DECLAWED CAT SUFFERING IN SMALL STEEL CAGE

My God what a vile illiterate Moron you are!! If you thought it was wrong for 2 years why have you changed your mind now? Because you suddenly have a baby? Did the cat scratch the baby? I'll bet not!! You just did it as a precaution didn't you when in reality your cat probably would never have scratched your precious brat!

My neighbour had a baby six weeks ago. She has 2 beautiful cats who she has never kept away from the baby. They all live happily togeather and although she had a really hard time before and after giving birth do you know that those cats were always uppermost in her mind?

Those cats were her babies before and they still are now and she doesn't even know what de-clawing is because we are one of the countries that doesn't commit this vile, disgusting barbaric act.

What sort of a person are you? Why don't you come back on here and tell us how you feel now? What you've done makes me feel physically sick. What makes me want to slap some sense into you is knowing that you won't protect your cat when your brat starts to maul her will you? No you won't because you're too damn lazy and you don't give a shit.

Anyone who can look at that picture and still do this shouldn't be let within 50 miles of a cat. Your no cat lover so don't tell us you are you're a thick insensitive asshole.

As you don't have the courtesy to feel the need to give your name then neither need I.
Have I got this right?
You wanted your baby and your cat to live in the same house together so in order for that to happen your cat had to have her TEN front toe ends amputated.
Pray tell me why?
Why didn't you get off your backside and supervise your kid until its old enough to know pets aren't toys?
No you did not HAVE to have this done so don't come spouting your rubbish here on a cat lovers forum.
You don't belong here you are NOT a cat lover.
What you are is an unsuitable person to have any other living being in your charge.

What with Ass-hole and bullshit you have truly shown yourself for what you are!
Rife with ignorance and yet trying to put blame onto educated well written people because you didn't have your cat disabled 18 months earlier.
Attempting to justify why you have now paid someone to cause her suffering.
You have wasted your time and ours too but that doesn't matter at all, what does matter is the fact that right now and for the rest of her life your cat will pay the price of your ignorance and cruelty.
How does that make you feel?
ROTTEN to the core I hope.
Enjoy your perfect baby with fingertips and enjoy your own fingertips while you can because one day KARMA will dish out the punishment you deserve for taking the fingertips from and leaving defenseless the suffering animal that you pretend to love.

What a disgusting snivelling coward, plenty to say but not willing to put your name to it, blaming everyone but yourself for what you've done to your cat because you're not a good enough parent to ensure that cat and child live happily and safely together and because you're so ill-educated that you don't realise what you have inflicted on your cat, there were so many humane alternatives to ruining your cat's paws, and then resorting to offensive language because you're not fluent enough to express yourself otherwise.

The only victim here is the cat, you stupid, cruel person.

Petra Stephenson.

You've got it very wrong because all declawing is inhumane.
You didn't have to have it done to your cat and the doctor who did it should have pointed that out.
So between you you have caused your cat to suffer as the one in the picture suffered and is still suffering unless of course the owner 'got rid' of it by now.
'Got rid' as in had killed of course.
That's what you will probably do because no you don't love your cat and will be the sort of ignorant person to blame the cat instead of yourself when the problems from the declawing manifest.
You make me sick!

You've got it very wrong because all declawing is inhumane.
You didn't have to have it done to your cat and the doctor who did it should have pointed that out.
So between you you have caused your cat to suffer as the one in the picture suffered and is still suffering unless of course the owner 'got rid' of it by now.
'Got rid' as in had killed of course.
That's what you will probably do because no you don't love your cat and will be the sort of ignorant person to blame the cat instead of yourself when the problems from the declawing manifest.
You make me sick!

You've got it very wrong because all declawing is inhumane.
You didn't have to have it done to your cat and the doctor who did it should have pointed that out.
So between you you have caused your cat to suffer as the one in the picture suffered and is still suffering unless of course the owner 'got rid' of it by now.
'Got rid' as in had killed of course.
That's what you will probably do because no you don't love your cat and will be the sort of ignorant person to blame the cat instead of yourself when the problems from the declawing manifest.
You make me sick!

