My cat growing up was declawed and seemed to still be a fairly effective hunter given the frequency of offerings she brought home. She could also climb trees up to about 7-8 feet.
Are you suggesting that house cat claws are vestigial? That simply isn't the case. Their claws improve their hunting success rate dramatically since they use them to snare their prey. A declawed cat may still have some success in hunting, but will be far less effective. In fact is one of the arguments I've often heard offered up by advocates of declawing bans (to reiterate, I also support declawing bans but I believe that particular argument against it is misguided.)
