I’ve heard the new techniques for declawing are more human and use lasers…I do not know the efficacy of the “treatment” but I have a knot in my stomach everytime I think of declawing our adult siamese. Obligatory photo of the offending party here. Notice the whiskers and the look of *“who me? I didn’t just scratch our new leather furniture…” *
Anyway, our female siamese is more a huge lump of warm fur than a real cat. She talks to us all the time, but rarely if ever claws anything. Our male, the linked photo, is the one who needs to sharpen his claws on everything. However, I rather clip his nails twice a month myself than declaw him. They are both indoor cats, but they both love scatching their posts so much, that I really hate to even think about declawing. Futher, we are not seriously considering it, this thread is really to find out if some people think it is ethical to declaw an adult cat. After a cat lives with it’s claws it really likes to use them on things. As a kitten, if you declaw a him or her they don’t have the time to get used to them or not. So it is more humane in my opinion to declaw a kitten than an adult. What do you think?
My understanding of declawing a cat is that it is the equivalent of taking off human fingers from the tip to the first joint. No matter how painless or carefully done, is it ethical to lop off 1/3 of each digit on either a human… or a cat?
First of all, it’s a cat.
Second of all, it’s probably more like removing a humans fingernails.
Third, I was picturing a cat with lasers for claws which would be AWESOME
I’d probably only do it if it were so bad that it was an option betwenn putting the cat down or getting it declawed, but that’s just me.
Have you tried SoftPaws?
Can you try some behavior modification first? I have trained my two cats to only scratch their scratching post. They do it on command and they are lavishly rewarded with Bonito flakes (that they apparently love more than anything else).
I did start when then were very young, I encouraged them to scratch the post and gave treats. If they scratched something else (which was rarely) I told them NO, picked them up, carried them to the post and then rewarded them where they scratched.
Now, they will run up and scratch the post whenever I say “show me what a good kitty does.” I keep the fish flakes by the post to make it easier. It really didn’t take very long to get them to behave and they never scratch anything (deliberately) but their post. I got one of the special, really tall posts so they can stretch out and get a really good scratch (it’s over 4 feet tall). There is also a scratcher hanging off a doorknob in the hall, but they don’t use it very much (no fish flakes, just praise and pets for that one).
I also wrap them in a towel and clip their nails every week.
I looove your kitty! Applehead Siamese are the BEST!!!
Yeah, you’d go from “Bad kitty! Scratches on my nice leather sofa!” to “Bad kitty! You DISINTEGRATED my nice leather sofa!” 
I’ve observed cats that have been declawed, and they don’t seem to notice that they don’t have claws (or that they’re being observed). YMMV
Was there any debate as to the species?
[old possum]
So first, your memory I’ll jog,
And say: A CAT IS NOT A DOG.
Now Dogs pretend they like to fight;
They often bark, more seldom bite;
But yet a Dog is, on the whole,
What you would call a simple soul.
Of course I’m not including Pekes,
And such fantastic canine freaks.
The usual Dog about the Town
Is much inclined to play the clown,
And far from showing too much pride
Is frequently undignified.
He’s very easily taken in -
Just chuck him underneath the chin
Or slap his back or shake his paw,
And he will gambol and guffaw.
He’s such an easy-going lout,
He’ll answer any hail or shout.
Again I must remind you that
A Dog’s a Dog - A CAT’S A CAT.
[/old possum]
I’m personally against declawing. I’ve actually assisted in the surgery before, so I have seen how it goes. It’s a bit brutal. I am not a vet, but a former Vet Tech, so this is not a doctor’s take. Just someone who has spoken with a lot of vets about this and has seen cats go through this.
It is equivalent to taking off the end of a finger. The last bone in each digit is removed by first cutting through the skin, then snipping the tendons that hold that bone on. The bone and claw is then removed. Cautery is used to stop the major bleeding and the skin is sewn back up.
