I Disagree With You On Declawing Cats

We have permission to quote this written by a vet tech who we will not of course identify as she is in the precarious position of working for a clinic in which one vet declaws. She hates the procedure but feels she can do more good by ensuring the welfare of her patients by being there on the spot and she can also help educate people as to the cruelty of declawing.

She says:

‘Even with our supposedly superior methods of pain control, we still routinely have declawed cats tearing off their bandages and thrashing in pain upon awakening from the operation. It was the sheer amount of pain control medication that we give these cats that first clued me in to how truly odious this procedure is.

Typical pain control protocol for a declaw at the clinic where I work includes both pre- and post-operative injections, nerve-block injections in the paws, oral meloxicam to go home with, and the application of a transdermal fentanyl patch- this last of which is such a strong opiod-based painkiller that, when used in human medicine, I have heard it is typically only prescribed for the terminally ill’

This demonstrates just how much agony cats suffer from declawing and we already know that some vets not only declaw, but give clients the choice of pain medication by paying extra ! The thought of how many cats are suffering from this senseless abuse is heart breaking.

I think that sometimes declawing opponents can unintentionally hurt their chances of convincing people by making broad generalizations about behavior problems — leading some people to just think, ‘well my cat uses the box and doesn’t bite, so these people are just exaggerating’).

But those are far from the only considerations. What occurs to me is how human amputees suffer phantom limb pain years later after just ONE amputation. So isn’t it possible a cat might have long term pain from TEN or even EIGHTEEN amputations? Since cats are known for hiding pain and illness, how could someone who gets their cat declawed ever know that the cat was not experiencing pain for the rest of its life? That right there would be enough to make me never ever have that done – – even if there were not also other issues like not being able to get as much of a stretch, or the possibility that my indoor cat might some day get out and need those claws to defend himself.

Hi James. Thank, you for confirming all of my worst prejudices about Americans. Luckily I know from this site that very many see things differently!

Cats need their claws for scratching and stretching out and for that reason most civilized countries have banned declawing. Unfortunately USA still ranks alongside primitive countries in this matter…

James you are far outnumbered now by all of us who know what a cruel thing declawing cats is.

I’m not greatly involved in all this as I get too upset to be reasonable but I want to shake people like you until your teeth rattle because you just don’t see what you’ve done.

Or maybe you do see but you don’t care.

You brag about your perfect furniture so I’m afraid to me that proves you should never have had any cats in your power.

You defend killer dogs as if we are wrong in the UK to ban them even though they have injured even killed children and other animals.

We are a nation of compassionate people who know how to care for our pets.Yes we have bad or ignorant people too but at least our vets don’t mutilate cats.

It sickens me that some USA people shout at cats, hit cats, tie cats up in basements or other punishments,maybe you don’t do that but you abuse your cats equally by putting them through a painful procedure which leaves them disabled.

Stuck indoors as long as they exist, with you as their defence.

Poor cats.

How you can blatantly say that you had 4 cats mutilated for one reason and one alone….your furniture,is beyond my comprehension.That means you value your furniture more than your cats health and happiness.You disgust me!Bad enough those who have their cats mutilated for other tired old excuses,but for furniture,that is absolutely the lowest of the low.

I for one am sick and tired of the whining people who’didn’t know’it wasn’t JUST the claws removed,as if JUST the claws removed wouldn’t matter,of course they matter,NO essential PART should be removed EVER.

People go and get a kitten and unless they are truly thick,they must already know kittens have claws.

So WHY do they get a kitten?

Anyone even thinking of having essential parts of a cat removed should NEVER have a cat.

That includes YOU James.

Quite the expert on pit bulls too aren’t you…NOT ….if you haven’t read how many other dogs and cats,peoples much loved pets,those things have killed then you have even more to learn than ever.About cats AND about dogs.

Spend some time doing that instead of showing your crass ignorance by writing a load of rubbish and insulting the caring people who visit this wonderful web site.

Go and sit on your perfect furniture which hasn’t got a heart because you’ll make a good match seeing as your heart is so cold you may as well not have one either.

James you have such a lot to learn man, I hope youve taken notice of the people on here who have researched declawing.

I wont go over all theyve said man as theres no point if youyve read all this and still think youre right.

I was born into a cat loving household and grew up with cats and I still have cats at home and I learned from a very early age to respect and love cats as they are.

You should never yell at or punish a cat physically in any way, all good cat caretakers know that. You simply treat them as you would a child, you distract them from what you dont want them to do.They are very intelligent man, much more so that some humans.

I bet youve never had a scratching post in your house because you are so ignorant about cats you dont realise they have to scratch to stay healthy.

You should have got one of those killing machine dogs you admire so much and let the cats who you had crippled have gone to people who truly love cats.

