Imagine moving into your in-law’s house and they think you touch things too much, getting your fingerprints all over their lovely glass furniture. They take you on a long trip without saying where; it’s to the doctor where he puts you to sleep despite your confusion and protests. You wake up and every single fingertip is missing. You’ve got real pain and fantom pain. You’re a little more than upset, right? We need our fingertips as much as cat’s need their claws.
The only reason you’d want to declaw a cat is for your own benefit unless they have something wrong and a vet suggests it. I’m one of those people who says if you’re going to declaw a cat because you don’t like its natural behaviors, then you don’t deserve one. If that offends you, you’ll probably stop reading now and the rest of the information will be lost on you. If you’re going to read ahead anyway, well then, I thank you for your consideration.
Many European countries have long since outlawed declawing. Even prior, it was a rare occurrence in the UK. Different cultures have vastly different practices, I know. In the US many cats are kept indoors (and we rescues usually encourage you to do so) so the claws may seem less necessary to you if that’s the case. In the UK, cats come and go indoors and outdoors so they definitely have more “need” of them. The UK’s perspective is also less on having the freedom to as they please with their animal and more on the actual welfare of the animal.
Welfare should be obvious, but in case it is not: studies have proven that removing the claws causes the cat pain. You might be thinking (because people have said this to me) “well, my cat doesn’t seem to be in pain…” Great! However, cats are excellent at hiding pain. Ask any veterinarian. So, the cat is in pain perhaps because of the procedure and fantom pain, perhaps because a fragment was left behind, perhaps because of arthritis developing and maybe all of those. The cat now has higher levels of cortisol, lower tolerance for nonsense due to the stress and pain, and you may get behavioral problems. They may develop litter box problems, or they may bite you. Removing their claws is like removing our fingertips or toe tips. There’s going to be balance problems.
Removing their claws is also just plain unnecessary. If you don’t like them scratching but you really like cats, then get appropriate cat furniture! Give them naturalistic scratchers, cardboard scratchers, and cat trees with sisal rope. Get those little fingernail caps. Deterrents are made that are based on smell and they have some that give little puffs of air on motion detection. You could also consider materials that aren’t scratchable. I could replace my wood chair my one cat scratches with plastic or metal. A catio might be a good incentive for the cat to develop more natural and appropriate scratching behavior. As a last resort, I’d make my cat an indoor/outdoor before I’d go cutting off body parts.
Where is declawing illegal?
- Maryland
- New York
- Some cities in Texas, California, Colorado, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Missouri
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bosnia
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- England
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Portugal
- Romania
- Scotland
- Serbia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- Wales
- & most provinces of Canada
Cover picture source: https://www.mcleanvet.com/need-know-declawing/
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