by Ruth
(England)
Elton the kitten in this video is around a month old.
He was found abandoned at only three weeks of age and is being well cared for in a Cats Protection foster home.
It’s obvious that despite being an orphan he is a very happy kitten and that already, even at his tender age, he knows what his claws are for.
Watch him using those claws for climbing, playing with a ball and most of all, watch him using his scratching post.
How very clever is that!
His instincts tell him that’s how to exercise and to keep his beautiful claws in pristine condition.
Elton lives in the UK and will never have those claws along with his toe ends, taken from him!
How different to many a kitten’s fate in the USA or Canada!
In those countries many vets are happy to declaw a kitten as soon as he reaches two pounds in weight.
They say the younger the better, because then the kitten doesn’t miss his claws.
In my opinion that is totally wrong!
Elton proves that a tiny kitten of only a month old knows full well he has claws and he would certainly miss his if someone took them from him.
Imagine a vet amputating those tiny toe ends!
Declawing is a supposedly last resort procedure for cats with serious scratching behaviour, but in the USA and Canada it is almost being done routinely to tiny kittens not much older than Elton.
This takes away the pleasure of their kittenhood and condemns them to a lifetime without the claws all cats need for a healthy fulfilled life as a cat.
The very thought is shocking to anyone who truly does love cats!
It is time this barbaric and unnecessary surgery was banned worldwide.