Declawing

ONYCHECTOMY—TENDONECTOMY—TOE AMPUTATION

The Unvarnished Painful Truth

A Natural Dependency

Kitties are born with their claws for good reason(s); they are totally dependent on them for survival, self defense, hunting, and climbing to escape predators. Kitties are physically, mentally, and emotionally attached to their claws. Scratching is exercise that keeps them in top physical condition, necessary for survival living on city streets or in rural wooded areas. A declawed escaped kitty is defenseless, and essentially doomed.

Kitties use their claws for communication too by spreading scent, marking territory, and the claw casings left behind are a visual warning to intruders.

Medical Anatomy

Kitties claws' are their finger tips they walk on. They’re weight bearing, necessary for proper balance, and essential for mobility control. The glands in their toes are used to spread scent for communication purposes.

Their claws are attached to a pivoting bone, and held together by muscle tissue, flexor tendons, and elastic dorsal ligaments. There are thousands of nerve receptors making them ultra sensitive, dexterous, irreplaceable limbs, that are so sensitive, that they can feel the slightest vibrations from several yards away.

Onychectomy Surgery

Declawing is ten separate extremely painful amputations
Mutilation, disfigurement, and dismemberment
Declawing is partial paw amputation
Removes one third of the paw
Removes claw, bone, tendons, and ligaments

Declawing is intentional crippling
No health benefit to the kitty

Post Surgery

Declawing invites, hemorrhage and infection
Abscess's, swelling, extreme pain and lethargy
Wound dehiscence, and incomplete healing, invites tissue necrosis
Toxins, trauma, and death
Declawing is crippling, which can lead to transient motor paralysis

Radial nerve damage, chronic back pain
Lameness, intermittent lameness
Permanent lameness, and palmigrade stance
Declawing invites chronic draining tracts, and dermatitis
Claw regrowth, deformed claw segment growth
Chronic pain lasting for years, 8 longest ever recorded

Never—Ending—Pain—Suffering

At Home

“The declawing procedure did not meet the expectations of the guardian.”

Declawed Kitties rapidly can become traumatized, and develop post operative behavior disorders, from enduring excruciating chronic pain and Suffering.

Defenselessness, depression and despair
Personality change, and seclusion
Chronic stress leads to aggressive attacks

Vicious biting, and litter box avoidance
Chronic stress leads to health issues like
Immune system suppression
Cystitis, and Irritable bowel syndrome
All classic characteristics of a deeply wounded suffering animal

Declawed—Defenseless—Cast Out

Declawed kitties are
Surrendered to shelters
Thrown into streets
Unadoptable and unwanted

Wounded, scared, and alone
Abused, tortured and killed!

“Shelter records show that nearly half of declawed cats presented at intake, are screened out as having behavior problems, and do not get a chance at being adopted.” They are labeled unadoptable, euthanized or gassed.

What Do the Doctors Say?

“A declawed cat is anatomically and mentally damaged.”

DR. R Gaskin, DVM

“Declawing is actually an amputation of the last joint of your cat’s toes. When you envision that, it becomes clear why declawing is not a humane act. It’s a painful surgery, with a painful recovery period.”

Dr. Christine Schelling, DVM

“The consequences of declawing are often pathetic. Changes in behavior can occur. A declawed cat frequently resorts to biting when confronted with even minor threats. Biting becomes an overcompensation for the insecurity of having no claws.”

Dr. D Hammett, DVM

“Owners should be aware of the high complication rate for both procedures. Many cats also suffer a loss of balance, because they can no longer achieve a secure foothold on their amputated stumps.”

Vet Surgery 1994 Jul-Aug

“The inhumanity of the procedure is clearly demonstrated by the nature of the cats’ recovery from anesthesia following surgery.”

“Declawing surgery results; in cats bouncing off the walls of the recovery cage because of excruciating pain.”

“Declawing fits the dictionary definition of mutilation to a tee. Words such as deform, disfigure, disjoint, and dismember all apply to this surgery.”

“Partial digital amputation is so horrible that it has been employed for torture of prisoners of war, and in veterinary medicine, the clinical procedure serves as a model of severe pain for testing the efficacy of analgesic drugs.”

Dr. Nicholas Dodman, B.V.M.S., M.R.C.V.S.

“Declawed cats tend to walk abnormally back on their heels rather than on their entire pads because of the chronic pain at the end of their severed fingers and toes. They often develop chronic arthritis, and as the front toe pads shrink, chronic bone infections are common.”

Dr Michael W. Fox DSC, PhD, BVet Med, M.R.C.V.S

“The pain caused by this procedure often lasts long after the surgery is over. It can last the life of the cat, and even cause worse behavior problems the one it supposedly set out to solve, destructive scratching, such as litter box avoidance and biting.”

Dr Marty Becker DVM

“Declawing generally is unacceptable because of the suffering and disfigurement it causes is not offset by any benefits to the cat. Declawing is done strictly to provide convenience for the people.”

Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights

“Declawing is not simple or routine surgery. It should never be done especially in kittens. Despite their reputation for independence, cats can readily be trained to leave the sofa, curtains, or carpet untouched.”

Dr J Hofve, DVM

“Declawing is an inhumane, unnecessary procedure that has many alternatives. It’s never in the cat’s best interest. With Declawing we are interfering with a species’ nature because of our own whims, misconceptions, misinformation, and sometimes laziness.”

Mrs. Grey

By Columnist Anne Raver NY Times, August 13, 1992

“She doesn’t flex her claws anymore, in that luxurious way she had while snoozing in the sun. She’s quieter too, like a feisty soul beaten up once too often. We’ve taken away her last wildness, the dignity that comes from power.

We tell ourselves its all right to do these things to animals. We have civilized reasons, like not letting them destroy our priceless possessions. We tell ourselves how we rescued them from the streets. After all, Mrs. Grey was a stray.

We remove their claws when they don’t respect our possessions, but we’d call it barbaric to remove the fingers of a thief.

Mrs. Grey comes to sit by me now. She purrs and rubs her head against my hand. I suppose I could say she has forgiven me, in which case her love puts mine to shame. But I have stolen from her and she is the lesser for it.”

Countries labeling Declawing

Cruel—Inhumane—Illegal—Banned—Outlawed