A veterinary clinic employee wrote to Mercury News in response to a previous letter which supported cat declawing. The person supporting declawing was responding to a proposed law for California banning declawing unless for therapeutic purposes (AB 1230, as introduced, Quirk. Veterinary medicine: declawing animals).
The employee said that declawed cats cried in pain all night. Does that shock or surprise you? It does not surprise me. Declawing is usually ten partial amputations. The vets give pain killers but do they give enough? Apparently not. How do they gauge the amount? You can’t ask. It is guesswork.
And all this pain is for the cat owner’s convenience. It does not work because declawed cats tend to bite more and their behavior is affected negatively. Some are relinquished to shelters. I guess some are put down because they become difficult. It is just a disastrous, inhumane process.
The Letter
Re: “Clawed cats are put down for causing extreme harm” (Letter to the editor, March 8):
This torture needs to stop. I worked at a veterinary clinic and witnessed the pain the poor declawed cats suffered.
They would cry in pain throughout the night.
Please ban this inhumane act in California.
Deb Louise
San Leandro
The Earlier Letter
Re: eliminating declawing statewide: I understand the sentiment, but human knuckles are much more important than cat claws.
I have seen the extreme damage that cat claws do. It is very expensive and not pleasant to see. I have also seen the damage cat scratches do to children’s faces. And I have never seen a case of declawed cats being more aggressive.
But I have seen clawed cats cause so much harm that they are regularly put down. So save cat lives by not voting for this ignorant law.
Dale Sherman
San Jose
[weaver_breadcrumbs class=’alt-class’ style=’inline-style’]
[weaver_show_posts cats=”” tags=”cat-declawing” author=”” author_id=”” single_post=”” post_type=” orderby=”date” sort=”ASC” number=”2″ show=”full” hide_title=”” hide_top_info=”” hide_bottom_info=”” show_featured_image=”” hide_featured_image=”” show_avatar=”” show_bio=”” excerpt_length=”” style=”” class=”” header=”” header_style=”” header_class=”” more_msg=”” left=0 right=0 clear=0]
It is shocking to me that in this day and age of the internet that people woiuld still even consider declawing a cat. Although still not excusable, back in the day they could still plead ignorance but nowadays a single search on the topic makes it abundantly plain that declawing a cat is akin to mutilation and torture.
Yes, declawing is absolutely disgusting. Shame and shame again in the vets who do it. My heart hurts for the millions of abused cats who have been declawed.