DECLAWING - IF YOU CARE, BE AWARE!
What is declawing?
Too often, people think that declawing is a simple surgery that removes a cat’s nails—the equivalent of having your fingernails trimmed. Sadly, this is far from the truth. Declawing traditionally involves the amputation of the last bone of each toe. If performed on a human being, declawing would be like cutting off each finger at the last knuckle!
How is a cat declawed?
The standard method of declawing is amputating with a scalpel or guillotine clipper. The wounds are closed with stitches or surgical glue, and the feet are bandaged.
Another method is laser surgery, in which a small, intense beam of light cuts through tissue by heating and vaporizing it. However, it’s still the amputation of the last toe bone of the cat and carries with it the same long-term risks of lameness and behavioral problems as does declawing with scalpels or clippers. A third procedure is the tendonectomy, in which the tendon that controls the claw in each toe is severed. The cat keeps his claws, but can’t control them or extend them to scratch. This procedure is associated with a high incidence of abnormally thick claw growth. Therefore, more frequent and challenging nail trims are required to prevent the cat’s claws from snagging on people, carpet, furniture, and drapes, or from growing into the cat’s paw pads. Because of its complications, tendonectomy may lead to declawing anyway. Although tendonectomy is not actually amputation, a 1998 study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association found the incidence of bleeding, lameness, and infection was similar between tendonectomy and declawing.
After effects:
Medical drawbacks to declawing include pain, infection, tissue necrosis (tissue death), lameness, and back pain. Removing claws changes the way a cat’s foot meets the ground and can cause pain similar to wearing an uncomfortable pair of shoes. There can also be a regrowth of improperly removed claws, nerve damage, and bone spurs.
For several days after surgery, shredded newspaper is typically used in the litter box to prevent litter from irritating declawed feet. This unfamiliar litter substitute, accompanied by pain when scratching in the box, may lead cats to stop using the litter box. Some cats may become biters because they no longer have their claws for defense.
While we hope that your cat remains safely indoors at all times, if he or she were ever to get outside without claws, your cat would be far more vulnerable to predators and abusers.
What you can do:
Scratching is normal cat behavior. It isn’t done to destroy a favorite chair or to get even. Cats scratch to remove the dead husks from their claws, mark territory, and stretch their muscles.
Pet caregivers should not consider declawing a routine prevention for unwanted scratching. However, you don’t have to let your cat scratch everything in the house, either. Here’s what you can do to help:
• Keep kitty’s claws trimmed to minimize damage to household items.
• Teach your cat where to scratch and where not to scratch. Provide stable scratching posts and boards around your home. Offer different materials like
carpet, sisal, wood, and cardboard, as well as different styles (vertical and horizontal). Use toys and catnip to entice your cat to use the posts and
boards.
• Ask your veterinarian about soft plastic caps (like Soft Paws®) that are glued to the cat’s nails. They need to be replaced about every six weeks.
• Use a special tape (like Sticky Paws®) on furniture to deter your cat from unwanted scratching.
• Discourage your cat from scratching furniture by using a loud, firm voice whenever he or she starts to scratch—cats don’t like loud noises! Or try using
a spray bottle or squirt gun full of lukewarm water directed at your cat’s back. Never use physical force!
Unnecessary procedures:
Declawing and tendonectomies should be reserved only for those rare cases in which a cat has a medical problem that would warrant such surgery, such as the need to remove cancerous nail bed tumors. Declawing does not guarantee that a cat will not be taken to a shelter if other problem behaviors occur, such as biting or not using the litter box.
Declawing is an unnecessary and sometimes dangerous surgery which provides no medical benefit to the cat. Educated pet parents can easily train their cats to use their claws in a manner that allows everyone in the household to live together happily.
*Information obtained from http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/declawing.html
and http://www.peta.org/living/companion-animals/8-reasons-never-declaw-cats/
Too often, people think that declawing is a simple surgery that removes a cat’s nails—the equivalent of having your fingernails trimmed. Sadly, this is far from the truth. Declawing traditionally involves the amputation of the last bone of each toe. If performed on a human being, declawing would be like cutting off each finger at the last knuckle!
How is a cat declawed?
The standard method of declawing is amputating with a scalpel or guillotine clipper. The wounds are closed with stitches or surgical glue, and the feet are bandaged.
Another method is laser surgery, in which a small, intense beam of light cuts through tissue by heating and vaporizing it. However, it’s still the amputation of the last toe bone of the cat and carries with it the same long-term risks of lameness and behavioral problems as does declawing with scalpels or clippers. A third procedure is the tendonectomy, in which the tendon that controls the claw in each toe is severed. The cat keeps his claws, but can’t control them or extend them to scratch. This procedure is associated with a high incidence of abnormally thick claw growth. Therefore, more frequent and challenging nail trims are required to prevent the cat’s claws from snagging on people, carpet, furniture, and drapes, or from growing into the cat’s paw pads. Because of its complications, tendonectomy may lead to declawing anyway. Although tendonectomy is not actually amputation, a 1998 study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association found the incidence of bleeding, lameness, and infection was similar between tendonectomy and declawing.
After effects:
Medical drawbacks to declawing include pain, infection, tissue necrosis (tissue death), lameness, and back pain. Removing claws changes the way a cat’s foot meets the ground and can cause pain similar to wearing an uncomfortable pair of shoes. There can also be a regrowth of improperly removed claws, nerve damage, and bone spurs.
For several days after surgery, shredded newspaper is typically used in the litter box to prevent litter from irritating declawed feet. This unfamiliar litter substitute, accompanied by pain when scratching in the box, may lead cats to stop using the litter box. Some cats may become biters because they no longer have their claws for defense.
While we hope that your cat remains safely indoors at all times, if he or she were ever to get outside without claws, your cat would be far more vulnerable to predators and abusers.
What you can do:
Scratching is normal cat behavior. It isn’t done to destroy a favorite chair or to get even. Cats scratch to remove the dead husks from their claws, mark territory, and stretch their muscles.
Pet caregivers should not consider declawing a routine prevention for unwanted scratching. However, you don’t have to let your cat scratch everything in the house, either. Here’s what you can do to help:
• Keep kitty’s claws trimmed to minimize damage to household items.
• Teach your cat where to scratch and where not to scratch. Provide stable scratching posts and boards around your home. Offer different materials like
carpet, sisal, wood, and cardboard, as well as different styles (vertical and horizontal). Use toys and catnip to entice your cat to use the posts and
boards.
• Ask your veterinarian about soft plastic caps (like Soft Paws®) that are glued to the cat’s nails. They need to be replaced about every six weeks.
• Use a special tape (like Sticky Paws®) on furniture to deter your cat from unwanted scratching.
• Discourage your cat from scratching furniture by using a loud, firm voice whenever he or she starts to scratch—cats don’t like loud noises! Or try using
a spray bottle or squirt gun full of lukewarm water directed at your cat’s back. Never use physical force!
Unnecessary procedures:
Declawing and tendonectomies should be reserved only for those rare cases in which a cat has a medical problem that would warrant such surgery, such as the need to remove cancerous nail bed tumors. Declawing does not guarantee that a cat will not be taken to a shelter if other problem behaviors occur, such as biting or not using the litter box.
Declawing is an unnecessary and sometimes dangerous surgery which provides no medical benefit to the cat. Educated pet parents can easily train their cats to use their claws in a manner that allows everyone in the household to live together happily.
*Information obtained from http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/declawing.html
and http://www.peta.org/living/companion-animals/8-reasons-never-declaw-cats/
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© 2013 The Cat's Meow Rescue. All Rights Reserved.
© 2013 The Cat's Meow Rescue. All Rights Reserved.