This is a quote from Tina with the declawed cat who is scheduled to have her paws X-rayed to send to Dr Kirsten Doub, the Paw Project Utah vet.
‘Mollie lays around a lot right now so I don’t see her exhibiting much pain outwardly’
She gave me permission to use it in the hopes that it will urge anyone else worried about their declawed cat, to seek advice from a non declawing vet.
The reason Mollie lays around a lot is probably because it hurts her to walk! She has other signs also that her declawing as a young cat is bothering her…
Not digging in the litter box and shaking her paws…
There have been quite a few incidents lately of cats suffering from a botched declawing they had years before as kittens. So much for the excuse that declaw vets use, that it’s better done to a young kitten.
We might say ALL declaws are botched because there is no way to declaw a cat without botching it, the reason being that a cat’s claws are embedded in bone, they were never meant to be removed. Cutting through bone is very likely to shatter that bone! In my vet nurse days assisting at necessary amputations of various limbs I saw the evidence of that.
How many declawed cats are walking around with shards of bone in their mutilated paws? There could be thousands!
Over the years those shards move and cause the cat pain. But we all know how stoic cats are, they hide that pain for as long as they can, so that by the time a vet sees the poor cats, every step they take must be agony.
A cat’s deepest instinct from his long ago wild ancestors tells him that showing pain makes him vulnerable to other creatures. A declawed cat in pain must feel even more vulnerable, he knows he can’t defend himself without his claws, as nature intended him to.
Pro declaws say cats declawed as kittens never miss their claws. Of course they do!
The classic signs of a declawed cat having painful paws are:
- Litter box avoidance, using soft furnishings or carpet instead, or using the litter box but not digging in the litter to cover his wee or poo.
- Avoiding jumping, a declawed cat has no grip to balance as he jumps up a height and to jump down from a height hurts his paws as he lands.
- Shaking his paws, trying to shake off the pain.
As it becomes harder to hide his pain he may start hiding away, he thinks if he can’t see you, you can’t see him. If he stops eating it’s very urgent he sees a vet, he may have abscesses in his mutilated toes.
Pro declaw vets may try to dismiss his trouble saying it’s nothing to do with his declawing, they don’t want to admit that it causes many cats life long physical and mental problems. They don’t care about cats, they only care about the money they make from mutilating their paws. They don’t want to stop doing it.
One day they will be forced to admit that declawing is cruel because now there are anti-declaw Paw Project vets gathering hard scientific evidence of the consequences to declawed cats.
It’s heart breaking to think of just how many declawed cats there may be, living their life as cripples, misunderstood, misdiagnosed as ‘bad cats’ and with no hope of help. How many have lived their lives this way and died without anyone knowing how they have suffered? There are no statistics on how many declawed cats have problems.
The truth is hidden! Declawing is cruel surgery which ruins cats lives and it’s truly disgusting that pro declaw vets say otherwise!
The Paw Project are posting pictures on facebook of cats having paw repair surgery, their message is:
‘Please share to educate others! Hard cold data to show that the declaw procedure is RARELY without surgical complications’
I couldn’t agree with you more! From my experience, there’s a reason why cats do not seek out the appropriate place to scratch, when available, and it usually has to do with the human companion. Rather than having the cat declawed the human companion should give the cat an opportunity to find a more compatible human companion. Obviously, there is something lacking in the negative relationship that is causing the cat to act out. If someone cannot give an animal the appropriate natural environment (without amputating body parts/keeping a 100 pound dog in an apartment for 10 hours a day), a new living situation needs to be found for the pet. (By the way, although “altering” IS removing body parts, it’s in the best interest of everyone, including the overall health/longevity of the animal.)
of attention circumstances living environment that it needs to thrive it should not take on this responsibility
We (the regular visitors to PoC) believe there is never a justification for declawing. As you say there are many alternatives one of which is to simply accept a bit of damage to furniture or whatever. Getting scratched is nearly always the fault of the person. Scratches can be avoided.
As a professional pet sitter, I encounter many, many types of pets, however, the majority are cats, of which I have two. Although I never attempt to impose my own personal preferences about matters like declawing, grooming, etc. on my clients, I just grit my teeth and quietly rage inside when someone tells me they’re going to have their cat(s) declawed. There ARE several alternatives, actually. I would only resort to that if everything failed and even still, I’m not sure I would keep the cat if I had to do that (it’s the lazy owner’s way of not dealing with training and problem solving!. Cats can be trained. I know because I do it.)
I’m sorry I couldn’t watch the surgery I find it heartbreaking but it also angers me to the point where I can’t think of anything else.