Detroit Animal Care Hospital promotes declawing of cats

Thank goodness you read how cruel declawing is in time to stop a vet from ruining your kitten’s life.
She is very young yet and will settle down as she grows up. Young cats need a lot of exercise and amusement, just like young children do really, they love life and playing and see no wrong in anything they do.
Do you trim her claws? It blunts them so they can’t cause any damage, it’s very easy, just clip off the sharp curved points, you will see the quick further down the claw, make sure you don’t cut into that as it will bleed and be painful too. If you aren’t sure then get a vet or nurse to show you how to do it, but don’t allow them to talk you into declawing if they try. It is major surgery and irreversible!
Cats love playing tunnels, you can buy various cat tunnel toys or could even cut a hole in a cardboard box and throw a catnip mouse in, distract her from your furniture and she will soon learn which is her ‘furniture’
Another suggestion, have you thought about getting her a companion?
Our Walter was a real handful of a kitten and wouldn’t leave our older cat in peace and he was up the curtains and all over the place lol So we adopted Jozef, just a month younger and that was it! They played together, grew up together and are coming up to 11 years old now and still amuse each other at times.
Soft Paws are better than declawing but I would neve use anything to stop a cat’s natural behaviour.
Good luck Jeny, I can’t tell you how happy I am that your kitten’s toe ends have been saved.

Firstly, good on you for deciding to go against declawing, and instead choosing to find methods to deter her from scratching. Secondly, while the nail caps, or ‘soft paws’ are a better alternative to declawing, they’re still cruel, in my opinion, because they make it impossible for the cat to retract her claws. So she’s constantly uncomfortable.

A technique I’m soon to try on my cat, is to put lemon juice, vapour rub, or vinegar on the areas that he likes to scratch. Cats have very sensitive noses, and they’ll avoid scratching areas where there is an unpleasantly strong scent. While using this technique, I’ll also be rubbing catnip on the scratching post/areas that I want him to scratch. This way he learns that scratching the furniture is unpleasant, and something he doesn’t want to do. While at the same time, he learns that scratching the scratching post is something fun, and something that he does want to do! I might also try putting treats between the sisal rope, so he has to actually scratch the post to get the treat. Doing this makes scratching the post a rewarding experience.

Good luck, let us know how you go!

How anyone on earth can be so cruel is beyond imagining.
To take the very neccessary claws away from a cat is downright evil.
It’s time it was banned in every country in the world to stop animal abusers from this disgusting abuse of cats.

Hi, so sorting through all of the heated comments… which was enlightening at the least. I was looking to declaw my 8 month old kitten, but after having read exactly what it will do to my little girl, I’ve opted against it.

However, I’d love some suggestions for help in training her. She doesn’t claw the furniture so much as she destroys things. She likes to tunnel inside of things and has destroyed the under lining of our box spring, the bottom of our couch, and even pulled a chunk of the crap along the wall in our apartment bathroom away to stick her head in. Luckily I was at home at the time to pull it back out when she became stuck.

We are buying new furniture and I didn’t know that it was actually detrimental to their health. I understand now that it is. We’ve been patiently working with her for 3 months to no avail. We have three to four cat posts for her, jungle gyms, and play areas. The closest I have come is that she kneads and claws the carpeting around the post, but doesn’t actually use the post itself. She’s extremely intelligent, even sits and plays fetch on command. And she’s an amazing little pal. I’d never purposely hurt her. So any suggestions would be helpful.

Does anyone have any thoughts on those little nail caps???

It never ceases to astonish me that cruel people will say anything to justify the mutilation of their cats.
They ignore scientific facts which prove how cruel declawing is and passionately fight against a law being passed to ban it.
How do they live with their conscience?

My cat is indoors only. He is extremely muscular and strong, and could easily cause severe damage to another animal if he really wanted to. He has 18 razor sharp claws, and I don’t clip them. I also have another cat, two small dogs, three guinea pigs, and a rabbit. And guess what! Not one has suffered from my boy’s claws.