So you've now seen that picture above have you and know exactly what happened to your cat?
Instead of looking at things like that before it was too late.
Now it IS too late you are trying to pass on your guilt.
Well it doesn't wash,the guilt is yours.
Not content with that you wish you'd had this despicable surgery done to your cat when she was a baby.
Do you seriously believe that it would have been better to have her ten toe ends amputated then?
She was a baby like your REAL baby who has obviously come along and turned your cat into a creature with no rights or feelings.
NO time is right to have a cat crippled,NO age is the right age,declawing is NOT,never has been and never will be acceptable.
You seem to like the word Ass-Hole,well it suits you down to the ground you ASS-HOLE!!!!

You might well hide behind anonymous you coward but you can't hide from your conscience what you had done to your cat.
Resorting to gutter language shows you up for what you are an ignorant person who thinks because they have a baby it's ok to mutilate the family pet cat on its behalf.
That baby won't thank you as it grows up not knowing the real world where a warning swipe with claws teaches it to respect cats.
No it will grow up thinking cats are possessions to adapt to your specification and that cats bite and they pee and poo outside the litterbox.
That cats have little stumps where their toes should be.
Well done you,you've failed your cat and your baby both.It has no chance now of knowing the happiness of growing up with a happy healthy famnily pet.
I hope you will at least teach it to accept blame when its wrong and not to try to blame others for the shortcomings or ignorance you will be passing on to it.

You might well hide behind anonymous you coward but you can't hide from your conscience what you had done to your cat.
Resorting to gutter language shows you up for what you are an ignorant person who thinks because they have a baby it's ok to mutilate the family pet cat on its behalf.
That baby won't thank you as it grows up not knowing the real world where a warning swipe with claws teaches it to respect cats.
No it will grow up thinking cats are possessions to adapt to your specification and that cats bite and they pee and poo outside the litterbox.
That cats have little stumps where their toes should be.
Well done you,you've failed your cat and your baby both.It has no chance now of knowing the happiness of growing up with a happy healthy famnily pet.
I hope you will at least teach it to accept blame when its wrong and not to try to blame others for the shortcomings or ignorance you will be passing on to it.

There is one ASS-HOLE and that is YOU,oh how vulgar you are in your desperation to pass your guilt onto other people.
Your cat had 2 happy years with the claws she needs to stay happy and healthy,2 short years and then YOU decided to ruin the rest of her life.
The agonising pain she is now suffering is down to YOU.
The phantom pain she will suffer in her severed toe ends in the future is down to YOU.
When she bites your offspring that's down to YOU.
If she develops litter tray avoidance due to the pain of digging with mutilated stumps,that's down to YOU.
You have us believe you love your cat?
Yet you paid to have her toe ends cut or burned off?
No you do NOT love your cat but I tell you one thing,you OWE your cat,you owe her the protection from being mauled by your offspring.
You owe her the veterinary treatment she will need in the future AND you owe her an apology for depriving her of a home where she'd have been valued for what she is,a cat born with CLAWS because they are necessary to her.
Just like your offspring was born with fingers and toes which no doubt you coo over and trim the nails on.
Yet you couldn't do the same for your cat!
Think on next time you trim your own nails and be grateful you have finger ends because your suffering cat hasn't any now.
SHAME ON YOU cat abuser!

Here's an interesting fact for you, you cowardly good-for-nothing useless insensitive self absorbed fool. My mother raised 5 children in a house with cats, in a country where declawing is illegal. Every single one of our cats have had all of their 18 claws intact, from birth to death. And not once, during DECADES of raising children, did one of my mother's children EVER suffer from a scratch. Our cats slept in our beds, suffered through children's rough play, and even fought over food with us. Mum never clipped their claws, but we all survived. So YOU are the ass hole who needs to stop bullshitting, you're a bloody idiot. Cat claws cannot damage children at all. If you're so worried, then stop being a dodgy parent and supervise your little brat when it's around animals.

