I am sure a lot Americans think I am some sort of arrogant, animal rights, anti-declaw Brit who has no right to comment on anything that happens in America.
I would humbly ask Americans to be patient with me. Just like other PoCers, I am a person who likes animals. I respect all animals and want people to give them the same respect. It is a civilized way to live.
So…I want to return, briefly, to cat declawing again. For a person who respects all animals, cat declawing is the antithesis of that belief. It does not matter if a person lives in another country. Animals are not concerned with country boundaries. Also the internet is global.
I would like people who declaw their cats to watch the video on this page, which does not get enough views, nowhere near enough, which is very sad but reflective of human society. We owe it to cats to not declaw them. In a lifetime of looking after cats I have never had a scratch or a bite from my cats.
It is not about the cat. It is about what we do as cat caretakers when we interact with our cat. We are smart. We should know how to avoid scratches. If we don’t it is our fault and the solution is learning how to avoid scratches and not to declaw. Sounds like common sense, doesn’t it?
One this page there is a video and three facts from it:
- “A Pebble in a Shoe” — Declawed cats, including declawed tiger and pumas, can suffer from claw regrowth under the skin. You’ll see that in the video. It is shocking to anyone who even cares a bit about animals. Claw regrowth after declawing is like walking on a stone for the rest of your miserable life. Try it. Put a few stones in your shoe and live like that for years. It’ll break you. Removing the claw regrowth changed the lives of the big cats who benefited from the surgery. Also shards of bone can be left under the skin too causing acute discomfort.
- “there were thousands of big cats who needed their paws repaired…” (Dr Jennifer Conrad DVM) — they have massive discomfort. It cripples them.
- “there must be millions of the little cats…domestic cats who need their paws repaired….” — they have discomfort, some have massive discomfort.
I will stop their to avoid irritating someone. I write these pages, of which there are over 150 on PoC because I love animals. The starting point for loving animals is to respect them. You cannot respect a cat if you declaw him/her.
Some breeders and shelters in North America will only sell/rehome cats if the buyer/adopter signs a no-declaw contract. I’ve always asserted that a person who is more concerned about their furnishings than their pets really shouldn’t have cats because cats scratch things, puke (cat biscuit dye can be hard to remove from pale carpet) and most cats will shed fur in prodigious amounts (known in this household as “it looks like an explosion in a cat factory”). I have a couple of sacrificial items of furniture and it I wrapped sisal or carpet around the legs of a wooden bed.
Thank you, yes there are many more sharp things and hopefully this will make a good article and poster, I can hardly wait to start lol but I’d better catch up on other stuff first.
Not at all – go for it – I’m sure there are other sharp things they may need to control too but roses do spring to mind first.
That’s a very good point Marc, pro declaws should cut all the thorns off Rose bushes in case they get pricked, you might just have inspired me there for a new poster and article thanks 🙂
Would you mind?
Thanks for that insight. I have been to Canada and toured it but didn’t learn much. My only real experiences of Canada are the Canadian Ken Evoy who founded Sitsell.com, the company that used to host PoC and he is a complete sh*t. Sor Dr. Evoy. In quite a lot of people refer to him as Dr Evil. Canadians do like killing animals don’t they. They are heavily into trapping for fur. That alone makes me dislike them! Sorry Canadians.
Point well made. It is bizarre the people more able to accept being scratched by a rose thorn that a cat’s claw. I think a part of it is fear of the cat. That is in the background. They won’t admit it.
Declawing is a convenience with a complete disregard for the fact that it is 10 amputations. It is easier to cut out the potential risk rather than show some common sense and avoid the risk of being scratched.
I still find myself struggling to comprehend it.