The Declawing Conspiracy

I’ve just watched a particularly nasty piece of propaganda on YouTube, by Dr Glenn Mayer DVM he is currently co-chair of the Public Education Committee and he is the owner of the Abell Animal Hospital in Chicago - which advertises itself on it’s website as your pet’s second best friend! It also advertises on several online veterinary directories, and amongst the services it offers is declawing. In the video this stiff-necked man, in whose hands rests the lives and well-being of cats in Park Ridge, Norridge, Harwood Heights, Niles, Rosemont and Des Plaines Communities of Chicago talks to us, haltingly, about the “complete packages” the clinic offers, pointing out various pieces of equipment in the operating theatre and boasts of the pre-op checks and the constant monitoring of the animals during surgery. He stresses that the clinic does “place a real premium on safety and monitoring” because they realise that “these are your pets and you do care very much about them”. Then Dr Mayer talks us through the merits of his clinic’s laser equipment, donning his safety glasses to demonstrate it’s vaporising capabilities on a wooden tongue-depressor, allowing us to see smoke rising from the cut he makes in the wood and describing it’s uses and flexibility for various surgeries, and telling us that with the laser there is “much less bleeding, and much less pain” in fact he would have us believe that the laser is the best thing since sliced bread! Hmmm…..maybe.

But I think not!

Because after a couple of minutes, and another reminder that with laser surgery there is less bleeding and less pain he brings the subject round to declawing, saying the clinic always uses laser for declawing. He says his feelings on declawing are that it is an individual decision. He says he can’t tell you if every pet needs (NEEDS!) to be declawed and he can’t tell you that every cat doesn’t need to be declawed (his words…pet first and then cat) but the thing is “if the cat is destroying the house” (DESTROYING THE HOUSE??? Oh come on…how big is a cat? Even the biggest cat can’t be more than about 20lbs…how can an animal that size DESTROY a house?) Or “if the cat is hurting people” those are good reasons to get it declawed (IT) because they want the cat to stay in the home and they want the cat to have a happy household. So he goes on to say that when they use a laser to declaw it is “better for them” (the cats) because they don’t have to use a tourniquet and they don’t have to use a scalpel. Yeah but then he had to add that they DO have to clean out “what’s called the char…erm..the burn area” and they do have to put a bandage on to “help with any bleeding that occurs…erm that might occur” and then he tells us the “pets “ have to stay overnight, he can’t even bring himself to mention cats by name! And again he tells us there is LESS bleeding and LESS pain. In the light of evidence we have recently seen of a declawed cat the morning after the operation I’m not surprised the pets have to stay overnight and can only imagine with pity the sort of night that the cats endure!

But wait till you hear what comes next!!! He says, with a smile and a proud gleam in his eye that when they do procedures these days they “GENERALLY use pain medication, which is not something that has always happened during his 33 years of being a veterinarian” but they now realise pets DO HAVE PAIN. Now apart from the thought of the suffering of all those cats over all those years who he has operated on and then in his ignorance given no post op pain relief, what’s this about “generally” using pain medication these days? Does that mean sometimes they do NOT, because according to my PC’s list of synonyms “generally” means usually, normally, in general, in the main, by and large and commonly. This ties in of course with what we already know, some veterinarians charge EXTRA for pain relief! Some veterinarians advise AGAINST any pain relief because if the edge is taken off the cat’s pain then he or she might attempt to move around normally and use the paws in the way they are meant to be used thus causing the wounds to reopen, (oh what a nuisance if those wounds re-open and have to be re-glued, keep those bad cats in pain so they don’t cause extra work!)
On the clinic’s website there is a library of medical information and advice, some of it covers feline behaviour, and give them their due, they make a point of saying that punishing cats is counter-productive, so WHY when they have the perfect opportunity to educate the public about what declawing REALLY is (charring and burning the cat’s toes off!) and not forgetting that on his website it states that this man is currently co-chair of the Public Education Committee is there no mention of how to train cats to use scratching equipment and no discussion about the alternatives to de-knuckling cats! Why is he prepared to stand there listing the merits of laser surgery and in particular laser declaw surgery without including a few sentences describing what declawing is? Why does he gloss over it, saying laser is “better for them” and not all cats NEED declawing? Why, if he really IS your cat’s second best friend, doesn’t he tell your cat’s first best friend, YOU, to sod off because he is not going to declaw your cat? What is the matter with these people, WHY can’t they see what they are doing? Or can they see….but is it that they are blinded by the mighty dollar?

