Playing devil's advocate here, a little bit at least, but honestly, he's got a good point, although it's not very eloquently stated.

You neuter your dog for convenience. The overpopulation problem is something that means something to us. The behaviors (and I'm not getting into whether they are actually helped or hurt or unaffected by S/N) they affect. Not dealing with the worry about adding to said problem, or dealing with a pregnant dog.

But all that said - it's still done for human convenience. (And I'm not passing any judgement on that one way or the other). Declawing...I didn't even know that could be done, but I'm hard-pressed to see it as "cruel." His reasons are...convenience. You could also argue it doesn't have nearly the same kind of intense effects on a dog that S/N does - for better, or for worse. But, on the flipside of that, you could say - why put your dog through all that for something that has very little effect? So, two ways of looking at it.

Me, personally, though - I wouldn't declaw my dog for the same reasons I don't S/N. It's not medically necessary. Yes, I can see a benefit, and it would be a LOT more convenient (want to see all the scars my dog has put on people from his claws?) but it isn't necessary. It's not a good enough reason for me. I mean, we do it to cats. I'm not sure if there are enough anatomical differences to make it a more significant operation, maybe? Maybe that's why we don't "declaw" dogs.

 

But all that said - it's still done for human convenience.

That's understandable as well but then again. Not altering your dogs comes with a greater risk such as unexpected litters, genital cancers, infections, etc... Declawing compared to S/N just seems to be out of lazyness.

 

Is he talking about the dew claws being removed? Or actually declawing the dog?

 

I think it may be his DEW claws have been removed. No one declaws a dog - takes out all of their nails. Or no one should anyway.

 

My dad declawed both his little dogs. He has no interest in, you know, actually training his dogs. he got sick of them jumping up on him and scratching him- so he took the dogs to the vet and had them declawed. Mutilation at its best. Incredibly sad. But yes- people do actually declaw their dogs...

 

If he is talking about de-clawing... human cruelty has no limits.

 

What vet would declaw a dog? I think that there are very few vets that declaw cat anymore.

 

Is that not considered humane anymore or something? I have not owned indoor cats for ages. The only indoor cats I know that are declawed are all ancient (over 15). I thought that was still a commonly performed operation on cats.

If it isn't considered humane - why not? Just curious. I've honestly got no opinion either positive or negative on it. Same for dogs, although if there are some anatomical differences in the way the claws are attached, or something, I could understand why it's not really ever been done to dogs before.

 

I've never heard of declawing a dog(other than dew claws). I do have a declawed cat but my understanding is that they amputate the digit at the first joint and they will develop arthritis because of that. Had I known that then I never would have had it done.

 

I would never declaw my cats or my dogs, never.

Are dogs supposed to have their dew claws removed?

 

I think some breeds get them removed. Our boxers have them removed but Jax doesn't.

 

I think some breeds get them removed. Our boxers have them removed but Jax doesn't.

Sinister still has his too, he uses them to hold my hand. :laugh:

 

:rofl: He's a goof!

 

My boxer had his dew claws removed too. Left terrible scars. I didn't think they removed them anymore.

Also, LaRen616, I had my cat declawed when we got her and she's completely unsocial now. Wish I would have known that then. I did it to protect the dog from getting clawed. Stuipd and cruel move on my part.

 

My first cat was declawed by her previous owners (front only). She never had any problems and she thought she still had claws, would "sharpen" them even though they were gone. I wouldn't have it done though and I've never had a problem due to my cats' claws (I keep them trimmed) even when we had 7 cats between the 5 humans in the house.

My boxer had his dew claws removed too. Left terrible scars. I didn't think they removed them anymore.

My foster Shar-Pei had large criss-cross scars where his dewclaws would have been... I rescued him as a stray so I don't know when they were removed but the scars were awful.

You neuter your dog for convenience. The overpopulation problem is something that means something to us. The behaviors (and I'm not getting into whether they are actually helped or hurt or unaffected by S/N) they affect. Not dealing with the worry about adding to said problem, or dealing with a pregnant dog.

Bianca was spayed for her health, not for convenience.

 

I would think a dogs nails are necessary for gripping.

 

hmmm...Cracker has only ever been friendly to my daughter but I think that's because he's a Himalayan and rode home 1300 miles in the back seat with her. Now that she's a teenager, she ignores him and he comes to be. He is skittish though and not terribly social at all. Mom's cats are not declawed and they are not anti social like he is.

 

I don't really see how you could remove a dog's claws without altering its locomotion.

 

I agree with that, my dogs definitely use their toes AND toenails when turning and running.

