Any pet which has to have body parts removed in order for it to be suitable as a pet...isn't suitable as a pet. If you have to mutilate it to own it, then don't own it.

That's a slippery slope Dana. How about spaying and neutering?

Or declawing...................which I personally dislike.

There are potential health benefits to spaying and neutering. and its not necessary for them to be suitable pets.

There are certainly benifits to neutering animals to make them more suitable.

If in order to be a suitable pet the animal needs to be neutered then I'd suggest that it's not a suitable pet. There are, as I say, good health arguments for neutering and spaying pets. In terms of spaying to prevent unwanted cats (for instance) then that's the lesser of two evils.

It's not legal in the UK

Declawing? That's horrible.

Right, we should eat them instead. :yum:

Still pretty common here. :(

I would never declaw a cat. I had a cat once that a friend found. It had been hit by a car. We thought she would die. She didn't, and I had her for 15 years. Anyway, whoever she belonged to had had her completely declawed, both front and hind feet. I can't even imagine why a veternarian would declaw the back feet, even if they did do the front. At least leaving the hind claws allows them to climb and protect themselves somewhat. And jazzy (my cat) always was weird about me touching her paws. I love cat paws, I can't help it. I think they're soooo cute! but she would never let me play with her feet. I think she had some kind of memory pain there. After all, they aren't just taking the claws out, they are amputating part of the joint, like if someone amputated the tops of all your fingers.

I cannot get my head round the whole declawing thing. I do not understand why anybody would want a pet if in order to be able to keep it they had to first mutilate it. I do not understand. Tail docking, declawing, poison or scent glands removed. My God, how barbaric, and we do that to the creatures we profess to love?

S'true. Tail docking and ear cropping USED to have a helpful reason - for hunting dogs that had to run through brush. Now it's just fashion. I hate to see a cropped ear on a dog.

yea. I had a friend who had a doberman that didn't have cropped ears or tail. he was really cute, but he looked nothing like a doberman. Didn't really act like one either. he'd just sit and watch while you walked away with all of Mike's possessions, LOL.

That's like Pilau. He's all bark and snapping teeth unless you were to, say, let yourself into my house whilst I'm not there (for him to protect) and he;d just assume you were meant to be there. Obviously, if I hadnt intended for you to be in my house, picking up my telly, I'd have said something.