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!
Fabulous, Ruth.
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.
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.
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.
Here’s Monty on his new suspended cat highway:
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.