By Ruth aka Kattaddorra
This came as a Google Alert...."My 5 month old kittens were just fixed and declawed on Tuesday.
I got them back on Wednesday. The male is almost completely back to normal already - you wouldn’t even know he had it done (other than a lot of meowing which he seems to have a bit of separation anxiety).
My female, however, has not come back to being herself at all. She has done little than sleep in 3 days and is favoring one of her paws. When I try to check her paws she cries when I look at that left paw and pulls it away.
It’s obviously hurting her. I don’t see any bleeding, redness or infection. Will this get better or do I need to get her to the vet ASAP? And if not, then when do I need to take her to the vet? Thank you!"
...Needless to say all our comments were removed apart from this one from a vet tech:
Excerpt:
'In our clinic we keep our declaws for three days and they receive heavy pain medication and anti inflammatory during this time.
I would suggest having her seen asap this baby needs pain medication if nothing else she also needs to have this paw looked and she may need to be sedated to have it looked at it is possible she is developing an infection that you can not see."
...So for all this person knows how painful declawing is she continues to work in a clinic where it is obviously commonplace.
THREE days on heavy pain medication says to me how excruciating the pain from declawing must be.
An addition from the asker revealed that those kittens had been given NO pain medication.
5 month old kittens being declawed is hardly the last resort procedure it's supposed to be!
The clinic probably pushed a neuter/declaw package deal. The male a lot of meowing put down to separation anxiety, no thought that he was in pain and shock too!
The female very obviously in serious pain and trouble with one paw. The vet tech giving advice as if this was necessary surgery performed.
How can this be right?
My cat has some of the sharpest claws I have ever seen. And even though he tries to be gentle he is a big cat and can hurt people even when he is trying not to. I’ve got scars from him getting to rough or kneading into my neck too hard (When I go to be he likes to lay on my chest and wrap his arms around my neck and cuddle). Trimming his nails can be a bit of a hassle. He is a rescue and his previous owners were abusive. We don’t know what they did, but after a year of spoiling him he is just now comfortable with me touching his feet. I could never imagine declawing him. I could never hurt him like that just to keep me and the furniture from a scratch here and there. I feel bad for people whose vets pushed it on them without giving them the chance to research it themselves. I mean, it sounds great to not have to worry about another cat scratch. And that’s the selling point a lot of money hungry vets push. I just wish more vets would be honest with owners and were looking out for the animals they are supposed to treat, not their wallet.
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