And finally, why has he disabled the comments facility on YouTube if he is so certain he’s doing such a good job? I know for fact that the comment facility was not disabled until one of our troops questioned him on declawing, her comment was never acknowledged and the comment facility was blocked. Now is that what you would expect from a veterinarian from a reputable clinic? Or is it what you would expect from a declawing pimp who wants to cover up what he and his colleagues do to cats for money? Hmmmm?????

Here is the video and HERE is the petition to the AVMA calling for a ban on declawing

Ready mutilated cats, saves new owners from mutilating

I read HERE with horror just recently that the Environmental, Education, Health and Welfare Committee of Macon County, Illinois, are considering giving pet adopters the option of having a cat declawed (or a dog's dewclaws removed) before taking their new pet home from the County Animal Control and Care Center (now that they have a full time vet’s wages to justify). In fact the board voted 8-0 in favour of this and the only thing they have yet to agree on is the fee, which they have said would cover the cost of “doing two paws”. They seem to think that by doing this they are stopping the adopter from going to another vet for the declawing and that they are saving the cat the trauma of a further anaesthetic and major operation by declawing at the same time as neutering them (they are also assuming the animal is not already neutered)

And they are assuming that the majority of adopters want a declawed cat.

I have mixed feelings about dog dewclaw removal, one the one hand I don’t agree with surgery, for the sake of it and because of tradition, but on the other hand I have witnessed dogs with their dewclaws torn off accidentally so I think that dewclaw removal is very much a decision to be made for the benefit of the individual dog (NOT the owner) although I really don’t think they should be whipped off as part of the adoption process.

Regarding the routine declawing of cats though I think that at a time when more people are realising that it is simply not acceptable this is an outrageous step to take and one that should be protested against vehemently, but will anyone bother to protest? Last time I looked only three people had commented on the press notice, one brilliant comment from a veterinarian in the USA and two regular “ban declawing” campaigners from the UK!

Why, instead of encouraging, in fact offering, the mutilation of the paws of already confused and possibly traumatised cats, can’t the center spend the money on educating would-be owners about the physical and emotional need for cats to keep the claws they were born with? Why can’t they give them a good solid scratching post to take home with them? Why do cats have to lose a third of each of their two front paws to make them acceptable to people who, if they cannot accept a cat the way nature made it, have no right to adopt a cat in the first place?

Anyway, having made my comment on the press notice it stayed in my mind and made me think about my own cats and their precious toes, and it made me imagine a nightmare scenario that thankfully could never happen to them because, although we have many worries now that we have a coalition government lead by a blood crazy hunter, thankfully declawing cats is banned here and will remain so.

My sister and I live together and we have two (neutered) cats who we absolutely adore, we rejoice in their health and wholeness and although we worry about them constantly when they are outdoors we want them to live, and enjoy, their lives as cats should (well as every living creature should, but PM Cameron won’t agree with me there). Although we dread the days when we lose our two precious boys we dread even more the thought of both of us falling off our twigs before they both do leaving one or both of them “orphaned” and reliant on someone taking them in. So we are members of the Cinnamon Trust which means that if they are left behind our boys will be assured of kind and sympathetic care for the rest of their natural lives, given their age now they would probably stay at the sanctuary for the rest of their lives, but the sanctuary is almost a home from home, almost but not quite of course because we would not be there with them and they’ve never known life without us.

But what if we lived in the USA? We couldn’t be members of the Cinnamon Trust in England, so we couldn’t make provision for their futures. So imagine a scenario where my sister and I were suddenly both deceased. Our two bereaved boys who have been cared for as family all their lives may be taken in to an “Animal Control and Care Centre”, they would be confused, they would be frightened, they would be missing us, their familiar home, their toys, their beds, their garden, their regular brands of food, their treats of cooked meats and squirty cream. They would be missing their special games, their individual preferences of grooming, the things we sing to them, they would be missing sitting beside us in our computer chairs while we perch on kitchen chairs to write blogs and protests. They would be missing their scratching posts, their wooden built Catnasium and the trees in our garden. They would be caged, (if they were not euthanized as unrehomeable because of their age) they would be viewed and possibly one or both may be chosen to be adopted.

Bless them, if they weren’t miserable enough by then, did they but know it their troubles were only just starting!!

