We Do Not Believe In Declawing Cats

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It can create many negative reactions. Nearly two dozen countries—including Australia, England, and Japan—ban or severely restrict declawing surgeries. Many veterinarians in the United States refuse to perform the procedure.  Declawing a cat is like the equivalent of cutting a person’s finger off at the first knuckle.  Clawing is a natural, healthy, and important behavior. Cats scratch to exercise and enjoy themselves, maintain the condition of their nails, and stretch their muscles.  If your cat goes outside without claws, your cat would be far more vulnerable to predators and abusers.

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Declawed cats often become more aggressive.  Many people think that declawed cats are safer around babies, but in fact, the lack of claws makes many cats feel so insecure that they tend to bite more often as a means of self-protection.  Pain continues even after surgery. Cats are in pain when they awake from the surgery, and the pain continues afterward. Nails can grow back inside the paw, causing extreme pain that you can’t see.

 

Declawed cats are more likely to go outside of the litterbox.   Without claws, even house-trained cats might start “doing their business” outside the litterbox in an attempt to mark their territory

 

Declawed cats have to relearn to walk. Our toes are crucial to our balance, and it’s no different for cats! Because of impaired balance after the procedure, declawed cats have to relearn how to walk, much as a person would after losing his or her toes.

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Read just a few of the experiences we have had with declawed cats

Throughout the years we have had declawed cats come to our care.  Often they are the ones that bite or have severe behavioral issues.  They develop small deformed arthritic painful feet as they age. We adopted out a bright eyed healthy kitten to an older couple once.  We did try to talk them into a more settled cat but they would not hear of it.  As soon as they adopted him they took him to be declawed.  Something either went wrong with the procedure or the people did not follow the post operative instructions.  When he was returned to our care for hiding from them and not being the “same” we discovered he was unable to walk.  He was taken to our full-service vet and he required a surgery to repair the tendons in his feet.  A week later he died.

 

Diesel a senior fella came to our care and spent almost a year with us.  His family had him declawed and after that he would bite.  They had recently had a baby and decided they could not trust him around the baby.  We tried him in our community cat room but it was too much of a liability, so he lived in our office. He was nearing the end of life and we let him complete his bucket list.  And he had fun doing it too.  But he did like to bite.  Unfortunately, one of the staff was saying goodbye to him and he bit her.  Following state guidelines our vet sent his head off for rabies testing.  To me it was the ultimate insult to this fella that was just acting out because he was in pain purposely inflicted by humans. 

 

Callie another senior came to our care twice.  Her first owner died then she was adopted and returned so we kept her with us.  She was a vocal and often misunderstood cat.  She would scream and start to shake when you walked up to her.  I feel like she had been hit for whatever reason through out life.  She sometimes would have accidents outside of her litter box thus the reason for being returned.  Her feet here deformed and so painful. 

 

Sometimes I wonder if people think they just need to declaw their cat because that is what they have been told or have been lead to believe.  I am not sure if they understand there are other options or if they know how barbaric this unnecessary procedure is.  They are trying to stop one undesirable behavior but can create so many more behaviors.

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What You Can Do Instead

Trim your cat’s nails regularly. When the cat is relaxed and unafraid, gently press on his or her toes until the claws extend. Use a pair of nail clippers, and cut only the tip of the nail, taking care not to damage the vein, or “quick.” The nail hook is what tears upholstery, so removing it virtually eliminates the potential for damage.

 

Buy multiple scratching posts. Ideally, you should have two or more scratching posts in your home. Make sure that they’re sturdy and tall enough to allow your cat to stretch (3 feet or taller). Soft, fluffy carpeted posts won’t fulfill your cat’s clawing needs, so look for rougher posts.

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Teach your cat where to scratch and where not to scratch. Encourage your cat to use the scratching posts by sprinkling catnip on the posts once a week. Discourage your cat from scratching furniture by using a loud, firm voice whenever he or she starts to scratch—cats don’t like loud noises! Never use physical force. Instead, you might try using a squirt gun full of lukewarm water directed at your cat’s back.

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Please contact adoptions@plannedpethoodrockymount.com for more information!