Declawing Cats Is Just The Norm!

I live in the US and recently adopted two kittens. Declawing is absolutely the NORM here.

The rescue we got them from told us not to declaw - which I wasn't planning on doing anyway, because the cats we had growing up were never declawed. I just didn't really think much about it - we had strictly indoor cats, they had claws, there were a few minor scratching problems that we just dealt with. (Some combination of removing the "tempting" piece of furniture, providing an alternative scratching area, re-directing energy to toys, or simply squirting the cat with water when it scratched the wrong item always seemed to work - so much simpler than declawing, so why spend money and subject cats to surgical risk? was my parents' thinking.)

But I am surprised now to find out how many people are surprised that my cats are NOT declawed. "Oh, I see they still have there claws" they say, or "You're not going to declaw them?" - it seems to be a surprise to people that the cats aren't declawed and that we're not planning on getting it done.

Thank you for your support on this awful matter. its good to see that some of the uneducated people on this subject matter are finally starting to come around.

Thanks a lot to Helmi for the info about the American Cat Show world. I'm pleased to hear that some breeders have a non-declawing clause in their contracts - and I hope it's the majority of them.
I actually wondered about US shows a couple of months ago in a comment to 'Dr. Patricia Forsythe of the Nearly All Paws Animal Clinic'. Back then I said that if declawed cats can not win show titles, their offspring will have less commercial value - and that of course is not in the interest of the breeders. For that reason I expected the breeders to take a more active stance against declawing in general. They may be just a small fringe, but at the end of the day they are cat loving specialists and their words should count a lot in matters like these.

You are so right in all you not only say but say with passion and I feel exactly the same as you do about all animal abuse including the declawing of cats and kittens.
How I wish everyone would feel this way. I know quite a lot of people do who come to Michael's PoC and we are trying our best to educate those who don't ! But would you believe even when they know the truth, some people still go ahead and pay a corrupt vet to cripple their cat !
Our niece is married to an American and was over a couple of years ago visiting his family.She was astonished to see 2 cats without claws and asked why ?She (and we at that time) had no idea then that it was done deliberately as an everyday routine! The reply was 'Oh everyone gets their cats declawed'
No thought to what had been done to the cats or what problems they faced in their lifetimes. Our niece runs a pub in London and has 2 little children so is unable to committ to helping us, but she certainly makes sure everyone knows about the cruelty of it, especially her husband's USA family.
This pre maditated abuse is accepted as the norm by a lot of people,most of whom don't know the truth about it,so we must get it banned !

I find it unbelievable quite frankly but there again if some American states have no wild animal laws which mean exotic animals including crocodiles of all things are kept in bath tubs then why not abuse & mutilate defenceless little kittens?

No one and I mean no one has the right to take away an animals natural defences!!

The IFAW has managed to ban bear bating in some countries because it is inhumane and cruel. For the uninitiated, Bear bating involves humans having 'fun' by drugging a bear then removing its teeth and claws. When it wakes they set a ferocious dog or a pack of dog's on it. Nice eh?

Well excuse me for pulling no punches but the US vets are no better than these morons. They remove a poor little kitten’s most effective defence and leave it vulnerable to people, dogs, and anything basically that wants to have a go and all because you want to protect your precious sofa.

Wake up! Where are your brains!!?? Oh yes I forgot in your soft furnishings!!!

Please, please don't declaw your cat; it’s not natural, it's not right.

A poet once said that a kitten is god’s smallest miracle and it is, but how god made it with all its claws intact.

Americans please read up on this barbaric practice, don't listen to what your vet tells you, look on the internet, open your eyes to the truth.

I find it unbelievable quite frankly but there again if some American states have no wild animal laws which mean exotic animals including crocodiles of all things are kept in bath tubs then why not abuse & mutilate defenceless little kittens?

No one and I mean no one has the right to take away an animals natural defences!!

The IFAW has managed to ban bear bating in some countries because it is inhumane and cruel. For the uninitiated, Bear bating involves humans having 'fun' by drugging a bear then removing its teeth and claws. When it wakes they set a ferocious dog or a pack of dog's on it. Nice eh?