To imagine one or both of our boys taken from a cage and held by strangers while pre-op pain relief was administered by injection into the paws, taken into surgery and anaesthetised, their paws held up and their precious toes either sliced or burnt off and their bodies being subject to a battering from pain relief equivalent in strength to that given to terminally ill humans makes me feel physically ill.

As does imagining them coming round from the anaesthetic, confused, bandaged, caged and hurting like hell. A cat with bandaged paws thrashes them around anyway, one of ours did when he cut his paw badly and had to have a stitch in it, add to that the pain of ten amputations and it’s easy to believe the truth of the quote from the vet tech about cats throwing themselves, screaming with pain, around the recovery cages.

Who on this Earth thought up the idea of declawing? What monster practiced, unto perfection, removing the last part of a cat’s toes until they could routinely remove a cats claws to make him/her acceptable to the American public and then made public the knowledge how to do it and the availability of it? (And what about the live cats he/she practiced on having experimented on dead cats first, what sort of state were their paws left in?)

And who in Macon County Animal Control and Care Centre gives a toss for those poor rejected creatures that find themselves homeless and at the mercy of plans such as this one!!!!!

Let's have a go at cats

This is the ultimate; we now have someone who is a personal finance consultant and who gives online loans teaching us all about cats and their claws and what gadgets to buy to punish them (for being cats?). He is very confidant of his knowledge because he starts off by saying
“If you have always wanted to know more about this topic, then get ready because we have all the information you can handle. Getting a pet is just the tip of the iceberg especially if the owner decides to keep it indoors. Before deciding on which animal to get, it is best to read up on the frequent problems that happen so one can be ready to overcome them”.
Get that? We’re talking of getting an animal, we don’t know what species yet, but we’re probably going to keep it indoors (it’s a cat!) and first and foremost we are looking for problems, we’re not learning about our chosen animal, we don’t even have a preference for a specific type of animal but we are looking for problems!
The loan shark goes on to say

“A cat is a cute furry animal that do not usually need to be given a bath like dogs” YES! Well said. “This is as cats are able to clean up themselves very well. But there is more to just giving them food or brushing their fur and these are things the owner must anticipate”. YES again.

But…. There’s always a but “Cats like dogs that have not been trained how to behave indoors can create a lot of problems. The claws of this animal can scratch and ruin the furniture.” Oh no, we’ve cut straight to the chase, we’re on the subject of claws already, and when he says cats have not been trained how to behave indoors, why is that? WHY has the cat not been trained to use the scratching post, it’s very easy and even fun to teach a kitten, all you need is time and patience and the willingness to do it rather than take a surgical short-cut.

“If the creature has not also been toilet trained, the house will smell and the owner will have to clean up after it.” This is stupid, to start with kittens learn from their mother’s to use litter trays, they observe and they copy, it is MOST unusual to get a kitten that isn’t already litter box trained. Likewise it doesn’t take long to train a puppy to do it’s business outside. The problems start when there is no litter tray provided or the tray isn’t kept clean, now that does make the house smell, but that isn’t down to the cat is it? It’s down to the laziness of the owner and in the case of puppies it’s because attention isn’t paid to establishing a routine of toileting outside at regular times and after naps, it isn’t rocket science, there is no need for anyone’s house to smell.

There are ways to solve the clawing problem. One way is declawing it when your pet is still a kitten. Since some people find this to be cruel to the animal, then one would have to buy a scratching post and teach it to scratch on the surface when the animal feels like doing it. Back to cats and back to the claws, yes go on, get them declawed, merely say some people find it cruel, don’t explain WHY they find it cruel, nor what happens during declawing, nor what the cat suffers during and after declawing, nor what can go wrong, loss of paws, limbs and lives. But wow, if one thinks declawing is cruel then one will have to go to all the trouble and expense of buying a scratching post, oh dear me, and not only that one would have to teach the cat to scratch on the surface, what a nuisance, how much easier to have the “creature” declawed and be done with it. Notice the online loan merchant advises declawing while you pet is still a kitten? Before, or rather INSTEAD of, buying a scratching post I don’t want to be boring (though I probably am) but I need to quote the AVMA again "Declawing of domestic cats should be considered only after attempts have been made to prevent the cat from using its claws destructively or when its clawing presents a zoonotic risk for its owner(s).” so what right has he to glibly condemn kittens to a lifetime of half-paws, what qualifications has he? He’s a finance consultant, that’s what!
“Since the kitten does not know what the scratching post is for, it is best to teach it by grabbing its paws and doing the motion. This will take some time to learn so one should observe that cat and practice it often” (the grammar is his – observe that cat?)