By the way, when cats are robbed of their claws they bite instead. And trust me, a cat's bit is a million times worse than his scratch. Your brat would have been safer with a cat whose defense is scratching rather than biting. Remember, the claws are used to catch the prey, and the bite is used to kill the prey.

You have put your cat through agonising surgery and caused her to be crippled for the rest of her life. You have also put your baby at risk of being bitten when she grabs at that poor cat as no doubt you will let her when she starts crawling, being the ignorant person you are.
You HAD to get her declawed ? Were you held st gunpoint ?
No YOU are the ass-hole not us, YOU didn't HAVE to have your cat's finger ends amputated, you CHOSE to so don't try to pass the guilt of your cruelty on to anyone else.
You wish you'd had it done before she was 2 years old you say. Well excuse me but declawing is supposed to be a LAST RESORT for SERIOUS scratching behaviour and any vet declawing kittens breaks their oath to cause no animal to suffer.
So between you and whoever did this surgical abuse YOU have caused your cat suffering, YOU and your vet.
Poor baby of yours growing up thinking cats are soft toys but then finding that soft toy has teeth.
What a shame declawing is not yet banned in your country as it is in 39 others where we teach our children to love and respect animals just as they come.
We do not and never have in our country paid a vet to mutilate our cats and then try to pass our guilt and shame on to others.
Cats have short lives in comparoison to ours, by your baby is grown up, your cat will be dead, having lived the disabled life YOU caused. You don't love your cat, I just hope you treat your baby better than you have that poor cat.

Excuse me? You HAD to declaw your cat - why? What connection is there between having a baby in the house and having to declaw a cat?

Are you actually daring to blame a group of people who have thoroughly researched declawing and know for a fact that it is physically and metally traumatic for your delay in mutilating your cat?

Why would you even want to do it at any age? Are you so stupidly set in your ways that your mind can't comprehend new information that proves the cruelty of declawing? Have you not seen the above picture and realised how bloody disgusting declawing is?

Why do you think it necessary to declaw a cat because you have a baby, don't you realise that declawing is banned in 38 countries, don't you think we have babies too? There is absolutely no reason to declaw a cat EVER, either at 6 months or 2 years, babies, children, dogs, furniture NONE of them are reasons to amputate cats toes.If you were so frightened of her claws why didn't you clip the sharp points off them or buy soft paws, why did you have to cut her toe ends off? Will you definger your baby when it starts scratching itself? Will you protect your cat when the baby is at the terrible twos stage and manhandles her and she can't protect herself? Are you even fit to be in charge of a baby if you see major surgery as an acceptable preventative for natural behaviour?

It's too late for your cat because due to your small minded ignorance, or maybe on the advice or instruction of some know-it-all or bully, you've subjected her to painful surgery that has maimed her for life. DO NOT blame people like me who care about cats and their welfare for your own cruelty and ignorance. The shame and the blame are all yours madam!You are not the victim, the cat is!

YOU are the one who is an ass-hole, you do not love your cat you just love possessing her and having control over her. I pity both the cat and the baby.

If it was not for people like you, and all the other "if you declaw you are complete evil" comments, forums, and the like on the web i wouldn't have waited till my cat was 2 years to do it. the recover quickly when 6 months, i should have done it then.

These forums and bullshit make out that the only reason people declaw is because they don't understand the pain, or because they don't care, or that they care more about there expensive furniture!! NOT TRUE

i HAD TO DECLAW BECAUSE OF A SMALL BABY IN THE HOUSE. I love my cat, and my baby, and want them to live in the same house together. This means decalwing FOR US AN MY CAT. Does not mean this is the case for everyone, every cat is different. Depends on their personality, if you can use other devices and training.