Well excuse me for pulling no punches but the US vets are no better than these morons. They remove a poor little kitten’s most effective defence and leave it vulnerable to people, dogs, and anything basically that wants to have a go and all because you want to protect your precious sofa.

Wake up! Where are your brains!!?? Oh yes I forgot in your soft furnishings!!!

Please, please don't declaw your cat; it’s not natural, it's not right.

A poet once said that a kitten is god’s smallest miracle and it is, but how god made it with all its claws intact.

Americans please read up on this barbaric practice, don't listen to what your vet tells you, look on the internet, open your eyes to the truth.

Talk about the norm, we had a local reporter call around vet offices to do an informal survey about attitudes of de-clawing and how many cats they de-clawed when she was writing an article about our awareness campaign. The results were chilling! Vets reported they de-clawed 65-95% of their feline clients! She even quoted one vet in the article as saying "In order for a cat to get a good home, it must have a proper de-clawing", or in other words, bad homes don't de-claw. During my rescue work I actually heard (brainwashed) folks apologizing for not getting their cat de-clawed, afraid I'd judge them for not providing sufficient vet care!

As far as landlords requiring de-clawing, that is still a H-U-G-E (and I mean H-U-G-E!) issue today. Renters are required to de-claw despite their security deposit & extra pet fees to pay for potential damage. Take this apartment guide as an example, 31 of the 51 listed apartments require declawing:

Michael, that's a good idea and I and I'm sure our loyal troops would help email every declawing vet in the USA and Canada.
There is even a list on-line.
Whether they would reply is another matter.
I suppose we would all have to use the same unbiased way of asking how they feel about doing it.
Maybe you should consult with Jean on this ?

I think at a general perhaps subconscious level it is seen as the norm in America. Many millions of people just don't see it as wrong. There seems to be a disconnect with reality as at a fundamental level it must be wrong.

There are exceptions thankfully and the show cat world is one (thanks for reminding us, Helmi) but that world is relatively small and rarified.

I would love to do a survey of how vets think about declawing. Not from the financial aspects as we know about that, but at a deep psychological level. Have they lost touch with the morality of what they do or are they just cynically abusing cats and the people who keep them for profit, when they declaw cats?

If they have lost touch with the immorality of it then it is the norm for vets.

Joyce, as far as I am aware this is still happening and landlords are still insisting that cats be mutiated to be allowed to live in their property.

Does anyone else remember when apartment house managers would only allow a cat to live with it's owner if it had been declawed? It was back in the 1970's or 80's in the United States. I had a friend who gave me a declawed cat years ago because she had an abusive boyfriend and she told me the cat was declawed so it could live with her in the apartment.

Like a great many people, you didn't previously understand that declawing involved the amputation of the end of the cat's toes. You should not be ashamed about that, because it is the responsibiity of vets to educate clients on the welfare of their animals. Sadly far too many of them don't. Instead they prefer to put their client demands or financial gain ahead of the patients they are meant to care for. That's why they refer to the procedure as "de-clawing" instead of "de-toeing", otherwise people would start asking awkward questions that they would rather avoid answering.

That you have taken the time to write this article, shows just how shocked you are to have learned the truth and how passionately you feel about wanting to spare any further cats from this unnecessary suffering. Thank you for helping to spread the word and enlighten others with your new found knowledge.

Michele (UK)

