I wouldn't give him back, even if there was a match, De clawing is bad- if the cat has problems with your family- biting/has a disease like FIP, Feline luk,FIV, it may be kindest to PTS, it will always be frightened and mistrustful- as de clawed cats have lost 75% of their natural defenses, can bite people and have litter box issues. in gen a de clawed cat is a clubfooted animal and is handicapped both physically and mentally, most cannot excerise there bodies normally or even jump right or climb trees.

There's a reason its illegal ( De clawing) in many parts of the world).

STUPID PEOPLE!

if you do want to save hm, I would keep/re home him in an indoor only/ signal cat household.

We went and checked on him this morning. He ate and used the litter box. He is very sweet and affectionate. He looks a lot cleaner and doesn't smell anymore. Apparently he was busy cleaning himself up last night.
He is staying at the shop for now. If no owner is found we will keep him. We'll give it a week and then take him to the vet for shots and blood work. If he is healthy he'll stay at the shop during the week and come home with us on the weekends. He'll be an indoor kitty.

Katherina, thanks for giving the kitty a safe heaven. I had a very skittish calico hanging around all sumer. I had planned on coaxing her in before winter, I think she may be related to our Ernie that we brought in a year ago. One day a little black kitten showed up and decided our garage was a nice place to live, to make a long story short, she ended up in the house.....then of course the calico that I had been working on all sumer decided she wanted in too! Not sure how it happened but I have 4 cats instead of 2 now.
Dont be suprised if you end up with the gray one as well! :)

One more fur baby off the streets and into a loving family....What a great story for Thanksgiving...Bless you for taking care of this "homeless" baby....

Thank you for taking in the little fur baby. Congratulations on being adopted!

Now what if some toddler/delivery person/elderly person accidentally let the cat outside?! Stealing an animal is ALWAYS wrong. You don't know how the cat got outside and who is beside him/herself with grief thinking it dead. You have no idea! Of COURSE the owner of a declawed/neutered cat was planning it to keep it inside! Of COURSE something happened to allow it outside!

Shame on everyone who suggests STEALING the cat! And thank you Katharina for at least trying to find its owners and in the meantime providing love, warmth, and comfort to the poor dear.

Sheesh. I can't believe the nerve of some people.

Thanks Meghane
How far will cats actually wander if accidentally let out? I'm asking because one of out 2 cats at home slipped out Thnksgiving evening with one of our guests. We didn't notice it right away and couldn't find him in the dark. I left a can of food out and checked at 11:00 PM and 1:00 AM. When I checked at 4:00 AM some of the food was licked off and when I called four him he came shooting out of the neighbors yard. My point is that he obviously didn't go far.
Our shop is in area of light industrial buildings, residential houses and a few blocks away somebody has horses. I drove around the area for a bit to see if there were any fliers looking for a lost cat, but didn't see any.
I will post some myself tomorrow and we shall see...
Meanwhile the cat is doing well. He has pretty bad gas, but that could be the food (Evo dry) he is not used to or he has worms. If no owner steps forward in few days he is going to the vet.He is very playful and quite entertaining.
Katharina

My friend's cat got out and someone who lived several miles away found her- safe thankfully. We don't know how the cat got that far away, as she was also declawed and had never been outside before. I do know that chasing a cat is a LOT harder than chasing a dog, especially since cats are very rarely trained to the HERE command. We actually had to stop trying the get the cat because she kept freaking out and running into the street. We also left food and water outside, and it was eaten, but maybe not by her. My friend was just so happy to get her kitty back safe, and that someone was honest and kind enough to respond to the fliers. Her kitty looked like heck by the time she was caught by the nice person, but since she had on a tag she was reunited within 3 days.

I am very sensitive to people stealing pets because my huskies have escaped several times before. I have always gotten them back within the hour, but being the super-friendly dogs they are, anyone could have stolen them. It makes me really angry to find otherwise kind people encouraging people to steal what is clearly someone's pet.

if the cat was De clawed- IMO its legalized abuse, De clawing is chopping off the toes at the first digit. it has lasting physical and mental harm in some cases I can understand if its because some buddy doesn't know any better, but a cat isn't like a chair it can feel pain, it has a memory.

Its one thing if some buddy just takes a happy well cared for dog/cat, its quite another if the animal is suffering/in pain or is handicapped for people by people.

I would take it to the vet, Glaserberl and get tests done on feline fighting diseases, serious diseases are spread through fighting cat to cat. If the cat bites you or act mean, I would painlessly end its life, so your family/pets are not endangered- I hope it doesn't come to this.

Good luck.

Runswalken,
Just to be clear, I would never declaw a cat. But this cat is not in pain and doesn't seem to suffer from any mental anguish. He uses his front paws just fine to play and hold things and has no problems jumping anywhere.
We will take him to the vet as soon as I'm reasonably sure that there is no owner. I'm not willing and able to spend a couple hundred bucks for something that might not be needed.
Other than being dirty and smelly and a little on the skinny side he was not in bad shape. No runny nose, no wounds or anything.
Katharina

Thats good. Its wonderful that there are nice people like you out there. I'm glad he found you that cat has a lot to be thankful for. Because of the loss of claws the animal was living wild at a serious disadvantage and probably couldn't or did have difficultly in escaping from predators,defending ones self,calming territory and hunting, hense the skinny/battered appearance.

Humans in gen adapt worse then animals to disfigurement, three legged dogs or cats get by a lot better then a one legged human. De clawing reminds me a lot of the movie, Roots, I saw in social studies class in which the whites chop off a black guys toes for a crime of some sort- that was many years ago and I've still not forgotten it. I remember seeing a cat when I was a really young boy that had just been de clawed, it wore bandages on it paws and they were blood red and the animal was clearly in pain.

Then this year a few month back I've seen a disabled woman in a group home setting with a big band aid on her right arm from a cat bite ( they made her de claw both her cats, or if it wasn't them it was her evil vet, which IMO should be charged with assault/endangerment of a disabled adult- we cannot blame the cat as it is an animal with wild instincts), and soon after she beings the cat over to work, cat cannot jump down and up normally from tables and she (the cat) bit me, luckily on the front side of the hand where the canine teeth couldn't get a firm hold. The cat tried to bite another one of our co-workers too.