Two cats means 36 claws, that’s a lot of scratching. So I bought a cheap cat tree, and my furniture is in mint condition. Can you explain that to me? You say that I’ll need to replace my furniture every few years because my cats have the claws they were rightfully born with, but in the wild world of reality, of which you clearly are foreign to, I won’t have to replace it for another 10-15 years.

Oh it must be fun being ignorant. And by the way, the Caps lock button is on the far left side of your key board. Turn it off, idiot.

Are your dogs declawed?
If not why not?
Ah I get it, like typical cat declawers your cats are inferior to your dogs so it doesn’t matter they suffer.
That’d be right!

I don’t know of anyone with clawed cats who says ouch or no every 5 seconds or who yells at their cats.
Anyone in our country who doesn’t like it that cats have claws simply gets a different type of pet.
Those of us who love cats and know claws are essential to their health and fulfilment provide the scratching posts and pads they need.
I can’t understand why anyone at all can’t teach a cat to use a scratching post, as with patience and kindness it’s so very easy.
Scratching is not bad behaviour, it’s necessary behaviour.
A person who doesn’t know this is not a fit person to have a cat.
Your cats don’t need, they knead, with their stunted stumps poor creatures.
Would they love you even more if they knew you were the one responsible for crippling them ?
I think not.
You can rant and shout and insult me and the other real cat lovers here as much as you like, it doesn’t change the fact that declawing is cruel, that vets who do it break their oath to cause no animal to suffer and that anyone who will pay a vet to have their cat disabled should not have a cat !
I don’t care what you are a VIP of. All I care about, along with thousands of other cat lovers, is that declawing is banned worldwide and it will be and the sooner the better.
(Vet nurse who has studied the anatomy of cats and the implications and complications of declawing, now how did I do that with my pea brain I wonder?)

Being a gentleman of mature years my parents have sadly long gone and did not have a basement anyway.
I do have a lot better things to do running my business but make time to try to educate people like you.
Sadly you are not educatable so the cats in your life will continue to suffer abuse until declawing is banned as it is in my civilised country.

Typical low life anonymous scum badmouthing anyone who tells them a few home truths.
Shouts in capitals,can’t spell,yes the very sort who think the abuse of cats is something to be proud of.
Don’t bother any more with this person you decent kind cat loving people,he or she is beneath contempt.

How about if you go on that computer in mom and dads basement and focus on the only PUSSY CAT that your low life class really wants YOUR ATTENTION!!!

FYI I think it is great that you live in a country other then the great old USA . PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE TO DAMN DUMB AND CAN’T UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF ANYTHING, AT ALL! I did not punish my other cats because of one accident. If it were so heartless to remove the claws of a feline, then how come they love you even more when they are healed up. They can NEED on anything in my home and love all over my dogs and other cats. They actually are very much more compationet when you are not saying ouch, or no every 5 seconds. AND FYI I DO TRAIN, VERY WELL I MIGHT AD TO THAT , AND MAYBE IF YOUR BRAIN WASN’T THE SIZE OF A PEA, YOU COULD EXPAND YOUR MIND AND REALIZE THAT YOU ARE VERY NARROW MINDED LIKE EVERYONE ELSE! By the way I am a VIP OF THE MHS!!! So suck it.

So by your reasoning all cats in multi cat households in countries where declawing is illegal are being unfairly treated because they have to keep their claws.

Poor things having to keep those nasty things they were born with because they are essential to cats.
Poor things being able to use those claws for exercising their muscles.
Poor things having defence against pesky brats and dogs.

Deprived of all of that as well as not having gone through a horrifically cruel operation which is TEN amputations and not waking up shocked and in pain.
Poor things to have no chance of suffering from painful arthritis from being unable to walk or exercise properly.

So you think how much better off they’d all be coming to your house with furniture that is more important than cats and where one accident with a claw meant every cat since had to pay the price by having its finger ends cut or burned off.

People like YOU are the reason greedy vets keep on abusing cats this way for money,people like YOU are the reason countless of cats are suffering right now.

Well hang your head in shame anonymous,no wonder you hide your name,most animal abusers do exactly the same!