WE TRIED THEM ALL BECAUSE OF ASS-HOLES LIKE YOU PUTTING THIS STUFF OUT THERE ON THE WEB. AND NOW SHE IS TWO YEAR OLD AND WE HAD TO DO THE SURGERY.
RECOVERY TAKES 2 WEEKS NOW.

Anna I really don't know why.
Declawing is premeditated legalised abuse by the very people who take an oath to cause no animal suffering.
Yet they encourage clients to have little kittens declawed.
I don't understand it at all !
It's only thanks to vet techs taking photos for us and telling us how cats suffer that we have proof of what declaw vets want to keep hidden.
They and the AVMA and the selfish ignorant people who condone declawing can deny it as much as they like but people who truly love cats can see how cruel and how wrong it is.

My God, WHY? Just HOW can this be legal??!
What's wrong with people?! How can that vet go home and sleep every day?! HOW??!

That picture is merely the beginning of that poor cat's life of misery.
How could it be otherwise after having ten amputations and facing life with no toe ends.
This cruel procedure must be stopped before many more ignorant people pay a corrupt vet to cripple their pet this way.

Every vet should be forced to show this photo to clients asking about declawing.
Oh silly me why would they do that when they encourage it and would rather keep under wraps how cats suffer.

There are idiots who think their cat is fine after laser declawing.
They just don't get it do they that cats are so stoic they suffer in silence.
They didn't see the suffering post op,that's been kept under wraps until now.

LOOK AT THAT CAT in the photo!

Think of the future that cat suffering at the very least with arthritis.

Declaw your cat and you are not only an idiot but an abuser of animals.

I can not credit that this brutality is legal in America.
I have followed a link to this page and I am shocked to my very being.
I had no idea this happens.
What is with the doctors who can do this to innocent creatures and walk away but call themselves carers of animals health.

I think this is horrific.

I am grateful to live in a country where de-clawing is considered to be animal abuse and is therefore illegal.

It is barbaric and totally uncivilised to do this to an animal.

I think this is horrific.

I am grateful to live in a country where de-clawing is considered to be animal abuse and is therefore illegal.

It is barbaric and totally uncivilised to do this to an animal.

This horrendously cruel surgery wants outlawing RIGHT NOW.
Doctors doing this should be struck off immediately and all cat owners with declawed cats should be prosecuted for paying those doctors to mutilate their cats.

That clinic owner should be prosecuted for cruelty to animals and never be allowed to practice again.
That picture could melt the heart of even someone who isn't fond of cats.No one with any compassion could look at that and condone de-clawing by any method whatsoever.
I hope the person that cat belongs to comes across this page and sees what really happened to their pet though their selfish ignorance of putting it in the hands of a torturer,in fact paying for their cat's torture.
It disgusts me.

I do not know if the cat in this photo was declawed by laser or not, but I agree that the laser method is being promoted as better and more humane, which it is NOT. In addition to putting pressure on vets to stop declawing, I feel we should also put pressure on the manufacturers of laser equipment to STOP marketing their product to vets as being better for declaws!!!

Idiots are believing that laser declawing is more humane than other methods.They can't grasp that any method of declawing is the removal of the cats last toes joints and cripples it for life.
Cut off or burned off it's extremely painful,you only need to look at that picture to know that.
It's high time vets kept to their oath and stopped abusing cats like this.

Deare Lorde this is so dreadfule.To thinke a human being has done that to a sentient beinge and lefte it in a cage of miserye is beyonde the boundaries of my minde.

I've seen that face before. That is the face of a cat in pain so horrendous that there is no way they can express it. Pain that is so bad that the only way they can deal with it is by focussing on the frustration that comes when the pain won't go away.

And look at all the blood, I'm surprised declawed cats are affected by some sort of anemia after the procedure. That amount of blood lost cannot be healthy, surely?