 

My parents declawed their old cat after she blinded our GSD puppy in one eye, but only in the front legs. This was in the early 90's and I thought the practice was sort of outdated now. I haven't met a declawed cat in a long time. I can't imagine doing it to dogs either, maybe because their nails and feet are so much bigger.

 

Every cat my sisters and mom have had were declawed. I never have heard them say they couldn't find a vet who wouldn't do it.

I'm not for or against it. The cat we had for awhile, we didn't declaw. Although, I probably would've opted for it because he kept attacking my kids in some sort of -way too rough- play. We chose to rehome him though. He didn't only attack them with his front claws, he'd bite down, too. You wanna talk inhumane, lol, how about detoothing?

Sorry, that cute cat was a turd. (I say that in the most loving way possible btw.) I was the only one, and the dog, who put up with it, and didn't hold it against him. (I also don't know much about cats, and wasn't getting anywhere training it out of him.)

I don't think you should declaw a dog. They do have different anatomy, their claws do not retract as a cats does. Not that that makes it okay to declaw cats though, I guess. Dewclaws I don't mind being removed, but Dakota has them and when we had her spayed we had the option of getting them removed too, but we said no thanks. Boudreaux, the Dane, had them removed as a puppy before we brought him home. I like the look better. Kota's dewclaws scratch me now and again. But she doesn't jump up on people, never has, so I don't have much to complain about.

 

I would think that declawing a dog would decrease their ability to get traction on various surfaces. I wonder if the surgery is the same as for cats where they amputate the last digit?

Declawing a cat is also a bad idea because the claws help the cat keep the muscles in their legs and back stretched, flexible, and strong. When they stretch to their full length, dig their claws in and pull they're exercising those muscles in a way they can't when declawed. That said, I've known tons of cats (one of them mine when I was a kid and we didn't know any better) who were declawed and were very sweet and social so like everything it seems to be a very individual response. I don't declaw any of my cats anymore. I train them to claw their trees and scratching posts instead of the furniture.

 

No, that thought would never occur to me. I don't declaw my cats so I most certainly would not declaw my dog.

 

How is declawing a dog supposed to make it unnecessary to spay/neuter? It wouldn't affect a female's ability to get pregnant and would make a minimal impact (if any) on a dog's ability to get a female pregnant.

 

The argument her brother was making was that since we spay/neuter for convenience, that it's okay to declaw for convenience, too. Not that declawing is a substitute for spaying/neutering.

 

i've never had my dogs neutered and i've
never had my cats declawed.

 

Yeah I wouldn't either. I just hadn't thought of it in the terms some of the other people brought it. It just sat with me wrong just thinking about it and I had no clue the problems cats went through with the procedure.

 

Honestly, I think declawing and how it affects the cat depends on the individual. I had a cat once; he had all his claws and would not let me clip him without a fight. He'd also scratch things other then his tree and posts. He was a rescue and a pain in the butt. I would have no problem in the future with declawing if I ever decided to get another one. Declawing dogs though, that's strange. Didn't even know people did that.

 

We declawed our first cat for the same reasons then when we got our twin male cats only one was a hassle but we declawed them both so that all 3 were declawed, just seemed fair at the time I guess. Cant think of any possible reason why anyone would want to do it to a dog though.

 

of course not. why on earth would anyone even THINK of doing that???

 

I really didn't realize people did that. I also didn't realize what declawing was until I was on this forum; by that I mean I didn't realize they cut off part of the toe. I'm not sure how I thought it was done...anyways, since knowing that I don't know that I could declaw a cat (should I ever have an inside cat...which is highly unlikely), but I can at least see why people do. They don't know how to train a cat, the cat is destructive, they remove the source of the destruction. I've never heard of a dog just spontaneously clawing things, chewing yes, scratching things on purpose, not so much. So the only reason I can come up with is people don't like it when dogs claws scratch them when they jump; however that is something you can train out.

So I guess long story short, no I would not declaw a dog unless it was medically necessary for some odd reason.

 

I can't see declawing a dog, that just seems strange. Cats don't really have a job in the same way that dogs do.Dogs need their claws to dig and such..cats,not really. When I had cats growing up we got the front claws done but not the back. My mom said it was so they they could still grip when they jumped and could scratch an itch, just not the furniture. If we had an indoor/outdoor cat then it kept its claws for survival and such.

 

Never heard of declawing a dog, sounds absurd. I do however hear of declawing cats. Growing up we had a cat and my parents decided to declaw her front feet (that way she could still defend herself if needed with her back claws). She was happy, healthy, very social, and lived to be just over 20 years old!