Wrong! GRAB its paws? What is wrong with taking hold of the kittens paws gently? What is this obsession with grabbing everything? Take your time Money Man, hold the paws gently and yes, good idea make the scratching motions, it may take some time, it may not but it’s a damn site better than cleaving those toe ends off a kitten’s tiny paws!
Another product for training cats is a litter box. This is to solve the waste problem that will happen if the cat has not yet been trained on what to do should it feel the urge. These can be purchased at the local pet store and choosing one should depend on the size of the cat. Wait a minute; surely a litter box isn’t a training product? It’s a necessary purchase if you have a cat, even cats that are allowed outdoors (and of course declawed cats are NOT safe outdoors) should have a litter box for emergency use. If the litter box is merely a training aid to “solve the problem” until the cat has been trained “on what to do should it feel the urge” then what actually IS the cat supposed to do when it feels the urge? This usurer has me baffled by his reasoning because he states a couple of times that “the animal” will be indoors, yet seems to make no provision for the calls of nature other than a litter box if the cat has not been trained. Am I missing something or does he expect the cat not to crap or pee once it has been trained?

Using the litter box will take some time and practice so one should keep a close watch on the cat. Should it start behaving like it is about to do it, one should carry the cat immediately to the litter box. Another way of teaching it is picking up the waste, putting it in the box then putting the cat in the box to get used to the smell. Yawn, How’s your loan business doing then Ken? Bit quiet is it at the moment, huh?
Cats like other animals need time to exercise. To prevent this animal from ruining the house, one should buy toys such as a stuffed animal or a ball for the animal to play with. Hah! Totally biased, the “animal” is going to ruin your house, this is almost like a subliminal message, every now and then he pops it in that the house will be ruined, the house will smell, “one” will have problems, oh what a pessimist this money man is! But isn’t it good news that buying a stuffed animal or a ball will prevent the animal ruining the house…where then is the need for declawing pray?

We now learn about "training aids"

“There are many varieties of cat training products available on the market which can be found in the local pet store or online. The person has to know what is needed in order to make the pet good for the indoors. (His grammar again)
Here are some of the cat training devices that can magically transform a misbehaved pet to an obedient one:” (or an incredibly nervous one seeing that after the first device they are all doing something physically nasty to the cat)
1. "The Potty-Cat"
This quirky and cute-looking system is a magic of sorts as it has everything - a handy manual and the device that can train the cat without him knowing about it! No more foul litter, just a smart-aleck of a cat! Incredible and true!

This looks to be a litter box with a toilet seat built in – ye gads! But no more FOUL LITTER (which by the way is part of choosing to share your life with a cat) I suppose this answers my earlier question.

2. "Pet Agree Training Device"
What does it do? Its ultrasonic system emits sounds that can easily catch the pet's attention. With its built-in verbal orders, the cat is trained in an instant!
This is a hand held device that emits a high frequency sound; you point it at the pet when it offends you and scare the poor bloody thing half to death with the high-pitched noise.

3. "SSSCAT"
Because it combines the power of an aerosol can and a motion detector, the SSSCAT emits sound and the spray that can shoo the cat away from places where it is prohibited.
This damned thing detects when a cat is approaching somewhere “verboten” (don’t mention the war) and blasts it with a spray of “harmless” non-toxic gas to frighten it out of its wits.
4. "Electrostatic Pet Scat Mat"
The name sounds ominous but the "Electronic Pet Scat Mat" is pretty harmless. But that doesn't mean it is ineffective. The electrical pulse and the static electricity can keep the pet cat from messing around the sofas, windows and front yards.
My blood pressure is rising now, this horrible (PRETTY harmless) invention uses electrical impulses similar to static electricity. Have you ever brushed your hand down nylon clothes and got a static electricity shock? Or combed your hair, or got hold of the car door handle on a hot day and got a nasty tingle in your hand? Well bear in mind that you know what has caused it, just imagine a cat or a dog getting this shock….actually I really don’t want to imagine it. You can get these electrocution strips in sizes for sofas, worktops, cars or windowsills (where is the cat going to sit to try and get a glimpse of the great outdoors? Not on the windowsill apparently. This loan shark is getting on my nerves big time now.