I don't understand how this cruelty can still be legal? Does the convenience it brings to humans really justify its torture? Are cats so inferior to humans that mutilating them is okay? The AVMA seriously need to wake up to themselves and realise that humans do not have superiority over animals, and cannot allow humans to torture them any longer.

I would actually suggest to cat caretakers, when choosing a vet, to look and see, or ask, if they do sell scratching posts, because to me that is a good indicator that they may be a little more enlightened than the average. To illustrate, there are two feline-specific vet clinics in my town. Both perform declaws, but one of these clincs also sells scratching posts, sells and applies the "Soft Paws" nail caps, sells the "Sticky Paws" double-sided tape furniture protectors, AND at least one of their two doctors told me she attempts to discourage clients from declawing whenever possible. The other clinic does NONE of this, and instead uses the available retail space in their lobby mostly for selling overpriced cat-themed knick-knacks. I am much more likely to believe the first clinic has the cat's best interests in mind than the second. Ideally, of course, they would not declaw at all, but by including these alternatives right there in their clinic, they are miles ahead of their competition in my opinion, and hopefully may be more open to changing their policies in the future.
I don't think that banning the sale of scratching posts in any place but vet clinics is really either possible or necessary, but getting more vets on board with offering their clients the RIGHT kind of scratching post is. There are too many inferior posts on the market that are not made with the cat's true needs in mind, and it is these bad products that make people believe that scratching posts don't work, when we all know that they DO. I personally would like to see some kind of "seal of approval" for scratching posts so that people wouldn't waste time and money trying bad posts and ultimately resorting to declawing.

You are absolutely right, Jojo, it's horrible. And to me the fact that this is a grown cat that has probably been with humans for years makes it even worse.
This is probably not the sad mistake of some "newbie" cat keeper. It is premeditated betrayal towards a loyal companion!

That is the most horrible picture I've seen and I hope anyone who has a declawed cat suffers horribly with guilt at what it went through.
It surely must stop anyone else from putting their cat through it.
I'm going to send this picture EVERYWHERE

Hi Michael. I like the idea of vets selling scratch posts and actually there doesn't have to restrictions on selling them elsewhere for this scheme to work.
The trick is that the scratch post sold by the vet should be a special version approved by the AVMA. Maybe it should be made from a special material or maybe in a special shape, whatever. As long as the Vets have exclusive rights to sell this particular scratch post they can charge double the price of "non-approved" posts.
The vets will make excessive profits, while the pet shop won't be put completely out of business. And in case some cat keepers start with an AVMA approved post and then next time choose to buy a cheaper version, both shops have made their profits. 😉

The person who maimed that cat is the one who should be in a small steel cage.
It's nothing short of evil and I can't believe it's not a criminal offence as it is in other countries.

Micheal your idea is far too sensible for those vets,after all they'd have to admit that providing a scratching post is humane and chopping cats toes off isn't.
They don't care about cats,they only care about the dollars they can earn from them.
The surgery and the times they go back with complications from it and then the expensive arthritis medication in their later life(not that they'll admit the declawing caused that of course)
They smugly think they have this cash cow forever but we won't let them get away with it and one day they'll be stopped.
Soon the whole world will know about this abuse of cats as more people join us and take up educating others.

Your idea is crazy but also sane Michael.
As sane as those of us who know how cruel declawing is yet we are called crazy by some because we try to educate people about the obvious to us cruelty of amputating cats toe ends instead of providing scratching posts or pads for them.
The big problem is that those vets who declaw must know themselves declawing is a quick but inhumane fix, they must know how cats suffer through this uneccessary surgery even if they deny there are many mental and physical problems from it afterwards.
But they won't admit it ! They see 'cats' not each individual cat, they see human clients they want to please and of course they see easy money in the bank. They can do the deed and walk away and let their assistants throw away the healthy body parts, clean up the blood and tend the mutilated patient.
The clinic in which that poor cat is in that small steel cage is very worrying, it makes me wonder how all cats are treated there, not only for declawing but for other surgical procedures.
How can the vets who run that clinic be trusted ?

