Declawing.
-
SapphEyeR — 11 years ago(January 26, 2015 03:41 PM)
It sounds like you keep your cat in ONLY because you're worried about its safety. You're worried about the impact a coyote might have on it, but not the impact it might have on the population of birds? Am I right?
I don't think we belong to the same choir. -
nubyan — 11 years ago(January 26, 2015 04:07 PM)
Damn straight, because I love my cat! I really don't understand people who can't understand the natural balance of nature. It disturbs them to wrap their minds around an animal in prey and its predator. All living creatures have to eat. You say we're not the same. So be it if that's how you feel. Regardless, I love animals and I love nature. And I also do what I can to protect both. I would say that we're probably more alike than we are different on the subject. In any case, I respect your opinion.
-
SapphEyeR — 11 years ago(January 26, 2015 06:18 PM)
I really don't understand people who can't understand the natural balance of nature. It disturbs them to wrap their minds around an animal in prey and its predator. All living creatures have to eat.
No, I understand predation. You don't understand the term "balance of nature" because you obviously think it's synonymous with predation, which is what you are describing. It's not.
"Balance of nature" is when predators and prey are in balance, neither species wipes the other one out. It takes thousands of years of co-evolution to achieve this balance. Coyotes hunt Canada geese, and they get better at catching them, but the geese get better at evading them, too. It's an uneasy standoff, neither species entirely kills they other. They need each other. If the coyotes killed all the geese, they might starve. If the geese evaded all the coyotes there would be too many geese and the geese would eat all the vegetation and would starve.
Introduce certain things into the mix, domesticated animals, or alien animals, and you don't have this balance anymore. The nonnative animals may have a certain advantage that the rest of the ecosystem has not had time to evolve defenses against. With cats, they kill excessively because they were bred to do so. They could wipe out smaller species including birds that are already stressed by loss of natural habitat and other human activity. -
nubyan — 11 years ago(January 26, 2015 07:23 PM)
I fully understand both cases and the differences. What I think you don't understand is that I'm speaking of the predatory instinct of a cat. It does what it does based upon its hard wired instinct that dates back to previous generations from being in the wild. That's not due to breeding. Egyptians worshipped cats and kept them around to naturally control the rodent population. I hear and understand everything you've said. Don't place the emphasis on the cat concerning the woes of an ecosystem. The emphasis and responsibility belongs solely on the human population. That's the point that I'm trying to make.
-
SapphEyeR — 11 years ago(January 27, 2015 10:10 AM)
I fully understand both cases and the differences. What I think you don't understand is that I'm speaking of the predatory instinct of a cat. It does what it does based upon its hard wired instinct that dates back to previous generations from being in the wild. That's not due to breeding.
As I said before, cats KILL MORE THAN THEY NEED TO EAT. That kind of behavior is not natural predator behavior. That is due to breeding by humans. Natural predatory behavior is to kill what the animal needs for nutrition and then take a rest.
Egyptians worshipped cats and kept them around to naturally control the rodent population.
You threw the word "natural" in there, but the amount of killing a cat does is not natural behavior, it is behavior that was bred into them by humans. If they did this in the wild, they would use up their food supply and would starve and die out.
Don't place the emphasis on the cat concerning the woes of an ecosystem. The emphasis and responsibility belongs solely on the human population. That's the point that I'm trying to make.
Of course cats are not the only threat to ecosystems, there are many, many others. But they are one more threat that WAS introduced by humans and they can be controlled. We should control the threats that we are able to. To paraphrase, the emphasis and responsibility of removing the threat from cats belongs solely on the human population.
In other words, responsible cat owners who truly "love nature" keep their cats indoors. -
nubyan — 11 years ago(January 30, 2015 07:50 PM)
Good LordI give up. As I said, cats act upon instincts and their own natural behavior. In fact, that same behavior can be seen as they play. They eat what they hunt. Unlike humans who hunt for sport and not always food.
And again, my cat is an indoor catregardless of my reason. She's also spayed.
Work on changing humans and their behavior and cut a cat some slack.
Goodbye SapphEyeR. I'm doneconversation over! -
SapphEyeR — 11 years ago(January 31, 2015 11:55 AM)
They eat what they hunt.
They don't. They eat cat food and line up the mice and birds on the welcome mat to please their mistress.
Goodbye SapphEyeR. I'm doneconversation over!
That's advisable, because even though you keep saying "I understand", you obviously have understood very little of what I have said. Par for the course.
But I am glad you keep your cat indoors regardless of your motive. -
lougarry33 — 11 years ago(February 05, 2015 11:10 AM)
In my opinion, domestic cats remain kittens, never reaching feline emotional maturity. Adult pet cats meow. Research suggests that adult cats don't communicate with each other through meows, only kittens with their mothers. Cats communicate with their owners in meows because they see their owners as surrogate mothers. Widespread neutering is a very responsible practice yet also one that reinforces this extended kittenhood. This may, then, have something to do with why pet cats may continue to hunt with no need or desire to eat their prey. Have you ever seen mother cats teaching their kittens to hunt? The kittens bat the poor half-dead prey about, practising. This is also how cats play with cat toys.
