I took the traumatic plunge (more trauma for me, than her) a few weeks ago and had her declawed. It was a horrible week in which I thought I would have a breakdown.

My vet and I talked. I've known him since he was a kid. He has 4 cats and he declawed 3 of them. He debunked all the stuff I had read on the internet. I'm not saying it's not true but in my case it had to be done. She was costing me so much money replacing screens, touching up woodwork, and then clawing up my carpet. Plus, every time I took her to get her nails trimmed she threw up in her crate, hissed, and clawed. She hated it. Plus, she clawed my guests and grand children. Everyone hates my cat.

Anyway, I took her on a Wednesday evening and her surgery was on Thursday morning. That afternoon she ripped everything apart and the tech said it looked like a murder scene! She had torn off the bandages and ripped open her toes. They thought they might need to give her a blood transfusion! Personally, I think they should have been watching her better.

They took her back to surgery on Friday and closed everything up again. Then, decided she should stay there for the weekend to be sure she didn't tear herself up again. It was the bandages she couldn't tolerate so they left her paws open to the air. That was 5 days of torture in which I had no support because I couldn't talk to anyone about it. When I picked her up on Monday she was so happy to see me.

She's been fine. In fact she's outside right now. I couldn't stand her begging to go out. It's a little sad when she goes to scratch on something and realizes she's not getting any traction but I think she's getting used to it.

My vet says his cats climb trees still. I hope she still can. But at least I can get some new furniture now!

And I'm moving and I'll have a separate sunroom with French doors I can shut so I can put my tree in there and she won't be able to kill it.

Sorry for this long comment but it felt good to get it out :)