Don't de-claw your cats!

To everyone out there who loves and adores their feline companions, please don't de-claw them.

If you truly love your pets and want to treat them as humanely as possible, you will never make your cats suffer the awful procedure of de-clawing. De-clawing cats is the equivalent of amputating human fingers at the first knuckle. So, basically, when you remove your cats claws, you are amputating each of their "fingers". De-clawing is especially dangerous for outdoor cats, who rely on their claws for self-defense, catching food, and escaping danger (i.e. up a tree). Most cats' behavior changes after a de-clawing procedure, because the cat is depressed and in pain.

It simply is not natural for a feline to not have his or her claws. I personally do not believe that material possessions (such as the couch kitty uses for a scratching post) are more important than the mental health and bodily well-being of another living creature. Besides, behavioral problems such as clawing at the couch, can be easily remedied with a little creativity and thought. There are many wonderful products on the market today, such as SoftPaws, that are not only adorable but they save your furniture, too.

If that's not enough convincing, look it up yourself on Google. De-clawing is illegal in many European countries and in fact, the United States is one of the few countries that has NOT banned de-clawing.

I hope that everyone takes this issue seriously and decides NOT to harm their pets.


Peace, love, and lots of sticky green buds! (or catnip for the pussy cats)

 

I agree with you.
To D-claw a cat is one of the most awful things you can do to an animal.
Just think about this...if you don't want your pet to break your furniture...THEN DON'T OWN ONE.

I'm a vet tech at an animal hospital and honestly cats go through a lot of pain when the d-claw is done.

Plus you can not let a d-claw cat out in the wild. That cat can't defend him/her self.

Thanks

Fer
(great topic!)

 

They sell little nail covers in pet stores that you can glue on over your cats nails... there not sharp.. so no damage.... also they sell spray to spray your furniture down with that keeps the cats from clawing at it that will not harp the upholstry...
Same with collars.... Collars are very dangerous for cats.... Esp. outdoor cats.. the make it hard for your cats to escape danger if the get caught on a tree and the cat can hang themself (ive scene it happen ) (those brakeaway collars dont always break so easilly)

 

And also... Dont ever let your cat near asprin..... Dogs can have it cats how ever can not... It metabolises different in cats and turns into a poison, shutting down their kidneys and liver. Cause Nurological damage too... And its very Expensive to have a cats stomach pumped... my cat made the mistake of eating an asprin that was about to be feed to the dog... That was a nice $700 vet Bill.

 

I don't understand. I have 4 cats, 3 of which are declawed... and their toes were not amputated. The claw was cut out of toes... so if you look at their feet, each toe has a little split in it. There is no difference in the appearance of toes in my declawed cats and the... un...de...clawed cat. Maybe they were done differently since they were all done 12-15 years ago.


As far as safety, all my cats are strictly indoors. And as for the furniture... it's all gone to hell anyway since only the front claws were removed on my cats.

 

I think the physical altering of animals whether for human convenience (scratched up furniture from a cats claws) or appaearance (cropped tails or ears on a dog) is WRONG.

A little positive attention when the cat scratches where he/she should and a little reinforcement where its wrong with a water gun works wonders in training a cat, so no need to declaw and no need for those claw covers. And and as for the dogs - a haircut is one thing, but cropping is just selfish and cruel.

 

Very right on. I think de-clawing is cruel. They are not your claws to remove. I can't understand why people still think it's exceptable....or ever would to begin with.

 

you know they do have painless laser removal...

but ill stick out and say I declaw my cats.

 

I think declawing is illegal here and for a good reason. Cats come with claws.. it's in their nature to hold stuff with their nails. If you don't like it, don't get a cat. It's that simple. However, I do clip the very sharp ends of the nails just a tiny bit, but that's because she gets stuck with them in the carpet and stuff.. that's like clipping your own nails.

I have a huge rabbit that likes to chew on every wire it can find.. my internet cable, cellphone-adapter cord, electric wires.. everything. Had a full blown 220 volt shocked ones and survived.. so I have the options of doing the rabbit away, pulling it's front teeth or..... tucking away the cables.

Ofcourse, with a cat, you can't get rid of all the furniture.. but cats can be perfectly trained to be well behaved around your not-to-scratch-on-stuff if you are just willing to take some time for it.. and if you get uptight about a little accidental scratch here and there you shouldn't have cats.

Really.. I can get very mad about this and I'm not easily angry.

