Declawing is Premeditated Abuse

Yes, that is it exactly. That child will grow up thinking that having a kitty declawed is as natural as having it de-sexed and vaccinated and when she has little ones of her own and they want a kitty she'll think "oh my mom said kitties should be declawed so I'd better remember to book kitty in at the doctors for a declaw" and her kiddies will grow up the same and this is how this happens.
The only was to stop it, as I see it, is to ban declawing, but how? From what I've read the veterinary associations seem to encourage animal doctors to declaw, so who is looking out for the kitties? Is there a body somewhere that actually puts the welfare of the kitties first and is fighting to get this horrible thing legally ended?

DO SOMETHING to stop this cruelty right NOW!
If this was happening in our country we'd be ashamed that the rest of the civilised world knew about it.

Those pictures and narratives were so sad, Ruth.

But I just think cat keepers know and don't care. Cat's are mostly 2nd class citizens in America.

When I heard about declawing years ago I just heard about it in passing, I didn't know what was involved. I do however remember thinking 'my God, how awful, you can't take away a cats defences' That was me and my gut reaction so people who do this even if they don't know whats involved, they know its wrong on a very basic level to take away a cat's defences.

I think it's also safety in numbers and like I said in a previous comment 'sheep'. It's something like; 'Fred next door is getting his cat de-clawed, he said it's great as his cat won't be able to claw the furniture anymore, I think we'll have that done too' Yep no thought, research no nothing, might as well say 'Fred is getting a special coating on his car to stop the dirt, I think we'll get that done too'

Despite what the declawers say they think its their God given right to do this. They haven't got the brains to stop, they have the intelligence of sheep (sorry thats an insult to sheep.

Only way to get it stopped is a ban.

Good work Ruth.One can only hope it brings some folk to their senses.
Yes trim cats claws if you must rather than have their toes agonisingly removed but cats have lived a long time now taking care of their own pedicures.
I've had cats for ever and never tampered with their claws,
Provide some decent stuff to scratch on and let cats be cats.
What is this horrified fascination with cats claws anyway?
Do these cruel folk not see the whole cat and the beauty of every inch of that cat including those claws?
Those claws that are needed to be an entire cat.
Mither mither mither about the blasted kids or dogs.There's an easy solution for you folks who are concerned about them getting a tiny scratch which they probably well deserve;
DON'T GET A CAT.
As for the furniture obsessed folk,worship at its shrine if you must but don't harm a sentient animal in the process.

If I lived in the USA or Canada I'd make posters like that and stick them up everywhere I could because it's true that abusing cats is handed down the generations.
The'little Susies'would ask why the declawed kitten was crying and be told it was because her finger ends had been cut off.
It's a long time since I was a child but I know I'd have been upset to know that and it would have stuck in my mind.
The younger generation need educating and by that education hopefully declawing will soon be consigned to the history books where it belongs with other cruelty to animals such as docking tails and cropping ears.
Sickening unjustified cosmetic surgery is disgusting and has no place in the civilised world.

Thank you for another educational article.I hope it does drive home to some people planning to get a kitten and cripple it by declawing just what it actually means.
I'm so sick of people who've had it done to their kittens and cats, whining that they 'didn't know'
what the procedure was.
DE clawing as in removing the claws hardly takes any working out what will happen and would be bad enough if it was'just'that.
So WHY WHY WHY get a kitten? I would think the entire population of the country would know cats come with claws.
It's NOT compulsory to get a cat!Don't like claws?DON'T get a cat!
Another article on this PoC is about the cat owners sharing the guilt of so many cats suffering from this cruelty,along with the vets who still do it.
TOO TRUE and it HAS to STOP!

