Declawed cats still have their teeth
by Maggie
(Tasmania, Australia)
A 'mouthful' of teeth
I was watching some videos on YouTube of declawed cats. Watching declawed cats is a good way to understand some of their physical behaviour.
The title of the video below made me curious, there's nothing about declawing in the title, but there is in the description. How could a declawed cat 'beat up' a dog? Claws are the key instrument used when a cat is fighting. But there is also another instrument which is extremely similar to the claw, particularly in shape and effectiveness, the tooth!
Watch the video, (don't worry there's nothing horrendously disturbing or disgusting in it, the two are playing not fighting. The title is misleading.) and watch how the cat TRIES to use his claws, but when that fails he resorts to using his teeth.
Also notice how sometimes the cat struggles to balance, definitely due to being declawed. And how the dog too is using his claws through the 'fight', why isn't the dog declawed in that case? Although, it appears he's had his tail docked. What a lovely, kind, compassionate 'owner' these poor unfortunate animals must have...
But what worries me the most is that this dog is a puppy. I'm not sure what breed, but the puppy will probably grow to tower over the cat. What is the cat going to do when the puppy is a dog, and is more than double the cat's size, and still wants to play. The puppy was using his teeth too, and if the cat can't use his claws to warn off the dog, then it's highly likely that the dog could cause some serious damage to the cat.
If that dog happened to be a toddler then the cat's attitude would be a lot different. Toddlers don't understand animals like fellow animals (such as the dog) do, so the toddler could possibly recieve several nasty bites. And from my experience, bites are a LOT worse than scratches.
So, why declaw a cat? They can't defend themselves against larger opponents with just teeth, and smaller opponents could be damaged more by the teeth than by the claws.
If I were an American mother with a young child, I would much rather a clawed cat than a declawed cat. Simply because declawed cats can cause more damage with their teeth than a clawed cat can with their claws. And let's face it, with a set of claws it's not like a clawed cat is really going to use their teeth for much other than eating...
Maggie