Hello, it's always good to meet someone who had no idea of the cruelty involved in declawing, and find out that not only are they shocked themselves but are determined to spread the word and discourage other cat owners from paying a vet to disable their cat. This is exactly what we need and I thank you on behalf of the cats who's paws you might save.
It shows the total cover-up practiced by veterinarians when they declaw as routinely as they neuter and vaccinate cats despite declawing being advised for only last resort scratching problems (though I don't see any need at all for amputating healthy toes ever) this should be their chance to educate cat owners and advise them about the many scratching posts/pads available to them and how to train their cats to use them, at the very least they could teach people how to clip the points of the claws off rather than take their money and take of the toes at the knuckle joint. Another sad fact is that cats actually do still feel the pain of declawing while under anaesthetic, somewhere on this site is a comment by a vet tech which tells us this, also not all vets provide pain relief because if the cat doesn't feel any pain it is more likely to be up walking and jumping and so more at risk of bursting the wounds open, and then some vets who do give pain relief charge for it as an optional extra! The blame has to be shared between the vets and the owners who have no business subjecting their cats to procedures they don't understand, and if they actually do understand how radical declawing is then really they have no compassion for cats and shouldn't be owning them anyway.
You are not a cat owner, you haven't declawed a cat so I don't think you need to be ashamed, but yes shock is what we've all felt when we've found out what is happening to cats in the USA, living in a country where declawing was unheard of even before officially banned I found it hard to credit that it can be happening on a day to day basis, but sadly it is and the knowledge of what those cats endure haunts me day and night and that is why I have joined with other like minded people to try and get this atrocity banned by law across the USA.
Please help us in your own way by telling other people what you have learned and by signing and forwarding our petition far and wide.

My world is the world of the cat show. It is against the show rules for any declawed cat to be exhibited at a cat show in the United States (CFA and TICA). This includes the Household Pet category (mixed breed).

The breeders with whom I am personally acquainted have in their purchase contract that you will NOT declaw the cat you buy. You sign this contract. It becomes a legal document.

So I would say that in my world in the United States, declawing is NOT the norm. The world of the rescued cat may be different but I cannot speak to that.

Education will make the difference. Once people become aware, then behavior modification of the owners and by the owners of whole clawed cats can take place. It is the responsibility of the cat owner to supply scratching posts in most rooms or a cardboard "flat" for their companion cats to use. It is the human's responsibility to teach them to use these things; to praise them when they use it; and to learn how to clip their claws on a regular basis... just like you take care of your own fingernails. It's not rocket science.

What a small price to pay to have the elegance, visual beauty, curiosity and purrs of this wonderful animal as a companion.

It's a "no-brainer" to me. People that want to declaw their cats should have a dog instead.

Just my two cents worth ...

Hi shocked and ashamed, you are right to be shocked but not to be ashamed ! I think a genuine and compassionate person like you,if you had a cat, would have looked into what declawing really is, not just taken a vet's or a friend's word for it.
You'd never recommend it now you know the truth.
Declawing is banned here in the UK but even before it was, our vets would never do it.I was a vet nurse for many years and only one person ever asked about declawing her cat.She was told she'd find no one in the UK who would stoop so low as to mutilate a cat like that. So the main people to blame that it is happening in the USA and Canada are the vets who agree to declaw cats,the very people trained to help animals,in fact they take an oath to harm no animal,but they are the ones doing just that !
Many people have agreed to having their cats declawed thinking it's the norm, especially when some vets advertise it and give discount packages for neutering/declawing. But cat owners must take their share of the blame too.Even if declawing was simply removing the claws, which I'm sure you know it isn't,it is very wrong.
It's far too easy to get a kitten knowing it can be declawed.That a supposed to be last resort operation for serious scratching behaviour can be done to little kittens.Perfect healthy little kittens are disabled for life by this pre meditated abuse.
We have saved 93 cats claws in a year by educating people,by letting them know the truth,but because we can't reach evey cat owner to tell them,the only way to stop this cruelty is by having declawing made illegal.
It would be wonderful if you can help us by signing our petition and passing it on to others who you know will care.
Now you know the truth and care and you don't even have a cat of your own, can you believe that some people still have this done to their cats because their furniture is more important than their cats welfare ? Yes there are other excuses too, but that, incredibly, is the main reason !!
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I'm pretty sure the cat at the top of the page is a Bengal, and a darn good looking one too! They're a very popular wild hybrid...

Yes, declawing is a problem, but I don't think it's going to last, many other countries have had it banned and it's more than likely that the USA and Canada will, or already are, going to feel pressure from this, and in the end declawing will be banned there... But then again, there's also the pressure of citizens wanting and demanding for their cats to be declawed... It's a confusing situation which I think is built on lack of education.