We may well question and criticise those veterinarians and their staff who actively encourage declawing and it is indeed disgustingly cruel and they deserve to be exposed for the money grubbing pimps that they are. But what this poster underlines is the mindset of someone who deliberately obtains a baby animal and voluntarily takes it to a surgery to be anaesthetised and surgically robbed of it's tiny toes, and not only that is willing to PAY someone to do it! This is what I cannot seem to get my head around at all. How can someone subject a tiny creature to this and have it returned bloody, miserable, shocked and confused and still keep their self-esteem and think they are right to have done it? Another thing is that this poster illustrates how what Mommy believes is passed down to Susie who in all likelihood will grow up thinking Mommy knows best and cats should be declawed. It is self-perpetuating cruelty!!
The AVMA obviously cares nought for individual animals, some veterinarians care nought for the pain and suffering they cause in exchange for the mighty dollar and some heartless owners care for nought but their furniture and what MIGHT happen to it.
It's obvious to me that the way to stop all this is by banning declawing totally thereby taking away from individuals the opportunity to abuse either their own, or their clients, cats and stop this casual and cruel tradition being inherited by each generation from the previous one!

To add more to Ruth's accurate response to you, as an American that does cat rescue, I can tell you that I get adoption applications where the adopter states that they will declaw BEFORE meeting the cat, BEFORE observing the cat to see if it scratches the post or not.

The AVMA wants it this way. They are a trade group only interested in vets financial interests. They oppose declaw bans. So American vets make it very accessible like Ruth said - advertising it, encouraging it, and brainwashing their uneducated clients into believing that it is something that "good" cat parents do for their pet, like spay/neuter. That's why it's a $3 billion industry for American vets, and why at least 16 million American cats are declawed. A true injustice.

It must have taken you a while to make that hard hitting page.Maybe that will get through to the brainless idiots who think cats can live happy healthy lives without their toe ends.
Put in simple pictures like that surely even the thickest person can see how cruel it is to take a kitten from her mother and siblings and have her purposefully and painfully harmed by a corrupt vet.
Yes it's only cartoon pictures and it would be quite funny if it wasn't so serious and isn't really happening to too many innocent little creatures.
I will never understand how the mindset of people in the countries where it happens can be so different to our mindsets.We know declawing is wrong and would never consider it even were it legal in our country.
Are people who accept declawing of the same species as us?
I don't think they can be.
If I lived in the USA I'd shout about it loud and long until every single person in the whole country heard me!

Yes Colin some USA vets offer neuter/declaw packages for kittens and yes some give discount vouchers for declawing and yes the AVMA know all about this but turn a blind eye to it.
Some of those vets receptionists offer declawing when a client phones in to book a kitten in for neutering.Some vets themselves offer declawing when instead they should be offering education about the neccessity of cats scratching.
Their favourite excuse is that more cats than ever would be in Rescue Shelters if their owners couldn't have them declawed.Another myth as many declawed cats end up in Rescue Shelters anyway,some not even making it to the adoption lists because they are unrehomeable due to the physical and mental problems caused by being declawed.
People are able to get a kitten and have it declawed, far too easily.
As I've said over and over again, those people should NOT have cats as they don't want a cat they want their idea of a cat.It doesn't penetrate their selfish minds that cats are born with claws because they need claws.
They are not fit to have cats !
If declawing was illegal, those kittens would only have homes with the people who truly love cats, WITH their essential claws !

Well said Ruth. We could talk all day about this but the people who declaw don't see it like we see it and for the life of me I don't get that. It looks like commonsense to me that declawing is wrong. Why are we poles apart? What happened to create a culture that accepts and condones cat abuse en masse and as something that is legal? Beats me.

There is something badly wrong here.
It does not add up that as you say declawing is for last resort,how come vets offer discounts and encourage kittens to be declawed?
Are you sure it happens?
How can a person take a new kitten to be declawed that has not even had training to know where it is allowed to scratch?
If it is right,can anyone please explain to me how vets and cat owners can get away with this.
Do the AVMA know it is happening?

Man that makes it hit home.Them innocent little kittens ready for good homes,one chosen then straight away crippled.And there must be loads of Susies mommys doing that all the time.
Its made me cry I tell you man Ive cried more tears for declawed cats than would fill a bath.
Why are people so cruel.
Ed

So true, Ruth, the word "de-claw" is a fraudulent misnomer made up by the vet community to lure in the uneducated. "De-phalanx", "de-bone", or "de-digit" more accurately describes the real butchering that goes on.

I feel so sorry for every cat or kitten that is chosen by a heartless human who will deprive them of their claws, and have their fingers mutilated simply because they are too lazy to pick the cat up once a month and spend 5 minutes trimming their claws. Cold blooded in my world.