5. "Pet Boundary Indoor Pet Barrier System"
It keeps the cat away as it makes its own "unwanted zone" that can be as far as ten feet. The owner just has to place the transmitter to the collar and voila.
It gets worse this has a tag that the unfortunate and seemingly barely tolerated pet has to wear on it’s collar (I hate collars) you then place the base unit in the forbidden area, and if the poor bloody unsuspecting cat tries to enter the no-go area then the damn thing emits a tone at a frequency that will only hurt the animals ears and not the precious human ones! In fact it happily recommend it because it “Helps teach pets not to jump up on forbidden furniture, raid the garbage, chew on houseplants, eat other pets’ food or litter, snuggle up in baby’s bed, or be in a place you don’t want them to be!”
Excuse me, can this not be done in a more kindly manner? We have never resorted to blasting our cats hearing to Kingdom Come to get the message over, KINDNESS Ken, kind-ness, you ought to try it sonny instead of recommending all these instruments of remote punishment. And hey, if the cat eats the other pet’s food or uses his litter is that SUCH a crime? Remembering the fact that you brought the cat into your home by your own free choice. No one forced you.

6. "Scarecrow Water Spraying Animal Repeller"
Introducing the Scarecrow Water Spraying Animal Repeller which goes to water-spraying when it notices an intruder aka the pet cat.
Well this stupid thing is obviously for outdoor use as it blasts the animal with water up to a 35 foot range, it actually says “Try the Scarecrow, a device that blasts animals with a blast of water when they approach.” So this is for when the inmate is allowed parole but must not put a paw in the wrong place outside either.

7. "Tattle Tale Vibration Alarm Pet Trainer"
Pets keep out! That's what this device intends to warn the pet cats. Advanced as it is with the structural vibration technology, the Tattle Tale is so sensitive it detects vibration right away even if there is no apparent movement.
This is recommended for cats, dogs and to keep the kids off the cookie jar, you stick it on the priceless, irreplaceable object and it senses vibration when approached and gives off a dual purpose shriek, one to startle the cat, dog or cookie-snitcher, two to alert the storm troopers, sorry I mean the owner/parent.

8. "Cat Stop! Ultrasonic"
Gardens and front yards will no longer welcome the cats, because of its high-quality motion sensor.
This is another outdoor thing, more high frequency noise, to stop other people cats using the garden, obviously his own cat’s parole licence has been revoked and it’s now back in it’s cell.

Cat training devices abound, the cat lover will never run out of alternatives on how to keep his cat from getting litter-crazy.
Cat LOVER???????????????????????

Would any of you lovely people who follow my blog use these electrical impulses and screeching devices on your cats? I can’t imagine anyone who loves and respects their cat resorting to such intrusive and horrible devices instead of taking the time to kindly train the cat, of course it’s so much easier to zap him with static, might get a laugh or two out of it as well eh Mr Money Lender?

Here’s his credentials folks

About the Author:
Ken Charnely is webmaster at one of Internet popular article directories. For more articles on this topic visit ArticleTeller.com. He is also a personal finance consultant. Catch him at Online Loans - Apply for Loans Online
And here is the nitty gritty, if you need extra cash to pay for declawing your tiny kitten or to purchase one of these instruments of torture…. Just contact Ken and he’ll lend you the money.
Author: Ken Charnely
Blogger Babz and a damn well disgusted Babz at that, what a load of biased, cold, cruel, anti-cat baloney.

This Rookie Vet Appalls Me!

Well now, recently we have been treated to the wisdom of a wet-behind-the-ears vet, who graduated in July from the Purdue School of Veterinary Medicine, having had all of approximately three months experience she now feels qualified to speak about declawing. This youngster’s name is Lechlitner, which sounds like the name of a mushroom to me so perhaps Fungus would be a nice new name for her.

Fungus is the proud ”pet parent” of a cat, a dog and a python and she says she spends much of her time educating owners on preventative medicine and keeping the pets they love happy and healthy. She works for Banfield, much featured in the Declaw Hall of Shame of course because it promotes declawing.

So our little minx is naturally totally brainwashed, and we can well imagine the preventative medicine she educates cat owners with, especially those cat owners who are in thrall to their soft furnishings. Being young and full of herself and her recent qualifications Fungus has this to say about herself on her Facebook page

“I'm living in Austin, TX now and it is hotter than the blazes of hell. We're breaking a record for number of days over 100. I'm in my third week of work at Banfield here and I really like it. I think it's just like every other clinic, except when I leave I walk through PetSmart...so that's a little weird. I get to do a cystotomy tomorrow, so that should be fun... ”Can't wait to hear from y'all! (Like how I said y'all?)

