By Ruth aka Kattaddorra
This article and poster were inspired by Dee who commented on the post: Declaw Bouquets and Brickbats for Veterinarians.
‘Could we see a hatchet instead of a brick? Easier to cut off fingers at the first knuckle’
It made me laugh and then imagine how good it would be if declawing vets could have a taste of their own medicine from cats.
So, just suppose cats were as large as humans and humans were as small as cats! Suppose cats had the power to definger the humans who definger them!
I was very tempted to design a declawing vet having his finger ends chopped off by a cat with a hatchet, just for Dee, but cats wouldn’t be so cruel.
They would anesthetise their patient before cutting off his finger ends with a bone cutter, or a resco clipper, or by burning them off with a laser. That’s what declaw vets do.
But here’s the difference, a human can be told what his surgery entails and he is asked for his consent. Cats don’t know what is going to happen to them, they are left at the clinic to face being handled by strangers who cause them fear and pain and shock.
Some of those strangers even charge extra for pain medication after the surgery? Would cats do that? I don’t think so, because cats are not money hungry unfeeling creatures like some vets are.
But the cats in the poster are giving Dr D. Claws no choice to consent and they are charging extra because one of their friends was mutilated by that vet and they want revenge.
In real life of course cats don’t seek revenge, well they can’t can they, they have to accept their fate. Declawed cats have to live with the effects of their ten amputations whether they like it or not.
They have to walk on their severed finger ends immediately they are up and about after their surgery……… and for the rest of their lives.
At least Dr D. Claws won’t have to do that.
I’ve been trying to persuade Maggie back, she’s certainly been a miss to PoC
Ruth will fight against declawing to her last breath or when it is banned. I know I certainly will. I will never stop nor will PoC stop criticising it. Hope you are OK Maggie. When are you going to write an article about the cats of Tasmania?
Another great poster, Ruth! It’s wonderful to see that you’re still making them! I agree, cats wouldn’t be so cruel as to do something so barbaric and abhorrent. But it certainly offers some perspective; imagine if cats and humans swapped places, and it was considered common practice for humans to be ‘defingered’ in order to prevent us from harming our cats. Food for thought, indeed!
This is a great poster Ruth.
Young cats and kittens are amazing, they are so pure in their curiosity and they are so loving and above all – you can earn a kitten’s trust and it will come up to you and play with you and sleep on you – and you give it food and shelter. There is an unseen deal here.
To take your sweet kitten into this experience (well described by Ruth) of strangeness and the unknown and subject it to the experience of declawing – of waking up like that – disabled, technically speaking – is horrible.
For me it’s that very trust and love that you earn and share with a cat that makes me feel honoured and like I must be doing something right. To break that trust, to make a complete mockery of nature is a horrible betrayal of nature and the animal who trusts, god forbid, loves you.
It destroys the love, innocence and care and all the basic intuitions and emotions we are born with and it’s tragic for the kitten who must live his/her entire life with this betrayal.