declawing in canon

[Lady Ten]

Just a canon-research question for the community. While we know for sure that the issue of spaying/neutering cats is brought up from the very first book (something I think Cloud plans to make a thread about), do any of the characters ever mention declawing? Is there any reason to suspect that the nearby twolegs would or wouldn't have it done to their kittypets? Maybe no Clan cats are aware of the practice (possible, but seems unlikely, if it exists in that universe) but if they did, shouldn't declawing be a whole lot worse than a visit to the "cutter"?

[mistytail]

I don't think it's ever been brought up in canon, but I wish it did. I wonder what would happen to a warrior that wound up in traps like Brightheart, Leafpaw, and all the cats in Dawn did, and came back to the Clan declawed. Or if a kittypet wanted to join the Clan, but they had no claws. Of course, there's always the "You can't be a warrior so let's make you a medicine cat" route, but that seems like sort of a cop-out. It would definitely increase the Clans' fear and hatred of Twolegs though, which could be interesting.

[celestialsquared]

That's interesting, Ten. From all the kittypets the characters encounter in the books, you would think they would meet a cat with no claws, but I guess it also depends on if the practice is common in that area. I know that in the area I live, declawing cats is rare because we tend to let our cats roam outside on a daily basis, so claws are needed for them to defend themselves. Neutering/spraying on the other hand is nearly universal for all pet owners, so I guess Clan cats would encounter that more often.

[Lady Ten]

It's possible the Erins avoided it because it's still a controversial topic among humans (also, I don't know how often it's used or how it's viewed in England). Or it didn't even occur to them. I haven't read all the books, though, so it could be that it's in there somewhere and I just haven't heard of it.

A declawed kittypet should just be turned away, no question. But a warrior that gets captured and declawed? That's an interesting case. I think humans would be more likely to spay a cat and then release her than have her declawed before she was adopted out (or worse, before setting her loose to fend for herself). Still, supposing she was declawed and then she escaped again, the Clan would have a familial obligation to take her in and take care of her, but she couldn't very well hunt for anyone. That's actually quite tragic. More so than how I think of Cinderpelt's story, in fact, though I'm not sure what makes it different. At least if cornered, Cinderpelt could swat at someone with her claws.

edit: whups, posted right before Celestial and missed her post. Yeah, it would also be helpful to know what's common for England (or better yet, the area where the authors are from or that grove they based it on). This is where a Rolo would come in handy.

[leah]

But, despite it being essential, spaying and neutering is also controversial.
I can say that I've read enough of the books that I don't recall ever seeing declawed kittypets anywhere. Of course, it's possible some of the kittypets in the Skyclan books (the ones that turned down the offer to join) are declawed, but it's not mentioned.
I am just full of "what ifs". x3

[Rolo]

Since my name was mentioned:

Declawing, in the UK, is seen as cruel and inhumane, though not illegal. You likely won't find a vet to do it for you over here, so the likelyhood that any of the canon clans would have come across a declawed cat is minimal. Therefore, I can only say that it's good that it wasn't tackled in the first series at all, considering it wouldn't have been realistic to the setting.

[Ash]

The cats do talk about de-clawing with a Cutter, but it's not stated outright

PS. Didn't Barley's sister have no claws?