by a subliminal fear of anything and everything. Fear has a big impact on our lives but I don’t think people accept that or even notice it.
It happens all time and often affects doing new things. The fear of the unknown. As for cats and claws. Let’s say that all humans have a subliminal fear of claws or at least a potential for it.
Someone like me or Ruth, we respect cats, understand them. We actually like a cat’s claws but treat them with respect. We don’t get scratched,
By contrast, a person who does not understand cats or has less knowledge of cats might get scratched because they mishandled their cat and failed to read their cat’s behavior and respect their cat.
Then the subliminal fear leads to declawing. Fear of claws alone can lead to declawing. Also a combination of (a) subliminal fear of claws (and even the cat) and (b) a lack of sufficient knowledge of cat behavior and respect for the cat can lead to declawing. And both parties to the declawing process, vet and cat owner can have the same fears.
Thanks for the article, Ruth.