 

Oh.. plus it's not like it's a manicure.. it's a full blown operation:



Check these websites:

http://www.declawing.com/
http://www.declawing.com/htmls/declawing.htm

And it's illegal in these countries.. and I'm way proud my country is in that list:

England
Scotland
Wales
Italy
France
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
Norway
Sweden
Netherlands
Northern Ireland
Ireland
Denmark
Finland
Slovenia
Portugal
Belgium
Brazil
Australia
New Zealand
Yugoslavia
Japan

 

Ok.. one more post and I'll stop about this:

Complications
Declawing is not without complication. The rate of complication is relatively high compared with other so-called routine procedures. Complications of this amputation can be excruciating pain, damage to the radial nerve, hemorrhage, bone chips that prevent healing, painful regrowth of deformed claw inside of the paw which is not visible to the eye, and chronic back and joint pain as shoulder, leg and back muscles weaken.

Other complications include postoperative hemorrhage, either immediate or following bandage removal is a fairly frequent occurrence, paw ischemia, lameness due to wound infection or footpad laceration, exposure necrosis of the second phalanx, and abscess associated with retention of portions of the third phalanx. Abscess due to regrowth must be treated by surgical removal of the remnant of the third phalanx and wound debridement. During amputation of the distal phalanx, the bone may shatter and cause what is called a sequestrum, which serves as a focus for infection, causing continuous drainage from the toe. This necessitates a second anesthesia and surgery. Abnormal growth of severed nerve ends can also occur, causing long-term, painful sensations in the toes. Infection will occasionally occur when all precautions have been taken.

 

WELL LETS JUST SAY I STRONGLY DISAGREE AND HAVE FOUND A LINK FOR YOU AND OTHERS TO READ.

VELVET I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH YOU AND WISH I COULD GET EVERYONE TO SEE HOW CRUEL THIS PROCEDURE IS........

THIS LINK PROVIDES GRAPHIC PHOTOS OF THE TRUTH ABOUT DECLAWING AND HOW CRUEL IN FACT IT IS!!!
http://declaw.lisaviolet.com/

 

I declawed both of my cats, but it was done with laser surgery which my veterinarian told me does not hurt them at all. When I picked them up after surgery, they were totally fine & did not seem in pain at all. I paid more money for the laser surgery because they told me it would not hurt them.

 

Okay whether or not it hurt during the surgery is only half the
problem with declawing. The cat will now have to live without
it's claws so that you don't have to worry about scractches,
messed up furniture, etc. That is just plain wrong. You should
not have a cat. Clawing is a natural impulse for felines, now
you've taken that away. I don't know maybe I'm wrong. These
cats could be with owners that would do much worse I guess.

 

With my cat Asia I had no choice, my parents told me it must be done, I was upset about it because I had heard of the pain it causes, so I begged them, there must be another way, and there was, its called laser de-clawing, instead of like pulling it out or whatever, they laser it off towards the end. No pain!!!

 

How dare you speculate that I should not have a cat! You have no idea what you're talking about! My cats are treated like royalty, they're very spoiled and I treat them as if they were my own children!!!! I am EXTREMELY compassionate when it comes to animals, ESPECIALLY cats, and I would never do anything that would cause them harm. I love them more than any human being!!!! They never go outside, they have no desire to go outside, so they are doing just fine without their claws. By the way, I still get clawed because they use their back claws quite often.

 

I'm sure a great mom to your cat and that poster was a bit out of line suggesting otherwise.

Just a philosophical thing with me - I don't think animals should be altered from how they are born naturally - aside from getting them fixed. That's kind of a double standard, hmmmm, good post topic.

 

People who have human desigener animals make me sick.

 

Kindwoman, did you read the Lisaviolet website? Not all cats get complications but it's a big risk to expose your cats to. And I hate to tell you but not all complications show up immediately; I haven't read every story on the website at this time so I don't know if these cases are included there, but I remember from reading elsewhere a number of stories were about declawed cats who ran into trouble as they got older.

I also have to ask -why? There are so many alternatives -both behavioral and things like softpads. Why would you chose to risk crippling your cats -even if many declawed cats do not suffer, can anyone really deny it is a risk?- when there are other alternatives?

 

Wow, thanks for the positive response to this thread everyone!!! Unfortunately I live in the U.S. where de-clawing is not only legal, but encouraged by most vets.

It's always uplifting to know that there are so many people out there in this world who DO care about their pets. Peace and Harmony to everyone who agrees that their pets deserve the best!!

Also, if you've never read it before, here's what Lilac's Book has to say about pets (best advice ever, if you ask me):

Animals show uncomplicated emotions. These dependent beings deserve your love and respect. Be kind and loving. Feed them and provide water as an act of companionship. Acknowledge the animal's presence. Let it know that you are truly its friend, by showing the respect you would show to any other friend. Never act violently towards an animal. Yelling at or striking an animal only makes it dangerous and unpredictable, because it will live in fear of your next outburst.