A DECLAWED CAT IS BEREAVED

by Ruth
(England)

Losing any essential body part must be very traumatic to a person or to an animal. In fact it must be something like a bereavement

I know two gentlemen who have each lost a leg and the sadness in their eyes when they realised their limb had gone forever was heartbreaking. Each one misses his leg of course and just because cats can’t tell us how they feel it doesn’t mean they don’t miss their amputated parts too.

declawing cats creates a bereavement for the cat
Poster by Ruth

Horrible as it was for those men, the amputations saved their lives and they knew why they had to go through with it.

But how much different the amputation of a cats last toe joints is! Healthy essential toe ends removed and thrown in the trash.

If those much missed parts had a burial as in the poster, would it maybe bring it home to the cats caretakers just what they had paid a vet to do ?

I can’t understand why a person trained to help animals agrees to, in fact sometimes encourages the cruel surgery called declawing by hiding the fact that it is amputation just as much as the removal of any other limb is.

Are cats so low in the estimation of those vets that they don’t care that they have feelings of loss?

It seems so to me.

Kattaddorra signature Ruth

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A DECLAWED CAT IS BEREAVED

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Jan 31, 2011 Absolutely right!
by: Leah (England)

Its so sad and so cruel; they must grieve for them I’ve seen your pamphlet and the sad look on that poor little kittens face is enough to break your heart.

Vets just don’t care about the cat much less how much pain they cause them. Cruel selfish caretakers don’t even think about whether they miss them or not all they care about is their precious furniture.

They must miss their little claws after all they’ve been using them since birth then suddenly they are in excruciating pain and without them how can they not?!

Its just the most awful vile thing and its not done in so many countries now! I just wish with all my heart it would be banned.


Jan 31, 2011 Cats
by: Anonymous

I fink anybody who wants to have a kittys toes cut of should nt have got it.
Wot they do that for is horrid.


Jan 31, 2011 Cats
by: Anonymous

I fink anybody who wants to have a kittys toes cut of should nt have got it.
Wot they do that for is horrid.


Jan 31, 2011 Cruel vets
by: Fran

Imagine the concern by medical staff for a person losing merely the tip of even ONE finger.
They would have pain killers,antibiotics,a tetanus jab,bandages regularly changed,help with jobs that need the hands.
Now think of a cat losing TEN fingertips,TEN times the pain but the vet medical staff aren’t concerned that the cat has to WALK on those rawly painful stumps where their fingertips were and has to dig in litter with them also.
Of course cats are bereaved by their loss and it’s time those cruel greedy vets who do this to them saw the error of the way they make their money.


Jan 31, 2011 Cold hearted vets
by: Angel

Vets are cold hearted scientists who have no feelings of emotion themselves and want proof that emotions exist in cats before they admit how declawing affects them.
But because cats can’t talk our language those scientists won’t be convinced that the pain and bereavement of losing their last toe joints is a very traumatic event.
They won’t believe that cats have bad effects from their abusive surgery.
Not only won’t they believe but they don’t want to believe while they can get rich out of the suffering of their victims.
They don’t care that a lot of cat owners feel remorse,they just line up their next victims and take away their healthy needed joints too.
Millions of cats are suffering but those wretched scientists don’t care.
WHY are the AVMA ignoring our letters?
I know the answer,it’s because they have run out of excuses to justify why they have no control over those abusive vets.


Jan 30, 2011 Very true
by: Maggie

This is very true Ruth! If my finger tips were chopped off against my will, and I were forced to live a life in pain and disability like those cats are I would mourn too. In fact I have no doubt in saying that a cat mourns his whole life after having his finger ends chopped off.

Declawing is torture. And no torture victim walks away a happy man.


Jan 30, 2011 Declawing must be banned
by: Michele S.

Many cats become severely depressed after declawing, and some have died as a direct result of the trauma they’ve suffered.

Vets who promote declawing rarely mention to clients the physical and behavioural problems it causes. Much less mention that cats are capable of suffering from phantom limb pain in just the same way that some human amuptees do.


Jan 30, 2011 roflol
by: Anonymous

Godimugly you are so funny


Jan 30, 2011 roflol
by: Anonymous

Godimugly you are so funny


Jan 30, 2011 Dead bits
by: Godimugly

Right on Ruth lass – it’s right that the bits that get took off with either a sharp knife or a red hot poker are bits of dead body – they come from the cats body -they get rived off – they get no blood supply – they die – so they are bits of dead body no doubt about that – if I got bits of my body cut off and chucked in a bin I’d be inclined to bloody grieve for them especially if the bits that got chopped off were healthy and doing a necessary job like being my bloody fingers.


Jan 30, 2011 Top class
by: Rose

Another top class poster and article from our very own Katt.
Of course declawed cats feel bereaved.
Just like the bereavement when a person or pet dies and with time you get accustomed to them not being there any more so it is that cats become accustomed to their toe ends not being there any more.
But where death is unaviodable,declawing is not and therefore no cat should have to be bereaved that way.


Jan 30, 2011 Very true
by: Susan

It’s a fact that humans and cats have identical regions in the brain responsible for emotion, so there is no doubt in my mind they grieve their amputated finger digits just as we would grieve ours if our trusted doctor chopped them off because we might cause damage to some furniture (that is if our parents were too lazy to show us where we are allowed to play and where we aren’t & had our fingers removed just in case we played where we shouldn’t).


Jan 30, 2011 I like it
by: Kathryn

I like that a lot Ruth.
The bereaved cat,the guilty owner,the uncaring vet,says it all.
Nobody but the poor cat mourns the loss of its toe ends and the poor thing doesn’t know they have been thrown out with the bloody swabs.
It only knows the pain,shock and bewilderement it has to live with for the rest of its life.
I hope that millions of toe ends return to haunt every vet who declaws cats.