Anonymous you are extremely rude to type in capitals, doing so does not make your points more valid, in fact it shows how pitifully ignorant you are. And if it didn’t then your comment most certainly would. You didn’t rescue those cats, you took them into your home under your conditions and the price they had to pay for this dubious honour was to have all their finger ends amputated just because one cat lost one eye in a freak accident.
I think you and your husband should make these three cats your last, after this leave the cats alone and let them be adopted by kind and caring people who don’t think it’s their right to mutilate them, you should stick to the “other animals” you mentioned which are probably dogs, because I wouldn’t mind betting that you would never in your wildest dreams think of having a dog declawed even though dogs claws are bigger and longer and do just as much damage as cats’.

Anonymous your ignorance and cruelty astound me !
ONLY FAIR to have indoor cats declawed ? You are so completely wrong ! How can it be only fair to take away every cats finger ends just because one had an accident with his claws.
If you have children do you definger them so they don’t scratch each others eyes when playing ?
Of course not, you trim their nails.
In the case of cats you should also trim their nails and provide them with a scratching post each so that they can get the exercise they need by digging their claws in.
Oh yes and let’s not forget your precious furniture too, well what do people expect if they don’t provide and train their cats to scratching posts ?
Scratching is NOT bad behaviour, it is NECESSARY behaviour for a cat to live a healthy fulfilled life.
Your crass ignorance shows even more with your final remark about cats ‘sharpening their claws’
Cats have claws for walking, balance, grooming, exercise, playing, marking their territory and self defence, they do NOT sharpen them !
I live in a country where declawing is rightfully banned. I have lived with, worked with and volunteered with cats all my life and never seen one scratch anothers eye badly enough for the cat to lose it. A ONE OFF freak accident and ALL your cats since have endured painful major surgery …..
One last thing, as you know so little about cats, you need to know they hide their pain ! How many of your cats have suffered/are suffering painful arthritis or other complications of having had their toe ends amputated ? Poor cats suffering in silence because you think it’s only fair they should for the privilege of living with you who knows so very little about cats.

MY HUSBAND AND I RESCUED OUR CATS. 3 OF THEM THROUGH OUT THE LAST 15 YEARS AND WE HAVE ONE CAT THAT HAS ONE EYE NOW BECAUSE THE OTHER WAS NOT DE-CLAWED. IF YOU HAVE AN INDOOR CAT AND HAVE OTHER ANIMALS IN THE HOUSE TOO IT IS ONLY FAIR TO HAVE THEM DE-CLAWED! NEVER THE LESS, WHO IN THE HECK HAS THE EXTRA MONEY TO REPLACE FURNITURE AND SO ON EVERY COUPLE OF YEARS. I RESCUE AND IF I TAKE IN A CAT WITH CLAWS YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT THAT CAT IS HAPPIER WITH A GREAT HOME RATHER THAN SHARPENING THEIR CLAWS ON FURNITURE AND GETTING YELLED AT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with everything that has been said on here except the utter rubbish spouted by the loser who thinks its just fine to mutilate healthy cats.

Its crystal clear that you really haven’t a clue what your are talking about.

Grab yourself a dictionary and look up humane then take a look at some of the pictures of cats on here after they’ve been declawed and then let us know if(in your words)you think this procedure is still ‘humane’.

You make it sound as if cats should be grateful for being fed! So grateful in fact that they should pay with their toe ends!! You are unbelievable! No one has to get a cat! Furthermore if your possessions are worth that much (mine aren’t!) then don’t get a cat! Bloody simple!! Flamin idiot.

