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I voted <not cruel>, presuming we're speaking of indoor cats who don't have to defend themselves.
If I'm going to call this surgery - which is preformed under anesthesia - cruel then I also have to call any and all surgeries performed on non-human animals for non-medical reasons "cruel." This would include any sterilization on any non-human animal, because rarely is there a legitimate medical reason for such surgeries. We do it because we don't want our pets reproducing. I'm not going to say "sterilizing your pet is okay" and then say "declawing your pet is not okay." Both are done for the benefit of humans more than they are for the benefit of the other creature, and both will fundamentally alter the nature of the creature for its lifetime and have the potential for bad complications.
I can already hear the objection: "but we sterilize our pets for a good reason; we don't want to increase the population of feral strays and further overburden animal shelters." Okay. How about instead we keep our pets indoors as is recommended in the first place? Or keep the cat contained to your fenced-in yard under a watchful eye? Problem solved, no surgery required. Your cat won't get run over by traffic, won't get in fights with other creatures and incur wounds that may require medical attention, and won't suffer from potential environmental overexposures. Plus, it will make those of us who love the local wildlife very happy to have one less cat killing off native bird and mammal species. This isn't a minor ecological problem, it's a serious one that could easily be prevented.
Seems to be only common in the US, China and Korea. Good company there, US.
I'm not so sure about having your pet sterilized is being cruel. I know PMS and childbirth is hell, and from what I have observed from my cats, full-blown estrous has got to be total hell!
It is good company, as they have the right idea to regard cats as a delicacy.
I regard declawing no more cruel than spaying or neutering.
Neutering is to try to reduce the over population.
Declawing is a barbaric act done for some human reason. What is it? Furniture?