Cats feel and hurt just as we do man, think of that.

People like you are exactly why declawing must be banned.

I can relate you James, my cat is indoors only. And even though he never goes outside I would NEVER declaw him, I’d rather be sent to my own grave.

If you love your furniture so much, then get rid of your cats and post on a furniture forum, we don’t want disgusting people like you here…

How dare you say that they don’t need their front claws, you need help, you’re disturbed. I’ve trained my cat so that he knows what he can and can’t scratch. When I saw him scratching some thing that he wasn’t allowed to I just yelled “NO!” at him, and he soon figured out that he could scratch that certain thing.. Surely that’s got to be better than having his claws ripped out?

I hope something happens to you so that your finger tips are all ripped off, you’ll know how your poor cats feel. But then again, you don’t need them do you?

You’re an idiot, I feel for your cats and I pray that you NEVER get the chance to own anymore in the future.

You know nothing about cats, oh how clear you made that! So, do your homework first and learn how to properly care for an animal.

Declawing is illegal in Australia (my wonderful country) now, if declawing wasn’t bad or cruel do you think it would be banned in almost 40 countries? Hmmm… Think about it…

but I fear your words will go by the wayside with James. I too live in the US, and I know people exactly like him. Michael is right, he’ll never get the point. They never do. Believe me, I’ve tried, it never works. As long as there’s someone in a white coat with “DVM” after their name willing to take their money and tell them declawing is normal, they’re going to believe it. They’ll believe it because they don’t think. And they don’t think because they’re morons. They don’t take the time to understand their pets because to them, they are just possessions. These same people will be mad as hell when declawing is banned. I know people who were angry because they couldn’t find a vet to declaw their cats. That’s like being mad because you can’t beat your kids with a whip.

James

The paragraph that sticks out for me is the one where you state that ‘They simply don’t need their front claws to defend themselves because there is nothing to defend themselves against. If a burglar comes in I won’t count on my cat to defend the household’

Have you ever thought for one minute that a burgler might break in and brutalise your cats? Someone might break into your house while you’re not there to protect your cats and hurt them.

I hope that now you’ve read Merrilys awful story you’ve come to your senses albeit too late.

Michael is right you just miss the point, you will never understand. I hear time and time again about Americans who treat their cats as possessions. They are not! They were not put on this earth to be adapted as you see fit, they come with claws!

(I apologise to the Americans who are anti de-claw, I don’t mean to generalise but I just hear this attitude all the time.)

Did you ever give each one of your cats chance to show that they weren’t going to be destructive? No bet you didn’t; probably too much trouble, you just calmly took them to your vets to be mutilated.

Quantify ‘happy’ James?

Seems to me your kind of happy is no claws, no freedom, no defences, no stretching, climbing, playing with toys etc. Basically your take on happy is a cat that isn’t a cat; it’s a poor creature who has had most of its natural behaviour stripped away. Nice one James well done.

As for your cats being well cared for well I suppose they are in a fashion as they are nothing but a possession, just the same as your sofa, I bet thats well cared for too.

As for American Pitbulls being one of the finest dogs on earth I disagree again. They may be fine to look at but they are killing machines. It’s in their genes to fight to the death. This coupled with brain dead owners who get their sick pleasure watching them do just this its no wonder they are banned. By the way they were banned in the UK because of the amount of children they had savaged in a short space of time.

The UK banned them because it was absolutely the right thing to do.

But really at the end of the day there are no bad dogs, just bad owners. Owners who use these dogs as status symbols.

Hope you come back on here again Michael I’m looking forward to your next words of wisdom.

But now James you can’t plead ignorance any more, so you’ll have to come out of your ivory tower and face the reality that you’ve ruined 4 innocent cats lives.

No more smugly bragging about your happy well cared for cats and your perfect treasured furniture those cats suffered for.Because not many people will be on your side.

Your only company will be other cat abusers who won’t admit what they have paid corrupt vets to do to their innocent cats was cruel and wrong.

There is a small excuse for those who honestly did not know that cats need claws to be cats,although how the fact escaped them mystifies me. But there is no excuse at all for someone who knows all the facts now.

So hopefully you will come back on racked with guilt and apologising to those of us you said talk bilge.

Pit bulls are dangerous dogs bred especially to fight and to kill.We in the UK have the sense to protect our children, our pets and ourselves by not having those dogs in our lives and by being glad they are banned. But then again,we also have the sense to know that declawing cats is cruel and that is why it’s banned too.

James is a minority here in America. The majority of people with cats are people like me who would never, ever do such a cruel thing to them. My vet does not declaw cats, her own cats. or her patients.

James, you are truly a disgrace to all that is good about humans, never mind Americans.