Man Im glad it was pointed out its not this Ed who is such a stupid and cruel man.Im 100% against declawing and thats because anyone with half a brain knows chopping cats healthy toes off isnt right and because Ive made it my business to learn all about it and look at pictures.
You the other Ed havent done that or youd not be so cocksure that youd come here and think anyone would be stupid enough to take any notice of your rubbish.
Ed

The mutilation of any animal is cruel and unnecessary. Weather it’s declawing or debarking. I’m not wasting my time on you, but here’s a good place to learn about this chain you speak of. We rule no one, we just try to!

http://www.unleashed.org.au/features/earthlings/

The mutilation of any animal is cruel and unnecessary. Weather it’s declawing or debarking. I’m not wasting my time on you, but here’s a good place to learn about this chain you speak of. We rule no one, we just try to!

http://www.unleashed.org.au/features/earthlings/

This “promotion” coupon is totally disgusting and as far as I am concerned a facility such as this should be shut down.

And they call themselves animal lovers? They love the cahching sound of their cash register each time they mutilate a kitten.

Shame shame shame on this practice and all the other practices that use this ploy! Simply appaling. I have no other words I can use, which I certainly would love to, since this is a family channel.

The dictionary definition of “humane” is to show kindness, compassion, mercy etc. With that in mind, how on earth can you consider the unncessary amputation of healthy cat toes humane? To compare declawing with human health checks for illness is totally irrational. Declawing is a purely elective surgery – it’s not done because the cat’s toes are unhealthy. It’s done because people like yourself believe they have dominion over animals and are too lazy to even consider teaching cats to use a scratch post.

Just because people invite cats into their homes it does not give anyone the right to subject them to a lifetime of pain and misery purely for our convenience.

If anyone is ignorant it is yourself. Do a little research on-line and you’ll discover that the USA and Canada are the few remaining countries where declawing is still legal. Vets in the maority of the civilised world refuse to declaw because they know that it is animal cruelty. If you’re happy using vets who put financial gain ahead of patient welfare, then more fool you.

Dogs claws do a lot of damage around the home, but people would never consider declawing them. Perhaps in your chain you rank dogs higher than cats?

The things you work for get ruined?????
By such a tiny creature??
Don’t talk so daft.
Simple solution because cats HAVE to scratch to stay healthy,buy a scratching post and as cats are highly intelligent,much more so that you are Ed,your precious furniture will be pristine.

But I pity any cat in your ignorant and misguided power.

You stupid person.Cats are family,of course we feed them and they do contribute with their love and loyalty.Children in a family don’t contribute in monetary terms either but that doesn’t give us a reason to pay someone to abuse them.
No one is forced to have a cat,it’s totally selfish to take a cat and have it declawed for your own convenience.
Let those who truly love cats and know they need their claws have the pleasure of their company.
Scum like you should have soft toys,not sentient beings who feel fear and pain just like YOU do Ed.
I’d like to see you defingered,then you’d change your mind about it being humane.
But hurry up as it will soon be banned,so you’d better get used to that fact.

Ed you are beneath contempt if you think declawing is humane.You talk a load of rubbish and obviously know nothing at all about the procedure.I suggest you have a session reading up in what really happens to cats suffering ten or eighteen amputations,waking up in shock and pain,hidden away in cages until they stop thrashing around.
It has nothing to do with life saving surgery,it has only to do with vets breaking their oath and making money from it and fools like yourself who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near any cat because you are unfit to be within 100 miles of any living feeling being.
We are so not impressed with your ridiculous comments,in fact you have showed yourself for what you are.
A cat abuse condoner.

You can’t believe us ? Well I can’t believe you Ed !! We have an Ed (Edward) already here and you are not fit to share the same name.He is a gentleman and the kindest and most caring you could meet, not an idiot like you are.
Yes cats are pets and as such they deserve to be treated kindly. They don’t ask to come to us, we get them for our own pleasure because we love cats.
You are disgusted with the intelligence of today’s society are you ? Well let me tell you that there will be thousands of people disgusted with you because you think having a cat’s toe ends amputated is humane. You think they should pay that price to have a home ?
Are you INSANE !!!
What has it got to do with a person being tested when ill ? Cats with claws are not ill, they are healthy. Surgery to save a life ? Declawing surgery does NOT save cats lives, take a look in some Rescue Shelters and see the poor mutilated creatures caged because of problems caused by corrupt vets and cruel ignorant ‘owners’
Who rules who ? Who was here first ? YES animals, they managed nicely until the arrogant selfish human race came along hell bent on having power over those defenceless animals and on ruining this world.
Why don’t you go and have your own finger ends amputated if you think it’s so humane ?
Are people in 38 countries where declawing is banned, unintelligent and ignorant ? I think not. I think, in fact I KNOW that that title belongs to YOU !!!

