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From: vollum@rtp47.UUCP (Rob Vollum)
Newsgroups: net.pets
Subject: Re: Kitty speaks out on declawing cats...
Message-ID: <119@rtp47.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 31-Jul-85 14:47:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: rtp47.119
Posted: Wed Jul 31 14:47:18 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Aug-85 00:42:12 EDT
References: <163@kitty.UUCP>
Reply-To: vollum@dgux.fk.UUCP  (Rob Vollum)
Distribution: net
Organization: Data General, RTP, NC
Lines: 21

In article <163@kitty.UUCP> larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) writes:

>	There is only one valid reason to declaw a cat - protecting one's home
>furnishings from destruction.  

All of the proponents of declawing pet cats seem to be missing one very 
crucial point. In most cases, I'm sure that these (soon to be amputee) cats 
didn't have a whole lot of input into whether or not they were to join your
households. To make that choice for them, and then to fix them up so that they
fit into your idea of what cats should be is, I feel, incredibly cruel.

The only answer to the question of whether or not cats should be declawed
is NO in my mind. Potential cat owners must (as I did before taking any of
my 3 cats) realize the capacity that cats have for ripping up furniture
and decide whether training them to use a scratching post would be feasible.
If this is a problem, then a cat is not for you. Go buy some kind of inanimate
toy instead of making one out of a living creature.
-- 
Rob Vollum
Data General Corp.
Research Triangle Park, NC
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