If you live in Australia, you may be wondering what declawing is, because luckily it’s classed as animal cruelty and illegal here. However, there are places in the world (including the United States) where declawing cats, a surgery known as onychectomy, is legal and even commonplace. Today, we discuss what declawing involves, the risks associated with it, and the alternatives.
What is Declawing?
It’s a common misconception that declawing is similar to a kitty manicure – that would be when you trim your cat’s claws using the correct tools. If you’ve ever cut too far down when you’re trimming your cat’s nails and nicked the quick, you’ll know that it’s painful for your cat and causes bleeding. That’s because the quick is packed full of nerves and blood vessels.
Declawing is actual removal of the claws and each front toe from the last joint or knuckle. Look at your own hands, and imagine how you’d feel if your fingers were amputated at the first joint. It’s definitely, not just a manicure!
What’s Bad About Declawing?
Apart from the simple fact that it’s a process that involves amputating part of the cat’s toes, which must be immensely painful after the surgery, declawing also has other serious consequences:
- The usual risks associate with anaesthesia and surgery, and all for an elective (not medically necessary) surgery.
- The possibility of lifelong pain, nerve or tendon damage, lameness or dead tissue around the surgery site.
- A different way of walking that can lead to painful legs and impaired balance – think how you’d walk if you had your toes amputated from the first knuckle!
- Declawed cats should be kept as indoor cats, but if they get outside accidentally they have no way to protect themselves against predators.
- Psychological issues. Cats scratch for a number of reasons, including marking their territory, so to take this natural behaviour away from them can cause immense stress and psychological problems, leading to behavioural problems such as aggression, refusing to eat or inappropriate elimination.
- Litter tray problems in declawed cats can be caused by the pain and discomfort of digging certain types of litter when they’ve had the end of their toes amputated.
- Biting issues – if a cat can’t use their claws, (not just to attack/defend, but to hold onto things), they’ll often compensate by biting more.
Image: Lindsey Turner via Flickr
Why Would Anyone Declaw Their Cat?
Although there is a growing movement to end the practice of declawing in the United States, it’s still legal in many places. The most common reason for people declawing their cat is, sadly, to stop them from scratching the furniture – a behaviour that’s very fixable.
Other reasons given for putting their cat through the amputation are fighting in a multi-cat household and owners that have suppressed immune systems due to certain illnesses so are more at risk of contracting cat scratch disease.
Image: Eryne via Flickr
Alternatives to Declawing Cats
In countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom, where declawing is classed as animal cruelty, pet owners are required to look at solutions that involve training and changing the cat’s environment.
Scratching the furniture is the most common reason cat owners seek to declaw their cats, but there are effective options to curb this behaviour without having to resort to declawing.
- Trim your cat’s nails regularly.
- Provide lots of scratching posts, and use training to encourage your cat to use them instead of the furniture.
- Vinyl nail caps that cover your cat’s sharp claws will prevent them from damaging the furniture.
- Natural deterrents like double sided tape, and sprays made with citrus or eucalyptus oil diluted with water are also effective.
Do you have experience with a cat who has been declawed – how has it affected the cat?
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Question. So if declawing is cruel shouldn’t the caps be? How would a person feel with hard plastic covering their finger tips. If you glue them on. What happens when they retract their claws? If they can retract. How uncomfortable is it to have these plastic things hanging there? Isn’t that more confusing or more difficult?
I’m not saying declawing is right. I’m actually curious.
Thank you for writing on this topic. I do hope it will be outlawed everywhere before too long. I’m not active in any movements. I wonder if there are any. I’ve had cats most of my life and, luckily, have never had shredded furniture. I do have scratching posts around though, so that must be why. Thanks for what you do. Take care!
My latest rescue cat is a poster child for the anti-declaw movement. He is 14+ and was probably declawed as a kitten. He was found as a stray, and his ears are ragged from the fights he had no weaponry to win. He has a painful-to-watch walk that involves hunching his back, probably from arthritis due to his changed gait. And when he gets upset about something, he bites. That’s why he wasn’t able to find a home in the shelter, until I took him.
Declawing is cruel and evil, and should be outlawed. Thank you for this informative and very truthful article!
I was against declawing cats before I even knew what it meant!
Seems so barbaric and cruel. I am amazed that vets would still do it anywhere. Thanks for sharing as I am sure people do not understand how bad it is.
*sigh-h-h* we kitties hope that SOME day the USA becomes as civilized on this issue as Australia.
I really appreciate your write up – I’m not sure people really ‘think’ about it as much as dey just do it. It’s great informative info and I’m going to share it wif my followers!!
They’re trying to make it illegal here in my state but I think there’s still some loopholes.
Sadly, my mother and my sister both had their cats declawed years ago. My sister’s cat has since passed away of other causes, but my mother’s cat, Tootsie still has problems from the surgery. She refuses to use the litter box and will only go potty in the nice smooth bathtub. My mother’s veterinarian assures her that this is not because of the declaw surgery, but I know better. I’m sure that Tootsie’s feet hurt too bad when she has to walk on cat litter. I would never get my kitties declawed. My furniture doesn’t mean that much to me. Even so, when provided with alternative scratching areas, they don’t bother my furniture.
Fortunately is also illegal in Portugal. In fact, before starting to read international cat blogs I had never even heard about declawing.
Just think how it would feel to have your all of your fingers cut back to the first joint. Some people
just understand how painful it is for a cat. If they want a cat but don’t want their furniture scratched up, then either don’t get a cat or buy them everything they need to sharpen their claws. I taught my new kitty that using the cat tree with a scratching post is the first order of business to start the day. My vet told me to use regular human nail clippers on my new rescued kitty and she has no problem with it. Starting early with them as a kitten helps a lot. She is now 6 months old and has never used anything but her cat tree to sharpen her nails. This should be banned as a cruel act to cats.
Despite the info about de-clawing and the anti-de-clawing movement in the U.S. it remains a political hot potato. If we can’t get the AVMA to agree how can anything get changed in congress. Sadly, at the root $ and profit trumps kindness.
Like Lola, Gramma’s first cat was declawed. As soon as she came home from the surgery, Gramma felt terrible and said she’d never do that again. Faith didn’t have any emotional scars or litter box issues. I wish it would be illegal in the US but vets are still encouraging it.
Many, many years ago Mommy had two cats who were declawed. She didn’t know then what she knows now, but she feels guilty that it happened. There were no negative side effects, thank goodness! But she still feels bad and would NEVER do that again.
My wife’s cat was declawed when I met her. She didn’t know it was bad at the time but her cat, Sneakers, would occasionally show signs of pain in his paws for the rest of his life.
I really wish declawing was illegal in the United States – it is such an awful thing to do to a cat! Thank you for making people aware of the alternatives.
It’s illegal in Switzerland too, and Mum was shocked to hear that it was legal in the US. Declawing is cruel and awful, and we have to educate people again and again to make it stop. Great post ! Purrs
I wish it were illegal to declaw everywhere.
Thank you so much for this article! I never heard about declawing before entering the cat blogosphere, and I’m still having difficulties to believe that this is common practice in some countries.
I am incredibly sad that declawing is still legal here. I truly believe it’s a horrific practice. I would never get it done to my cats and I am a huge advocate for not doing it.
Declawing is EVIL! My human is galled it is legal in the U.S. – and that has been so hard getting it outlawed. AND that the reason it’s so hard is that the anti-declawers are having to fight the big veterinary organization to outlaw it. That’s right, the veterinary profession is trying to stop making it illegal. Awful.