Warning, I’m going to get a little preachy here…

On a random web forum I take part in the discussion turned to declawing of cats. Someone on the forum was asking whether it could be recommended.

A few facts to consider:

• The term “declawing” doesn’t really describe the procedure. It’s actually an amputation, done to the last digit of each of the cat’s toes.
• Felines are digitigrade, meaning that they walk on their toes. Upon being declawed, a cat is essentially forced to walk on the 10 or more stumps where it used to have toes. For some time after surgery, these are not even healed.
• If you have an outdoor cat, declawing robs it of its primary form of defense against dogs and other cats. It cannot strike back, it cannot climb a tree.
• Are you going to rip out your cat’s teeth next? If not, don’t be surprised if the cat takes up biting as an alternative means of defense.
• Declawing is illegal in many (most?) countries, and in a growing number of locations here in the United States. Granted, a lot of countries have a lot of stupid laws, but this isn’t one of them.

There are a handful of other reasons why this practice is cruel, but it really boils down to this:

Amputation in progress, courtesy of pawproject.com

People don’t declaw their cats because the cat is having health problems. They declaw their cats because they act like cats, and that’s just too inconvenient for them to handle. It’s not hard to trim a cat’s claws once in a while, and (aside from making the cat look a little silly) claw caps work as a humane alternative to amputation.

I have two cats. Love them to death. Do they annoy me from time to time? Sure. One left a lizard corpse belly-up on my carpet this morning, much to my chagrin. Do they sometimes scratch me? Yeah, sometimes. While they’re pretty good about it, they occasionally scratch my furniture as well.

All that is a major part of being a cat, though. If you can’t handle it, you should consider whether you should even have a cat in your home at all. Amputation is painful and should never be taken lightly, and never if the only reason is for mere human convenience.

I understand that otherwise good, cat-loving people declaw cats in ignorance - not truly understanding what the practice is and what it entails. I hope that people will take the time to become better educated and choose a humane alternative.