h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thank you for taking up this crusade against a truly unnatural practice. We have cats, they have claws. We would never dream of removing a cat's first line of defense in a misguided attempt to make nature conform to our interior decorations.

I'm glad you appreciate it. It's very much a work in progress at the moment but I'm being helped by a lot of people in Peer Review to make it a better article.

Again, thank you for posting this article. We have had a chronic problem with ear mites in our tribe of cats here, and one in particular has had some nasty injuries to the back of his head as a result of scratching.

Recently he came home with an unusually nasty injury which developed into an abscess requiring veterinary treatment and I asked (in ignorance) whether declawing would ameliorate the problem in the long term). Thankfully the vet advised against it and instead treated the abscess (puss is doing much better now).

Had I known about the detrimental effects (other than leaving the animal defenseless) I would NEVER have considered asking about declawing.