Jan 30, 2011 Touched my heart
by: Edward

Man that tombstone and the cat mourning by it really touches the heart.
I dont know why some people think cats dont feel the same as people and suffer pain and loss the same.
Maybe its because cats cant talk and tell us but surely anyone who really does love cats can see their sadness when they lose bits of their body.
Ive just watched that video of that vet who says hes declawed hundreds and man the way he boasts of how its not so serious now with lasering and they dont hunch in corners for a fornight in pain like they used to.
Hes admitting he knows cats do suffer yet hes done hundreds and wants to do more.
Im a grown man but Im crying.
Ed


Jan 29, 2011 good article
by: kathy w

I just realized the poor stray that I have named tiger is declawed on all 4s. Poor thing. I know he was someones pet. Now that hes not afraid of me anymore he is so loving and wants to come inside by us. I remember the 1st time I saw him he was running like he was terrified and kept looking behind himself. I finally realized the poor creature had taken refuge under our house. Today I left our door open for awhile. He just sat by the door looking in. Our cats all visited him through the glass. Some were not so happy but at least he wasnt alone for a while. I know he cant come in by us because he is aggresive towards the feral cat Mr Grey. So now someone paid to have all his claws removed then just threw him out or dropped him off like a bag of garbage!!! He has so much love to give and wants to give it, it breaks my heart. I plan on him going to spay and stay soon as the weather warms up. Hell get nuetered, shots, and hopefully hell stay by me because I love the poor guy already!!


Jan 29, 2011 good article
by: kathy w

I just realized the poor stray that I have named tiger is declawed on all 4s. Poor thing. I know he was someones pet. Now that hes not afraid of me anymore he is so loving and wants to come inside by us. I remember the 1st time I saw him he was running like he was terrified and kept looking behind himself. I finally realized the poor creature had taken refuge under our house. Today I left our door open for awhile. He just sat by the door looking in. Our cats all visited him through the glass. Some were not so happy but at least he wasnt alone for a while. I know he cant come in by us because he is aggresive towards the feral cat Mr Grey. So now someone paid to have all his claws removed then just threw him out or dropped him off like a bag of garbage!!! He has so much love to give and wants to give it, it breaks my heart. I plan on him going to spay and stay soon as the weather warms up. Hell get nuetered, shots, and hopefully hell stay by me because I love the poor guy already!!


Jan 29, 2011 good article
by: kathy w

I just realized the poor stray that I have named tiger is declawed on all 4s. Poor thing. I know he was someones pet. Now that hes not afraid of me anymore he is so loving and wants to come inside by us. I remember the 1st time I saw him he was running like he was terrified and kept looking behind himself. I finally realized the poor creature had taken refuge under our house. Today I left our door open for awhile. He just sat by the door looking in. Our cats all visited him through the glass. Some were not so happy but at least he wasnt alone for a while. I know he cant come in by us because he is aggresive towards the feral cat Mr Grey. So now someone paid to have all his claws removed then just threw him out or dropped him off like a bag of garbage!!! He has so much love to give and wants to give it, it breaks my heart. I plan on him going to spay and stay soon as the weather warms up. Hell get nuetered, shots, and hopefully hell stay by me because I love the poor guy already!!


Jan 29, 2011 This is true
by: Barbara

This page http://www.cirp.org/library/psych/maguire/
is about coping with the loss of body parts, it is obviously written about people (from the BMJ) but just read some of it and you will see that there is real grief and a sense of bereavement following seperation of a body part.
Example: “The similarity between grief at loss of body part and grief caused by the death of a loved person has been clearly shown in comparative studies of the reaction to amputation of a limb and of widowhood. People with either of these losses were preoccupied with feelings of loss: bereaved people were missing the lost person and the amputees were missing the loss of physical attractiveness (loss of body image) or the occupational and other physical functions that could no longer be carried out (loss of function), or both of these.”

I don’t believe that cats are any different to humans in that if an essential part of their physique is taken away then I am certain they miss, and long for, their amputated digits!

Barbara avatar


Jan 29, 2011 Spot on Ruth
by: OJ

Who wouldn’t be bereaved at losing healthy body parts.
One day a cat is using its claws for all the things cats do then next day for no reason the cat can fathom out those claws have gone and there’s pain in its paws.
Cats aren’t daft,they know there was nothing wrong with their claws or toes and naturally they must grieve for them.
But cats feelings don’t matter to the declaw vets,only money matters to them.


Jan 29, 2011 Insightful
by: Michael

I had never considered this possibility until reading your article. But it makes sense. We tend to believe what we want to believe, which is if the declawed cat looks and behaves alright he or she must be alright.

We don’t know what is going on in the head of the cat, however. People who declaw their cat like to think all is well as it supports their poor behavior. Typical humans I am afraid.

Thanks for the article, Ruth.


1 thought on “A DECLAWED CAT IS BEREAVED”

  1. The author of the best comment will receive an Amazon gift of their choice at Christmas! Please comment as they can add to the article and pass on your valuable experience.
  2. Of course cats grieve for their lost claws!!! That’s why they become withdrawn and will resort to biting since they can’t use their claws for defense. Not only that, but their feet will continue to hurt for the rest of their lives (phantom pain), the nerves, tendons, and ligaments have also been cut, and these retract back into the leg, and the paws will become “frozen”; no longer able to flex. Arthritis and muscle weakness will follow, since the cat can’t hook into the post or tree and set back to give themselves a good workout. Cats are stoic though, because if they showed pain, that would alert a predator.

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