Declawing is the lowest form of behavior that a human can do to their cats. I don’t need to elaborate here since previous posters have done a magnificent job! It is obvious to all of us that you prize inanimate objects far more than a living, breathing, sentient being.

Do you have children? Do they mess up your furniture? Why not amputate their digits as well? After all, by your way of thinking, your furniture is more highly regarded than any living thing, so…why not?

Well James, you have really put the cat amongst the pigeons, haven’t you and by Golly, does it need its claws!!! I once ‘rescued’ a cocker spaniel puppy by not letting it being bought by someone who wanted it because ‘it matched the carpet’. I have never heard so much c**p! Same goes for your declawing because of the furniture. I have had cats for more then 40 years and NEVER has any of my cats ruined my furniture!! Not because I told them not to do it, but because they did not need to. They always had lots of toys to play with and were more than content to be in my company. And, to be honest, if they had ruined my furniture, I probably would have let them. Scratching posts, pillars etc and they are happy. And obviously you don’t have much knowledge of Siamese and Bengals, the cats that love to climb, but you don’t allow them to go on to any hights, brrrr, I am so glad I am not one of your cats. Have you ever asked them if they were really happy? You seem to rule them your way.

And the American pittbull, one of the finest…blablabla?? Have you ever seen a kid chewed up by one? Forget it mate. I think you want certain cats/dogs to give yourself a certain ‘status’, but think again!!!

I am sickened by your opinion and feel dreadfully sorry for your controled pets.

Jax

Definition of an accomplice:

An associate in wrongdoing, especially one who aids or abets another in a criminal act, either as a principal or an accessory.

You handed your cats over to a cat abuser and his/her assistants who are paid with blood money.If you hadn’t already got the message by now,that’s exactly what you did.

You left them with a person who is supposed to help animals but who breaks his/her oath by amputating cats healthy toe joints.

Did you know declawing is 10 seperate amputations, or 18 if you are even more cruel and have the back toe ends amputated too.

Your cats went through the most painful procedure a cat can endure,so painful that the medication needed to numb the pain is the same strength doctors give to people dying of cancer.

Well cared for? Don’t make me laugh!You boast that you are a responsible pet owner and that they are life prisoners, so tell me what crime they committed for this punishment.

How you think your cats are happy beats me!Crippled for life and shut in forever with you as their ‘defence’

God help them is all I can say to that.

So,I’ll let you get back to worshipping your perfect furniture and dreaming of your pit bull and I totally agree with the poster who said dogs like that make inadequate men feel like REAL men. Let this REAL woman tell you that I don’t know of any woman at all who would be impressed by a pathetic cat abuser’s accomplice like you,with or without a pit bull.

James – Since you love robbing cats of their 3rd phalanx knuckle bones, and obviously don’t understand natural cat behavior, like why scratching is so healthy for a cats mind and body (not that you care, but it’s done for exercise, de-stressing, marking territory, and claw-hold stretching) and that cats, as digitigrade animals, use their last claw digits for daily tasks like walking properly, grasping, hoisting, and all dexterous functions, I doubt that you would really come clean and report to us how de-clawing has injured your cats since your furniture & belongings mean more to you than their health & wellness. Perhaps you aren’t astute enough to notice that you harmed their entire muscular & skeletal systems.

For instance, have you compared their front de-clawed paw pads to their hind clawed pads? If you would have, you would see that their de-clawed paw pads break down, shrink, and become misshaped after years of having to shift their weight and walk improperly without their 3rd phalanx bones. The paw pads become irritated, atrophied, and ulcerated. Do you really feel that is OK to do this to an animal – to alter their gait for the rest of their lives because you refused to humanely trim their nails & provide them appropriate places to do their healthy scratching- because I don’t!

Have their front de-clawed leg bones and back legs bones X-rayed. You will again find differences. The de-clawed legs will have arthritis in the elbows and wrists joints, again from you purposely altering their gait. The muscles of the declawed legs will be weak and soft from atrophy, versus their hind clawed legs that will be strong and healthy (the way a cats legs should be!).

If you really, truly believe it is OK for you to tell a vet, whose oath is to do NO HARM to animal, to sever off a cats knuckle-bone & claw digit, and have them throw that essential, healthy body part into the garbage forever, you James, should not have cats. There simply is no such thing as a “cat” without claws. You would best be suited with a stuffed animal as a pet.

If you think your cats are happy and well cared for, take a long look in the mirror and see a deluded man.

Did you know declawing is the amputation of cats healthy toe joints? You probably did but don’t care seeing as your oh so precious furniture is safe. Have you heard of scratching posts? They come in all shapes and sizes James and they are furniture for cats.Why didn’t you go out and buy some for your cats? Oh but it’s far easier to take them to have vital parts of their anatomy removed instead, isn’t it? Far easier to pay a person trained to help animals but who mutilates them instead.If you think all your cats have escaped any of the consequences of that cruel operation, think again, you are so smug you are blinded to the reality of what those cats suffered.