I hope more people will boycott all declaw vets until they get the message this is not acceptable.

Jo Singer got me thinking laterally. Rather than banning declawing (which will possibly happen and I desperately want it to happen), the US government could ban the sale of scratching posts in the USA except in veterinarian clinics/surgeries, where it would be obligatory.

That would encourage vets to change their position on declawing and bring in compensatory revenue for loss of business in declawing. The trouble with this idea is that in the USA free, unregulated commerce is one of the foundations of the country it seems to me. There is little regulation or am I wrong.

A ban on declawing is desparately needed but there are so many obstacles politically that some other form of government legislation that tackles the problem from a different perspective might be the answer.

Maybe some doctors do treat their patients more humanely than shutting them in a cage like the one in that horrifically graphic photo.
But they sure don't treat them humanely enough by hacking or burning their toe ends off no matter how good the aftercare.

Exactly my sentiments ! In a long career as a vet nurse here in the UK we rarely clipped cats claws and in 36 years of having cats in our home we only had to clip one very old cat's claws when she didn't get around much to keep them right herself.
But it seems in the USA they clip cats claws as routine and that is far better than having them declawed.
I really don't know why some people make such a big deal about claws, they are a natural, beautiful and very neccessary part of a cat's anatomy.

Well said !
Yes many of us are working for it, in fact more and more people are finding out the truth and passing it on.
But there are still those who don't know and those who know but don't care.
Anyone who can look at photos of suffering cats and still condone declawing certainly isn't a human being but some cold hearted parody of one, as are the vets who do this despicable surgery.

...this horrific crime will be illegal in the usa as it is already in many more progressive and compassionate nations. WORK FOR IT. And for those who defend it, step right up and get your toes all whacked off at the first joint, recuperate without anaesthesia, then WALK ON THOSE MUTILATED FEET for the rest of your life. That isn't near what a cat has to go through, but it would give you a little taste of it, anyway.

If you get a cat, you take it for everything it is and that includes it's nails. For a cat, nothing is more important, hence why they take such good care of them. When you amputate them off they resort to biting instead. If you're worried about your friggin' furniture you should get a fish....

P.s. I also don't believe in clipping their nails. The fact is, the sharper their nails are, the less damage they do as they more easily go into and out of materials,and the less your cat wants/needs to try and sharpen them.

The whole idea of having a cat as a pet is to let it be a CAT. Seems to me the same people that do these sort of things to their animals are the same people that are messing up the children of the world...

My dad made me a cheap scratching post years ago and it's held up well. I've built two more for less than $15 each and they're about four feet tall and my cats go crazy over them. Sisal rope, a landscape timber, a 3 foot or larger diameter circle of plywood. Wrap the landscape timber in the rope, bolt to the plywood and let your cats go nuts. I've built several of these myself and they're far cheaper than the ones you find at PetCo or Wal-Mart.

Declawing is cruel. Plain and simple.

Since so many people don't realize the excrutiating pain to which they are subjecting their cat when they opt to have this inhumane and brutal procedure done, education is SO crucial.

Getting the word out to everyone that we know with the facts about declawing, who has cats or are considering getting a cat, or just knows anyone in the same position, is so vital to finally end declawing as a routine procedure.

The more folks know, the less likely they will opt to have the surgery done, which will, hopefully in the long run drastically reduce the number of declaw surgeries that veterinarians do... and vets will still continue to thrive in their business and will ultimately provide more humane services and make a good income.

They may even start selling scratching posts, etc.. what a fabulous idea!