It’s just like every other clinic in the same way that Auschwitz was like every other prison maybe? Hmmm?

Anyway, here is what our little fungi has to say in her very important blog.

I am appalled with the current legislation push in California cities to ban declawing vets. So what? Who cares about your opinions pet?

While there are opposing views within the veterinary community as to whether or not cats should be declawed, I maintain that we are the experts on this subject and should decide for ourselves, with the cat parents, on performing the procedure. (Oh I'm a vet, me, me, look at me, I'm important, I want to decide)

Haha, “we are the experts”, baby girl you have a long way to go before you’re an expert. And as for “we should decide for ourselves with the cat parent on performing the procedure” well, where is the decision? Banfield is for declawing, she is an employee of Banfield, the damned “cat parents” obviously want their cat’s toes hewn off or they wouldn’t be there in the first place so what the hell decision is there apart from the date and time of the butchery? And while I’m on – “cat parent” for crying out loud it makes me puke, what parent would request, nay insist on, the sawing or burning off of their offspring’s digits? Give me a break dear, grow up and stop playing mummies and daddies.

When the procedure is performed with appropriate anesthesia, pain management, and post-surgical care, the results are usually good.

When it is? WHEN it is? I think she could have phrased that a bit better if she wanted to convince us non believers, perhaps she could have said “because the procedure…” or was it a Freudian slip? The crux of it though is that she says the results are “usually” good. Behind that word usually I wouldn’t mind betting there is a wealth of pain and trauma experienced by those cats whose results were far from good. But which I’m equally sure there are no statistics kept of, and the details of which are glossed over.

Cats that are declawed must always be indoor pets. Cat parents should discuss with their veterinarian their concerns. Their concerns about their couch? Their drapes? Or about little Johnny being scratched when he pulls Kitty’s tail? Or their concerns for their elderly parents who are well over 50 and in their dotage and the cat might claw their arm clean off their shoulder with one swipe because it is so mean and feisty. Or the landlord might not let them move into the soopah doopah flat of their dreams if they have the temerity to own, sorry be a cat parent to, a clawed feline. Such pressing concerns, of course our Fungus is going to counsel them in their hour of need and then bring to bear her expertise and decide with them to rip those claws out, foregone conclusion of course…Banfield loves declawing the way Walter Wall loves carpets!

I do not believe that city council members are equipped to make blanket decisions as to how veterinarians should practice. I do not think (most) veterinarians are so equipped either; this is because they are either barely out of “diapers” or because they are blinded by the great US dollar. In fact many city council members are “cat parents” themselves (sick bag needed over here please) and so make their decision based on their own experience and their own feelings as to the right or wrong of declawing. And oh, happy day, as we know, recently Santa Monica, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Beverly Hills and hopefully Berkeley today have all made their decisions and voted to kick declawing up the ass in their cities.

If an individual veterinarian chooses not to perform the procedure, that is one thing, but government deciding how he or she should practice medicine is quite another. Wooo, you can’t dispute the bairn’s logic can you? If you decide to make a cup of tea that is one thing, but woe betide anyone advising you to use a different brand of teabag because, shock horror, that is quite another! I think I’ll nominate her statement as the most asinine of the year, waste of space? Not arf!

However, I think that the vets in cities surrounding those with declaw bans are going to see a nice increase in their business.

Oh you little madam, how smug you are, how I wish a declawed cat would demonstrate to you his/her nice little sharp fangs and how he/she now uses them instead of the claws, on the toe ends, that went away in a yellow surgical waste bag. And how I’m wishing that a declawing ban will spread right across the USA in an unstoppable tide of compassion. Sadly compassion is in short supply for some “cat parents” but there are many, many wonderful people in the USA who have devoted years of their lives to fighting the wickedness that is declawing. Thank God for them!

Baby vets like this one are dangerous, they think they know it all and unfortunately they are in a position to give clients advice that is flawed & biased, and downright dodgy if they are employed by Banfield.

Why declawing must be banned

To whom it may concern:
To all of those people who do not think that cat declawing should be banned by legislation, arguing that the decision should be made after consultation between veterinarian and cat owner I would like to offer the following evidence in prove that cat owners and veterinarians are abusing your trust in them because they are not always acting in the animal’s best interest.

Firstly I’d like to quote the AVMA policy on declawing cats:
Declawing of domestic cats should be considered only after attempts have been made to prevent the cat from using its claws destructively or when it’s clawing presents a zoonotic risk for its owner(s).