You know the butcher ..er sorry …vet, kept your cats overnight after the operation,there was a reason for that, it was so you couldn’t see the first agony after the 10 amputations. You couldn’t see the cats in pain and shock trying to stand up on crippled paws. No James by the time you collected your unfortunate felines, the blood was washed away and the cats had accepted their fate which you had so cruelly arranged for them.They had no choice did they? You took perfectly healthy cats and deliberately had them disabled.

After reading all the comments on here from people who DO KNOW about cats you should hang your head in shame and never have another cat in your life EVER.

Instead go and get yourself a pit bull you so much admire, they are the sort of dogs which make inadequate people feel important, so one of them would suit you fine.

James, what a load of self important tosh this is. You have a cat you call Princess and yet you’ve treated her like the lowest form of life because she, and the three unfortunates that came before her, obviously offended you so much by their bodily make up that you decided in your wisdom that you could go one better than nature and so you redisigned them. You paid a money grabbing pimp to hack off the toe ends so that you could continue to worship at the altar of your unblemished furniture while all the time your cats were now horribly mutilated and totally in your power. Cats need toe ends/claws for so much more than merely scratching your precious couch (which incidentally you could have easily protected IF the cats had shown any interest in marking it)and although you’re under the impression that they have behaved perfectly normally, what have you to compare them with? It sounds as though you’ve never owned a clawed cat so how would you know what disabilities your own cats were displaying? There are no accolades for keeping litter trays clean, this is a required element of cat owning, as is protecting them from falling from great heights etc. it doesn’t give you the right to declaw them and it doesn’t wash as justification for doing so either.

I sincerely hope Princess is the last cat you ever own, because frankly you don’t have a clue about cats physical or phsycological needs.

I think maybe after Princess you should either get yourself one of those dogs you admire so much or better still buy a soft and cuddly stuffed toy from Walmart and sit it on your pristine couch.

James you are the one talking bilge ! You say we English don’t know a lot about animals, well I’m here to tell you that you are the one who knows NOTHING about cats. You say your cats don’t ‘need’ claws as they don’t go out and they couldn’t defend your house from a burglar anyway. You obviously don’t have a clue that cats need their claws for walking, grooming and exercise as well as for self defence. Cats need to dig in their claws to stretch their leg, shoulder, stomach and back muscles.Because declawed cats can’t do this many develop arthritis eventually and do you know what James ? Cats SUFFER in silence ! Cats HIDE their PAIN because to a cat it is a sign of weakness showing it! The cats you are crowing about having no problems most likely suffered/will suffer agonising pain in their joints ! How do you feel now ? I don’t suppose you give a damn seeing as you think more of your furniture than living feeling animals.

Right, so cats can’t defend houses if a burglar breaks in, well supposing a burglar broke in when no one was home,a person like that wouldn’t hesitate to harm a defenceless cat, oh yes it HAS happened,a cat had his tail and paws CUT OFF by a burglar !His people came home to find him dying in agony, as much agony as when cats have their toe ends amputated, which is of course the ‘declawing’ you so ignorantly defend your right to have done on your poor cats.

But let’s say the cat has escaped the burglar by going out of the broken window,well waiting outside are HEALTHY whole animals against which a declawed cat wouldn’t stand a chance. What about natural disasters ? Fire, floods, earthquakes, declawed cats have NO chance of survival.

James your cats are NOT happy and well cared for, they are living with a person who paid another person to abuse them.They have no choice but to go on, they’ve had to adapt to living disabled lives from having multiple amputations YOU arranged and paid for.

If you love your furniture so much (by the way does it purr when you stroke it?) when declawing is BANNED and mark my words it soon will be, then you’d better go out and get yourself an American pit bull you admire so much.You might even know a tiny bit more about dogs than you do about cats.

You need to do some SERIOUS studying of cats James. Millions of people can’t be wrong, you’ll find out it’s YOU in the wrong,so don’t come telling us who DO know about cats, that calling people who mutilate cats criminals, is bilge !

From a retired vet nurse who knows a hell of a lot more about cats than YOU do !

Well James……your story sounds good, but I know better, you see twenty five years ago I thought that as long as my cats were inside they were safe and I was doing a good job protecting them.

I was at home washing dishes when I heard what sounded like a womans scream. It wasn’t a woman, it was my declawed cat taking her last breath as three German Shephards who had broken through a glass door riped her to shreds.

Yes ignorance is bliss, so keep on thinking you have done the right thing……I know you have not.

I think you said it all. But watch out….here come the others.

Educate, educate, educate. That’s the best anyone can do.

dw