This is so sad but true. I worked in a vets office and he never left the cat like that in a bloody cage. Why is the cat bleeding and why does he have a cone on his neck? Where are the bandages. This is extreme cruelty. At least if they are going to torture this poor kitty by the declaw the least they could do is be a humane as possible. I wonder did they even sedate the poor thing? I hate this but its true. How many cats go through this torture everyday??? Its so sickening to think people arent educated against this cruel act. This practice needs to be outlawed everywhere in the world.

Maybe that's the punishment cell for biting off the dressings to try to get to the agonisingly painful bits of the paws that are left.
I shudder to think how long that cat was left like that.
No doubt it was quickly cleaned up when the owner was due to collect their 'much loved pet'

Are the walls stainless steel so as to make it easier to wash the blood off them I wonder.
I think I can see small splashes up the back or is that rust.
Yes I can see the cat has removed the bandages from one paw and those toes are bloody.
The collar looks as if it's digging in its front too.
That cat must be in complete pain and misery and this was purposefully caused by a doctor of animals.
It's like some sort of scene from a horror movie.

Yet it's LEGAL?????????????

Incredible!

That is so horribly sad and to surgically mutilate a cat like that then leave it suffering in an almost bare cage would cause a vet in my country to be arrested and charged with cruelty to animals.
It's high time America got some animal welfare laws and this blatant and obscene abuse of cats was stopped once and for all.

Thanks everyone for your bravery in looking at that photo and for your wonderful comments.

Yes Michael it is harrowing and depressing and I thank you for allowing it on your web site.
With Christmas coming up and kittens being given as living presents, being able to educate from your very popular web site is invaluable and may save some toe joints !

Leslie, there are a lot of people like you who took it for granted that declawing was the right thing to do and you are to be admired for your vow to stop anyone you can from doing it to their cats now you know the truth.
We need you to help us spread the word, as many people still don't know that truth.
There are some who deny it and sadly we can't do much about them, just hope one day soon the declaw vets do the right thing and educate their clients as to the alternatives instead of abusing cats as a quick fix.

That looks like one of those pictures of laboratory animals kept in cages and being experimented on.
No compassion given to them and by this picture none given to cats after declawing either.
I find it incredible that people who supposedly love their pets happily pay someone to do this to them.
I hope they see this picture and are stricken with guilt and never ever put a cat through it again.
I suppose the vets who do this cruel operation do their bit and leave the aftermath to the staff they pay with blood money.
But allellulia those staff are now turning the tables on those cold hearted money grabbers and exposing the truth.
Thanks to the internet and this site and others like it the entire world can see how cats are abused in the US and in Canada.

Michael is right, this post is harrowing but absolutely necessary to get the truth out there. Poor little thing, its bad enough to do this to a kitten but this cat looks older and to be put through this by someone who he is supposed to be able to trust is nothing short of torture.
Are anybodys curtains or sofas worth more than this poor little fellows mobility and right to a normal life? Seems to me its about time the people who still advocate this horrific practice started questioning their motives of having any animal let alone a cat. If a baby was born with ginger hair would they use chemicals to colour it, well in America they probably would, but most people I know have their cats and treat them like one of the family, and if people cant do that they should not have a cat.
Thanks Ruth for continuing to remind people what this abhorration is all about.
God bless the wee puss.

Kudos to the brave veterinary staff who are showing us what goes on behind closed doors.
Kudos too to Ruth and to the other people writing about this despicable and cruel surgery.
It takes a lot of guts to look at a picture like that and I have to admit I squinted so as not to see the full horror.
Kudos to those of you forcing yourselves to look and backing up this article with your comments.
Finally kudos to Micheal PoC who has made this web site the best and most educational about declawing,he isn't afraid to let the whole world find out the truth here!

Oh dear me that is one of the saddest pictures I have ever seen, and the thought that this cat was deliberately injured makes me so angry.
Bad enough that our pets face the hazzards of life, accidental injury and disease, the same as we do but to think that someone somewhere chose to have this cat injured in this way is incomprehensible because if this were in my country both the owner and the person who inflicted this injury could and would be prosecuted.