Ed are you really as stupid as you make yourself out to be? How the hell can you compare having tests when ill, surgery to save life or that old chestnut vasectomies with amputating the toe ends of cats and making them suffer the rest of their lives with pain? Of course cats are pets, that is why we are supposed to love and protect them, they are certainly not compulsary so if you don’t want to buy their food or have their claws in your home then damn well don’t get one.
How can you think that declawing is humane? Probably because you have no idea what it actually is, declawing doesn’t come anywhere near describing the reality of onychectomy, I don’t know which fools started calling it that but they were blatant liars and conmen, a far better name for it would be de-knuckling.
So go and do some homework fathead and then come back and apologise to those of us who know what we’re on about and who care enough about cats to want to improve their lot in countries where ignorance is rife!
Here’s a link to start you off, copy and paste it and prepare to be sickened.

Can’t believe you people. Cats are pets, they don’t go to work to earn a living or buy their food. They do not contribute and to have them de clawed is humane. Too hear your rant of inhumanity makes me disgusted with the intelligence of todays society. A recession, so we feed these animals that wouldn’t be able too survive. Asking that the things we work for do not get ruined. I’m not saying punish animals or mistreat them, but to say de clawing is not humane shows your true ignorance. Do you not get tested when your Ill. Have s surgery to save life, vasectomy to prevent life, abortions…..etc I think you may need to reevaluate the the chain. Human_animals etc, who rules who.

Another one exposed! Good on you, Michael!

Folks, avoid this Animal ‘Care’ Hospital and their cruel, unethical practises!

Those vets who advertise and give discount on declawing are lower than the lowest scum who abuse animals for fun.
Those vets abuse animals for payment and are not ignorant like most abusers are.They know that cats feel pain,they see them suffering…..
Or maybe they DON’T see them suffering they only see dollar signs where the axed off toe ends were.

In the early days when I worked for vets we didn’t have all the tests they have now so the vets had to listen carefully to the clients and take time to examine the animals thoroughly to come to a diagnosis.
Now there are all kinds of tests, sometimes they barely look at the animal, their first words are ‘We’ll take some blood’
Now to me, taking blood from a cat is scary to them,yes sometimes it’s necessary but it shouldn’t be the first resort.
I think most vets here have their own labs now Sylvia Ann so they don’t have to pay out.
Your vet and his ‘additional tests’ is typical now, your cat had been through enough hadn’t she !
Well done you for caring for her yourself and I’m so glad she recovered.We lost one of our beloved cats a few years back because of no diagnosis despite all the tests they did!
Our late mam used to say ‘Money is the root of all evil’
How right she was !

WELL DONE,how brave of you to phone that place! Surpsise surprise they hung up when you had them cornered !
That is just typical of the cowardly way those declaw practices operate.
How can anyone who loves animals work in places like that,to me they are earning blood money !
It would be good if someone over there could phone them and ask about having a kitten neutered, see if they are so corrupt they offer declawing too without being asked about it.
Any USA volunteers?
It’s not only our budget stops me,I’m not at all good on the phone nowadays,I’d probably mess it up,writing is my forte.

It’s mystifying to read about cats that shred and unravel everything in sight. It sounds as if they suffer from undischarged energy, lunatic boredom, prolonged neglect, or a lack of enticing scratch posts. I’ve had indoor-outdoor cats all my life, and none were destructive. Because they outlast dozens of broadlooms, handmade rugs are dirt-cheap in the long run. My cats claw them on rare occasions, but these rugs are so tightly woven they’re snag-proof. Why can’t people with problem cats cover their things with plastic throw-cloths easy to whip off when people come to visit? It doesn’t require a Ph.D. in astrophysics.

