hi, all my favorite munchkins and their owners. all this declawing stuff has been floating around here on the ferret mailing list, and, if i may, i'd like to add my humble opinion. we all know that declawing is not fun. i read all the postings about it, and it makes me sad. no one on this mailing list wants to hurt our favorite little terrorists-in-fur-coats. but sometimes it may become necessary. while my three little furry-faced weasels have all their claws, my four cats do not. about 10 years ago when my husband and i decided that it was time for us to have kids, we realized that we had two alternatives: 1) either declaw our four beloved pusses, or 2) get rid of them. we could not, anyway, anyhow, anytime, get rid of these cats. they were our first 4 kids. they were kinda furry, with big ears, and bad table manners, but they were our kids. sometimes you just have to make these difficult choices. so we had their little front paws declawed. as it turned out, we can't have kids. but my point is that, if it comes down to a choice between keeping your little furry friends or not, keep them. without claws, if need be. our four cats are 13 and 14 years old, and we love them with all our hearts. and, absolutely truthfully, we saw no change in their personalities after declawing. i guess that my point is this: if you must declaw your little furry kids, be they ferrets or cats, do so, and don't let anyone make you feel guilty about it. you are the only one who knows your particular situation. our beloved cats showed absolutely no long-term traumatic effects from this procedure. i'm sure i'll get all sorts of flames about this message. but our 4 cats and 3 ferrets are our family. we did what we had to do. it's a zoo around here! linda and cats: joshua, misty, raven, and flossie and ferrets: alvin, sally, and dweezil oh yeah, i almost forgot - and husband: joe [Posted in FML issue 1357]