It’s a bloody, painful recovery. We had our cats stay overnight the day after the procedure so that we could have them on serious pain medications and so that we could stop any panicky motions that might cause more bleeding. It’s hard to keep a cat calm when coming off anesthesia though (especially if ketamine is used to induce) so that was always fun. They have huge amounts of bandages on their paws, mostly pressure bandages, to keep everything contained. I’ve heard stories from the doctors about cats who busted through the bandages and sprayed blood everywhere.
The laser technique is thought to be better because instead of cutting through those tendons you burn though them, causing less bleeding and recovery time. But it’s still remarkably painful and traumatic. It is a surgery option I would only personally consider as a last resort.
In the veterinary community it seems there’s a big divide between doctors who declaw and those who are against it. I worked with 4 doctors who refused to declaw and one who would, but only in special cases. She regretted that we didn’t have a laser, but she performed the occasional one anyway.
I’d say if someone is determined to get it done, do it by laser. But I can’t imagine my cats going through the procedure.
On Preview- the auto spelling correct tried to replace cautery with Cattery. This amused me.
I have grown up two cats. I would never do it to either kitty. My vet is absolutely against it. He described it as animal cruelty.
I think it is unethical to dewclaw a kitten or an adult. There is a good reason it is illegal in most European countries. I certainly wouldn’t do it over something trivial like furniture. The only reason I’d even consider it is if it were inappropriately clawing people, and it was the only choice.
“Do you expect me to talk, Goldfinger?”
"No-o-o-o-o-o-o, Mister Fluffy. I expect you to Be DECLAWED!
There is nothing you nor anyone in your organization can tell me about Operation Scratchpost."
This worked on our cat, too, but with Temptations rather than flakes. And with liberal shaking of an empty aluminum can with several coins in it when he went near the furniture.
I wouldn’t spay or neuter my kids either (I think) but that doesn’t make it ethically wrong. I don’t believe that the “if we don’t do it to people, we shouldn’t do it to pets” analogy holds up very well.
I had one cat declawed. She walked around gingerly for a couple of days. After that, you couldn’t tell that she had had the operation. She didn’t seem to notice that they were gone either because she would continue to sharpen her “claws” whenever she wanted to play.
You’re kidding me. Really?
Its not *probably * like removing fingernails at all. Given what a cat uses its claws for, its basically like removing the top part of your finger, as **Broomstick ** said.
Furthermore, every cat I have personally seen that had been declawed developed major biting problems. YMMV, of course. I would definitely try all forms of behavior modification first.
Really cute kitty, BTW!
Really. And I say if you love your furniture more than your cats, dump the cats.
Another vote for SoftPaws. You can also embarrass your cat in front of it’s peers by using the hot pink or many other colours available.
Here’s a YouTube link showing application: “Today we’re using purple…for Mike”
I have a declawed cat. I have a cat that bites. They are not the same cat. None of our declawed cats ever bit.
We’ve had three declawed cats (two came that way, the other we declawed to keep it from bloodying the declawed cat it lived with) and they do not seem to notice that they’re declawed to the point that they “sharpen” non-existent claws - the current one is a very good mouser, even. Well, maybe it’s not entirely true that they don’t notice, because all three scratch/ed with their back claws, and got quite good at it. People, that is, not furniture. With a declawed cat you get belly scratches instead of hand/arm scratches.
While I don’t think it’s wrong to declaw a cat, you can’t let it outside alone afterwards. They can still scratch you while you hold them, but it doesn’t work the same way with other animals.
Soft Claws work great, too - but only if you have a cat who is use to having their paws manipulated. If you can’t get it to hold still long enough to clip his/her nails (which is step 1 of using Soft Claws, btw), you’re not going to be able to get the nail caps on. At least not without stitches. You have to be able to hold onto the cat after you put the caps on for 7 minutes too. If you don’t restrain them, they’ll gnaw the caps off before the glue sets. If you think you cat will stand it, I do recommend them, though. They last a good one to three months before you need to do it again. The cat we used them on used to dig her claws into you when she sat on your lap and kneed, and by then was well used to people holding her paws so she couldn’t.
I have wondered the same thing, so Philosphr, you’re not the only one.