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), established in 1863, is a not-for-profit association representing more than 78,000 veterinarians working in private and corporate practice, government, industry, academia, and uniformed services. Structured to work for its members, the AVMA acts as a collective voice for its membership and for the profession.

(The veterinarian’s oath
Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health, the relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge. I will practice my profession conscientiously, with dignity, and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics. I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my professional knowledge and competence.)

The Humane Societies recently updated statement
People choose to declaw their cats for a number of reasons: some are frustrated with shredded drapes or furniture, some are worried about being scratched, and others simply feel that a declawed cat is easier to live with.
In many cases, cats are declawed pre-emptively, as a part of a spay/neuter package offered by veterinarians, even before claw-related problems occur………
While there have been changes in the way that cats are declawed, it's still true that for the majority of cats, these surgical procedures are unnecessary. Educated owners can easily train their cats to use their claws in a manner that allows animal and owner to happily coexist. 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 a cat does not guarantee that the animal will not be relinquished to a shelter or euthanized. Declawed cats may develop other problem behaviors, such as biting or litter box avoidance, and end up being surrendered to a shelter anyway.

Having read that I’d like to invite you to read the following excerpts from a website for which I can gladly supply the link. The quotes are not taken out of context they are exactly as they were written, spellings included, though coarse language is disguised. The person who asked the question lives in New York. I have made the really shocking comments bold print.

This is the initial post and one further post from the asker

1. We're moving to a new place and we decided to get B a kitty. Our Kitty is at the vet right now getting neutered, declawed, all his shots, flea dip.. lets just say he's getting fully serviced. lol Anyways, I have to go pick him up tomorrow morning and I was wondering if his paws were going to be really sore? I have his litter box and food and water dish in the laundry room and he has to jump a baby gate to get in there and I'm worried it will hurt him to jump it. He is my first cat, I always had dogs before so any information about cats and declawing would be helpful. Oh and I already know that it is mean to declaw a cat, I don't care, I don't want him to scratch my kid. He is going to be a indoor cat and doesn't really need them, so the vet says.

2. Have you ever had a cat that got declawed? I know he's going to be sore. But I was wondering how sore and how long it lasts?

They don't actually cut anything off. They slice the tip and remove the claw, I guess.

This is the first reply, again I have made the shocking content bold print
They are NOT allowed to jump at all! and they are supposed to have special litter for a week or two. They have it at the vet. They usually wont give pain meds because if the pain med takes away the pain then the cat will jump and not know better and bust the tips open and they will get infected- I have experienced this firsthand with a cat before. It is best not to give them the pain med even if the vet does offer it.

the vet should give you litter made from newspaper. when cats are first declawed they cant use the regular cuz their paws can get infected. The cat I had went crazy for the first couple days after because of the pain. You also have to make sure that he doesnt lick his paws. Good Luck. Hope all goes well.

Thank you. I already purchased the special litter. I'll keep that in mind about the pain meds because when I called to check on him earlier the vet mentioned something about it. They didn't mention the no jumping thing, I'm happy I asked now. Lol

So what is being discussed here is witholding pain relief from a cat who has had ten separate amputations of his toe ends, make no mistake about this, the claw is an extension of the bone, to remove the claw the bone has to be amputated at the first knuckle. Can you imagine having your finger ends amputated and being given no pain relief, just in case you forgot about your wounds and used your stumps normally? I think not. And yet cats and kittens that are declawed have to use their paws almost immediately on coming round from a general anaesthetic. They have to stand on their paws, putting pressure on the wounds and they have to use those paws to dig in whatever litter they are provided with because cats are instinctively clean and will always seek out a clean litter box, if however following declawing the cat experiences severe pain while using the litter box then after that the cat will always associate using the litter box with pain. This is what causes the litter box avoidance and the use of floors, carpets and soft furnishing for toiletting.

lol yeah realy - all my cats have always had their front paws declawed- otherwise I would not have any furniture left! They dont go outside EVER so they dont NEED them anyway. (again!)
Of course they need them, they need them for walking, grooming, playing, climbing, catching and raking litter, as well as a very important means of self defence. It is no use arguing that indoor cats don’t need to defend themselves, what about if the home was broken into and a window broken or door kicked in and the cat bolted out and was lost, how would he not only defend himself from other cats but also from predators, and how would he catch food to eat? What about if the cat didn’t bolt and the intruder was someone who would ill treat the cat, no claws means that the cat can’t lash out and run. And what about floods, fires and other disasters when cats sometimes get lost or abandoned during evacuation of homes.?

