Declawing Saves Lives? Rubbish

People who advocate cat declawing, which as we know includes almost all American veterinarians, consistently say that declawing saves the lives of cats. Even if that were to be true it would be bizarre because what declawing advocates are saying is that the unnecessary partial amputation of at least 10 toes of a cat saves his life. If that situation were to be genuinely true you’d have to conclude that the world in which we live is slightly mad.

The fact of the matter is that even some shelters declare to the world that declawing saves lives because they say that a cat has a better chance of finding a home since he or she cannot destroy furniture.

Declawing advocates say that it’s better for the cat to be declawed than to be homeless or euthanised. Some people might be beguiled into believing that this sounds reasonable in a rather distorted, bizarre way. For the moment, setting aside common sense, The Paw Project-Utah (PP-U) confirms what any thinking cat owner already knows, namely that declawing does not save lives.

PP-U refer to a couple of cats that have passed through their hands, Abby and Zoey, as examples.

Abby

Abbey is a 10-year-old calico cat.  Abby’s owners surrendered her to a high kill shelter because she started to pee outside the litter box. Abbey is declawed and her painful front paws are the reason why she stopped using the litter box.  Her owners abandon her because of behavioral issues arising out of the brutal operation that they paid their veterinarian to do to her.

PP-U say that sadly this is an all too common problem that they hear about from shelters. They confirm that there are an innumerable amount of the declawed cats that get dumped at shelters for behavioural issues whereupon they are euthanised for a lack of space.

In this instance, PP-U was able to rescue Abby and she is now in a loving foster home. Many other cats are not so lucky.

Litter box aversion, as it is commonly called, or peeing outside litter box because it is too uncomfortable to use it, is a big problem amongst declawed cats. Some cat owners don’t understand why their cat is doing this. They become frustrated and they end up taking their cat to a shelter. The entire problem of litter box aversion in these instances is due to sensitive paws caused by declawing.

Zoey

Another example is a cat called Zoey. Zoey was an abandoned kitty who was helped by PP-U. Zoey is a 4 year old black, long-haired attractive cat who was abandoned at a shelter.  Zoey’s owners had her declawed on all four of her paws.  She stopped using the litter box because it hurt her paws too much whereupon her owners took to the local shelter.

Zoey was adopted from the shelter who waved their usual adoption fee.  Because she has all of her paws declawed she is more prone to stress in new situations and she became stressed in her new home and stopped eating.

Her owners were unaware of the emotional needs suffered by declawed cat. In addition, they were unaware of the fact that a cat who does not eat for a day can lead to a life-threatening situation.

The owners waited for an entire week before bringing Zoey to Dr Doub at PP-U at which time she was suffering from severe hepatic lipidosis.  Her liver was beginning to fail.

Zoey’s new owners were unable to afford the veterinary care required and ultimately they sign over their cat to PP-U.  I have great admiration for The Paw Project-Utah in taking into their care this cat who needed their expertise.

PP-U have since been able to find a loving foster home for Zoey. PP-U discovered that Zoey has fragments in her back paws that need to be removed once she is healthy enough.  At the moment she is using a paper litter in a litter box.

You can go to this page if you want to contribute to her veterinary care and rehabilitation.

The truth is that any thinking cat caretaker knows without a shadow of a doubt that declawing does not save lives.  It is a confidence trick perpetrated by veterinarians on  cat owners who don’t know better.

My thanks to Paw Project Utah.