Getting back to the original topic: Declawing is cruel and barbaric. I'd rather like to cut off the top finger joints of all humans who have subjected their cats to this torture with a machete. -
SapphEyeR — 11 years ago(February 07, 2015 10:13 AM)
You pet owners think of yourself as nature-friendly by extension from your love for your pets, but there's no correlation between loving a cat or dog and caring about the rest of nature. Most of you are very ignorant of how nature works and of how and why dogs and cats were domesticated, judging from this board.
If you let your cat outdoors, you are being bad to the environment. Read what I said above as to why.
Also, you fret over treatment of individual pets, when ENTIRE SPECIES of other animals are being wiped out. Tigers, elephants, lions, rhinos, many birdsthey will be completely gone from the wild in a few short decades. They will only exist in zoos, unless enough people decide nature is worth saving and change some of their behaviors. Does anybody care?
There will never be any shortage of cats, dogs, and horses in the world, but wild SPECIES are in danger for THEIR VERY EXISTENCE and need your help more. Why don't you put some of your energy and money into saving them instead of just focusing on pets? -
rdpepper210 — 10 years ago(April 20, 2015 08:31 AM)
My cat is also an indoor cat but she did get out once accidentally, but was smart enough to stay by the front door until I saw her and let her in. She was in her hind paws batting at the insects.
But not all cats have a hunting instinct, some have to be taught to hunt. I had cats and parakeets, one bird got out, the cat almost killed it, another cat we used to put a bird on his head and he could care less, he had no interest in anything but fetching a ball of paper, didn't even look at the birds. -
SeamusWiles — 11 years ago(November 23, 2014 09:10 AM)
The two cats my parents adopted while I was growing up were both declawed and didn't seem to mind much, but from what I know now I do now feel that it's a cruel thing to do and wouldn't unless it was absolutely necessary because of some extenuating circumstances. The cats my wife and I now own have their claws and we've just given them a few things they are allowed to scratch and that works just fine.
If you don't want to be spoiled, you shouldn't be here in the first place. -
Dianabetes — 11 years ago(January 21, 2015 05:01 PM)
Yea, cats CAN adapt, but why do it in the first place? Selfishness? Sadistic pleasure? Ignorance?
ANALOGY TIME!!
A human with amputated legs can adapt too, but why cut off their legs unless it's a medical emergency? You wouldn't chop them off because they kicked you or put their feet on the table.
So, why remove a cat's claws because they scratch? Newsflash: they're cats. They scratch. Oh dear. (facepalm) Darwin wept.. -
AJWho44 — 11 years ago(April 04, 2015 10:23 PM)
Couldn't agree more regarding the OP's view on declawing
It's a one time discomfort the animal has to go thru as part of the deal of entering and living it's life in your home
To all these idiots who are so dead set against it as cruel or unnecessary I say, then why spay or neuter you cat??
Isn't that just as cruel and unnecessary especially if it's an indoor cat that has no chance of breeding? -
nubyan — 10 years ago(April 20, 2015 04:02 PM)
You are pretty damn IGNORANT! Spaying and neutering is to control the population so cats aren't running wild all over the place in record numbers and to prevent them from being put to death because of their overpopulation and the inability of finding good, decent and secure homes for them. A cat can become pregnant at 4 months old and also become pregnant while still nursing her young. To have a cat that you keep indoors that is fully intact male or female is cruel to continually have them go into HEAT without mating. In fact, they can develop all sorts of medical problems that can lead to death if they continually go in and out of heat without mating. Furthermore, spaying and neuturing is not harmful to cats and IS NOT cruel anymore than a vasectomy or hysterectomy is harmful or cruel to humans. Check your facts before agreeing with someone who is selfish and ignorant of the truth about declawing.
-
rdpepper210 — 10 years ago(April 21, 2015 07:29 AM)
Spaying and neutering is an entirely different animal (pun intended). First it lessens the cat's desire to get out of the house and mate. Also a female in heat can bring neighborhood male cats around.
Cats do get out occasionally, I never thought mine would, but she did once, and I'm glad she was spayed because I never want to deal with kittens.
Males that aren't neutered can start spraying urine all over the house and a female in heat will wail for days.
As far as their health, they live longer when they are spayed and neutered, and with some males, they can have an undescended testicle and if you don't have it removed, it has a good chance of becoming cancerous. We had one cat with that, they just do an incision like a female spay to remove it.
They recover very quickly from the surgery, my cat wasn't even groggy when I picked her up that evening, after about two days she was jumping around like she never had anything done.