On their Facebook webpage, The Paw Project have partially published, 2 days ago, the findings of a study which concluded that…
“front-declawed cats suffer from a high degree of measurable chronic stress…who is surprised? – the words of The Paw Project.
The headline is:
They provide some photos of parts of the study. Sadly having searched high and low I can’t find the actual study referred to but will publish the photos that are on Facebook.
These are thumbnails. Please click on the images to see large versions which are more readable. When I come across the actual study I’ll read it and add to this page.
The Paw Project say they are not surprised. I am with them on that. We have to try and get into the head of declawed cats. There is a lack of empathy with the cats from vets and owners who declaw. Putting aside for a moment the large number of declawed cats who have suffered botched surgery leaving shards of claw in their paws and those that have suffered claw regrowth, we have to understand that declawed cats have lost an important part of their anatomy in a brutal way.
They cannot walk entirely normally and neither can they behave entirely normally as scratching is a part of their lifestyle. They are living a life with ten amputations. How would a person feel if they had to live their lives with the top of each finger and thumb amputated to the first knuckle? It would be stressful. It would affect the person’s life in many ways. It would impair dexterity in holding and manipulating objects for instance. There would be a pile of health and behavioral issues and yet we do it to millions of cats in the US.
So you have complications, pain, impaired behavior and skills, all a result of a 15 minute operation by an insensitive veterinarian who has prioritised money over patient welfare.