As to why my own cats are well-behaved, they’re thrilled pink with their scratch posts. These shaggy, 20-lb. three-foot long logs are unobtrusively present throughout the house. Even if my cats were rambunctious, I’d no more declaw them than lop off the tails and mutilate the ears of dobermans and boxers, etc.

Will vets lose their income if declawing is banned? It’s hard to imagine. In recent decades it’s seems they’ve hit on a clever ploy to augment their earnings. It stretches belief that a vet who’s been in practice for years couldn’t surmise with a fair degree of accuracy what’s wrong with an animal. Granted there are many diseases, it seems they could spot common symptoms they see every day. Which is not to suggest that lab tests are unwarranted and useless. Nevertheless, while tests and more tests, and still more tests were once unheard of, vets were successful in treating their patients even then. Do veterinarians not share in the lab fees? Maybe they don’t, though it seems unlikely. Whether there’s a parallel, I’ve read that M.D.s have been questioned for leading their patients into labyrinths of needless tests.

Two years ago I took my cat to a local clinic. They withdrew her lymph and sent to a lab. I didn’t hear back from the lab for days, and when the results finally came in, the vet said although she didn’t have cancer, he still ‘didn’t know’ why she was ill. Wrong of me, I realize, but I had the cheek to reply that so far he’d offered her nothing of tangible value. He widened his eyes at this piece of impertinence, drew himself up, gave me a look of perplexed bemusement and said she needed ‘additional tests.’ I turned and left. When we got home, I tucked my poor cat back into bed and continued to spoon feed and coddle her along, as best I knew how. Well, she recovered on her own – thank you for nothing. That cash-cow clinic charged me nearly $400.00 for not one single remedy to help my little girl.

What a bunch of hypocrites!

Almost as bad as the AVMA! They know this is happening and do nothing to stop it!

I have just called the Animal Care hospital in Michigan Avenue.
I asked the following;

Do they offer a discount on a de-claw coupled with spey/neuter. They do.

I asked if it was correct that the AVMA stance was that de-clawing should be done as a last resort. They said that was also correct.

I asked if they de-clawed kittens? They said they did.

I said so you de-claw kittens when you don’t yet know if they will scratch a person or a sofa?

They replied that was correct they do it as a precautionary.

I said; so you de-claw as a first resort then not last? They agreed thats what they did.

I said; so surely that is against AVMA principles?

They hung up. Odd. Now I wonder why that was?

The time difference is 6 hours behind us.
Anyone fancy giving them a call tomorrow and asking why their vets are constantly breaking their oath to harm no animal? International code 001

Thanks Michael, I will post this link on the animal welfare groups I belong to on Facebook so thousands of animal caring people will see the truth about Detroit Animal Care Hospital and spread the word to stop using these vets that commit acts of cruelty against cats by mutilating and injuring their paws for life. I, for one, would never allow a vet that whacks off the 3rd Phalanx bone digit from an animal for no medical reason to put their dirty & greedy hands on my companion animals. And many others feel the same way I do and believe in boycotting vets that declaw.

Thank you Michael for exposing those corrupt vets !
As you say, how on earth can they justify offering discount coupons for neuter/declaw packages yet say they educate their clients!
Declawing is supposed to be a last resort for very serious scratching behaviour yet here they are offering to declaw kittens as if it’s as routine as neutering them.
Where is the education in that? They are saying it’s OK to declaw and I’m sure they aren’t going to educate their clients not to have their kittens declawed after advertising it and encouraging them.
What a disgraceful money making racket.
I hope everyone will boycott all their clinics because any vet advertising their willingness to mutilate cats is a disgrace to that profession.

How arrogant is that to state that their goal is to educate their clients so that “together” they can make the best decisions? When in reality they have no business being let loose anywhere near cats and certainly if they are advertising, promoting and in fact pushing declawing they have no damned idea what they are talking about!
This is disgraceful, bad enough offering the service but knocking money off just to get their hands on people’s cats is beyond disgusting! BOYCOTT these pimps and all others like them who make a fat profit out of feline pain and misery!

Thank you Michael for spotting more robbers of cats toe ends!