Cat declawing myths and truths

Cat declawing myths are legendary and they are disseminated by our beloved veterinarians who are charged with the responsibility of caring for our cats. Here are some myths that are portrayed as fact by the vets. I also present the truths as presented by cold research. Note: This page was written about 13 years ago, perhaps 12 but certainly a long time ago. I have republished it, Jan 10, 2022. It needs to be front and center in the lives of Americans. Sorry. And please don’t bypass the page. Don’t brush it under the carpet and forget about it. It is too important. I am not a fanatic or a mad animal rights extremist (there are none in truth).

It is just that when I think of declawing (something I try and forget) it pains me. I think of the agony, the fear and distress of the kittens who’ve had a vital part of their anatomy amputated at the convenience of their ‘caregiver’. Sometimes it is the first thing the owner does after adopting a kitten. What a start to the relationship 😢. It is sociopathic almost.

Myth – Declawing is a last resort and it saves lives by stopping the relinquishment of cats

The Truth: A study¹ indicated that declawed cats are nearly twice as likely to be relinquished to a shelter than intact cats.

At recent hearings in Californian cities on the banning of declawing, one of the great clichéd phrases declared as being an immutable truth by Dr. Nunez (the spokesperson for the California Veterinary Medical Association) is that declawing saves the lives of cats. If it wasn’t for declawing many more cats would be relinquished, he repeatedly says. Gosh, the vets are doing a great service aren’t they, saving all those lives! They do it with such relish that they ignore their own association’s guidelines that state that there is an obligation of veterinarians to provide cat owners with complete education with regard to feline onychectomy.

All attempts should be made to avoid declawing….yet in a survey by Dr. Nunez’s own association it was found that 76% of cats² were declawed at less than 8 months of age. I don’t see much in the way of attempts to find alternatives to declawing or much education going on.

Having read how the AVMA describes that declawing should only be considered after going over all the alternatives and educating their client etc. bla bla bla, it is no surprise to see that up to 40 million cats are declawed in the USA (up to 45% of all domestic cats). The vets are doing a wonderful job educating people aren’t they? And in a survey³, it was found that 78% of veterinarians would carry out declawing on request. What can you say? This is not a case of one or two rogue veterinarians but a nearly the whole lot who are in breach of the guidelines. The vets are ignoring their governing body and the governing body knows about it and does nothing. Or a better explanation is that the guidelines are a cynical piece of window dressing to try and pretend that they care!

People most often relinquish cats for so called behavior problems (actually they relinquish cats because they don’t like the normal behavior of cats but we shouldn’t mention that). If the behavior is not to some people’s liking they will abandon their cat. And the classic cat behavior that is disliked is inappropriate elimination (going to the toilet outside the litter).

In a proper scientific survey⁴ it was found that inappropriate elimination was twice as likely to occur in respect of declawed cats than for intact cats. Accordingly, declawing increases the chances of the relinquishment of a cat. So much for Dr. Nunez’s thread bare clichés (correction – bare faced lies).

Myth – declawing does not lead to behavioral problems that are over and above those normally encountered

Another myth peddled by those slippery vets is that….there is no scientific evidence that declawing leads to behavioral abnormalities when the behavior of declawed cats is compared with that of cats in control groups (link to AVMA guidelines). Unfortunately, I think it worth making the point again that the concept of “behavior problems” is very elastic because some people are initiating the problems themselves by creating an unsuitable environment for the cat, and/or they find normal behavior “problem behavior”. No doubt vets try to use this to their advantage to muddy the water in an attempt to support their otherwise transparently weak arguments. In fact, most biting and scratching of people comes from people provoking the cat because of a lack of education (the vets failing to do their job again) and/or a lack of sensitivity to the cat’s innate characteristics⁵

That said, there have been two long term studies on the effects of declawing on the behavior of cats that debunk the untruths of veterinary associations.

The Truth – In one conclusive study⁶ over a long five year period (most studies are short), research indicated that one third of declawed cats developed behavior problems (inappropriate elimination and biting) after the operation.

In another study⁷ more declawed cats (55%) were referred to a veterinary hospital than intact cats (45%).

In further research⁸ it was established that inappropriate elimination occurred more frequently in declawed cats (52.4%) than intact cats (29.1%).

These studies support the only possible conclusion, namely that declawing increases the chance of abandonment to shelters, which directly contradicts what the veterinarians consistently preach as their reason for declawing. Don’t believe them – ever.

Myth – declawing is carried out to protect people with suppressed immune systems and who are old and infirm etc.

Although, below, I quote studies that debunk this, it is frankly obvious that this is nonsense and it is wholly unsupported by evidence. Actually, declawed cats tend to bite more⁹ than intact cats and bites are more problematic than scratches. That alone turns the vet’s argument on its head. I have already mentioned that cats are often provoked by a person. Don’t provoke – don’t get scratched/bitten – simple. And even on the extremely rare occasions that a vulnerable person is bitten how serious is this? I see no evidence to support the fact that such a bite or scratch is nothing more than a passing inconvenience.

The Truth — In fact, declawing and/or tendonectomy is almost exclusively done to protect furniture¹⁰. Three other studies support this. In one study¹¹ the conclusion was that 95% of the time the operation was carried out to prevent “household damage”. In more research¹² scratching household materials was the main reason.

Myth – cats recover quickly after surgery etc.

The Truth – 35% of 320 vets surveyed¹³ reported long term problems! Up to 80% of cats had complication(s) post surgery¹⁴. 17% of cats suffered cat claw regrowth causing more complications including 19% of cats becoming lame¹⁵.

OK that will do for the time being. There is more. I would like to thank Jean Hofve, DVM for researching the material and which can be seen on this page (the source for this article)

Fr om Cat Declawing Myths and Truths to Declawing Cats