"A photograph describes a thousand words" is absolutely true in this particular photo.Hope people keeping cats as pets are also willing to tolerate their pets normal feline behaviour and avoid "De-clawing" their pets.

That photo should end up shoved in the face of all declawers. That poor poor cat it really is as if they want to inflict as much pain on him as they can. They havent even given him a comfy bed to ease his suffering. They probably don't want to have to wash the blood off the blanket. But there again he is only another cat after all just way down the consideration chain; only thing he's good for where the butcher who did this to him is concerned is that he's just made some more blood money.

I felt sick when I saw the picture but thank you to the photographer. I really do hope more assistants come forward to shame the profession they work for to expose them for all the blood money they make.

Also this cat looks a few years old so he has been used to using his claws for all sorts of things imagine his confusion when he tries to grab something for the first time and can't or jump up and can't. My heart is very heavy for him and all the cats and kittens that go though this time and again. It has to stop!!

Thank you to the person who was brave enough to take this photo and get it out there! I know firsthand about the risk he or she is taking in doing so. I hope that more veterinary staff who are sickened by declawing will start to speak out and both show and tell about what they know to be wrong !!! The more of us who do so, the less the veterinary industry will be able to say that damning evidence like this is somehow just an isolated occurrence, when we know it is not.

Photography can truly bring the truth to light.

I am convinced we humans have become desensitized to the pain an animal experiences. What has happened to our compassion?

When I was much younger and more naive, I was led to believe it was responsible pet ownership to have a cat declawed so an indoor cat couldn't ruin the drapery or the upholstery.

Back then I was still a meat-eater. Since then I have seen photos of how animals are treated in the meat industry and have become a vegetarian.

Because of this photograph, I will never encourage anyone to have their cat declawed, and I regret having put a cat through this pain 20 years ago.

We need to rethink our priorities. How important are the drapes? I can hang shorter curtains or use mini-blinds. I can offer scratching posts and other alternatives and reward my cat for desired behaviors.

Thank you for posting this pitiful kitty's photograph. May his suffering teach us how to love our furry fellow creatures more fully.

I hope that this photo will help people understand that declawing is not a pain free or minor procedure. The cat's posture, the expression on his face and the blood everywhere, must surely make pro-declawers think twice about what they are really subjecting their cats to.
To make a healthy animal suffer in that way purely for owner convenience is immoral.

Another picture that will stay in my mind forever. A poor tabby suffering for absolutely nothing! Declawing him will not solve anything - more likely it will create new problems.
Why don't more Americans check the facts before letting themselves talk into mutilating their pets like this?

Poor cat. I asked my vet about declawing my indoor cat and his thoughts. And his response to me: Would you like to have the tips of all your fingers amputated? No declawing for my indoor cat.

It certainly is harrowing and disturbing and most people outside of the actual veterinary surgery will never see such a dreadful picture, and that is why it is so important that it is seen, because it proves beyond a doubt that declawing is more than a minor manicure, cats do NOT wake up, jump up and get on with their lives and the fact that the Elizabethan collar has been put on proves that the cat has either tried to, or been routinely prevented from because it is a known reaction to declawing, licking or biting at his paws. Look at the floor of the cage, look at the thinness of the bloody bedding, imagine the weight of the cat pressing his paws into the wire, look at his face. Look in his eyes.
Is all this because of unavoidable or life saving surgery? NO it is because an owner (yes OWNER) has decided that he or she would like the convenience of a clawless cat, that decision and the payment to the vet for performing the procedure are the only parts the owner plays in this, the rest, as you can see, all falls on the unfortunate cat!

BAN DECLAWING! Sign the petition for pity's sake.

When I see this I think the world is mad. This was done at the direction of the "owner" that purports to love this cat as a family member, as you say.

It is mindless cruelty created out of a total absence of morality on behalf of the owner and vet.

Thanks for posting Ruth but this sort of image is harrowing and depressing.