The way I look at it: 1) I don't want him scratching my son. 2)I also don't want him scratching my new living room set. Lol
I agree it is a little mean, but it would be meaner if I killed the cat for attacking my son and scratching him all up. Not saying the cat would do that, but if he did....

This cat is new to the home and is being declawed at the same time as neutered just in case he scratches this person’s son. Why on earth should he attack the child and “scratch him all up”? She’s not even saying the cat would…….
Just to remind you of the AVMA policy:

Declawing of domestic cats should be considered only after attempts have been made to prevent the cat from using its claws destructively or when its clawing presents a zoonotic risk for its owner(s).

The vet told me they slit the top and remove the nail. Totally inaccurate and if this is true that vet’s licence to practice needs reviewing.

Declawing traditionally involves the amputation of the last bone of each toe and, if performed on a human being, it would be comparable to cutting off each finger at the last knuckle.
Declawing can leave cats with a painful healing process, long-term health issues, and numerous behavior problems. This is especially unfortunate because declawing is an owner-elected procedure and unnecessary for the vast majority of cats.

Well, either way, the nails had to go. It's a safety thing, my Son is only 17 months. Lol
Still laughing out loud (Lol) and presenting no evidence that there is any actual sign of the child being at risk.

most cats wont keep the nail things on - they can chew them off and just trimming the nails doesnt stop them form scratching furniture- sprays dont work either nor does providing a scratching post. It is a necessary evil.
You will note that this respondant mentions only scratching of furniture as a reason to declaw a cat and condsiders it a necessary evil.

My Son runs around and the Kitty chases him, he loves it, at least he'll love it untill the kitty grabs ahold of his foot. lol I love the kitty, hate the claws.
That cat makes my kid smile a thousand times a day. That's reason enough for me to want to have it.
Without wishing to sound biased, doesn’t this seem to you that the cat is pretty much the child’s plaything and only welcome because it makes the child smile? And that he plays with the cat in a way that to an animal that stalks by instinct invites “grabbing ahold”, this is obviously no fault of the child’s he is too young to realise this but the mother should be supervising the playing and should ensure that the child and kitten don’t get over excited as either one could hurt the other

i have all leather furniture lol there was no way i wasnt going to get my cats declawed. my moms a vet so she did it for free for me lol and both my cats are 4 paw declaws.

it took about a week before my kitties were back to their normal self.

My cat lost his nut and his knuckle today

so we are just supposed to let them ruin all our furniture

No, because you can't teach a cat not to scratch. I have a good looking son and nice things and I would like to keep it that way. I love the kitten, enough to bring him into our home and make him part of our family, but in order for that to happen his claws had to go.

(Reminder: Declawing of domestic cats should be considered only after attempts have been made to prevent the cat from using its claws destructively)

Notice two things, that declawing cats, though a massive trauma for the cat, is being discussed with flippancy and that the biggest reason, stated over and over again, for declawing is to protect the furniture. And may I point out that quite obviously no other attempts have been made to prevent the cat from clawing the furniture, and in fact there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that the cat has clawed the furniture or is even inclined to.

In between these posts there are also posts that are arguing against declawing

To continue
So lets say you have a cat, no kids. you love the cat to death and whenever you're gone at work... it DESTROYS your house,.... scratches every up, tears everything to shreads. you would just deal with it and not declaw your cat? or would you keep buying new furniture? or would you give the cat away?
In our home we’ve had 9 much loved cats over 35 years, they have all been unique with their own personalities and habits, some have been mischievous, some laid back to the point of being horizontal, some jumpy, some naughty but never, ever have any of them scratched everything up, torn everything to shreds or destroyed our house! Nor have any relations’ or friends’ cats to my knowledge. Yes sometimes they do scratch the furniture but to the point of tearing it to shreds or destroying the house? No way.

Q Just curious. What will you do if the cat starts biting? Declawed cats are known to bite more often since they no longer have claws for self-defense.
A I'm willing to work with both my child and my cat on that. I heard spraying them with a squirt bottle works well. It's harmless but they hate it I guess. lol *EDT* I'm going to spray the cat, not my kid. Hehe
And I'll squirt him with water and he'll learn not to bite.

Bitch all day, I already got it done and will do it to any other cat we decide to get later on.
(Reminder: Declawing of domestic cats should be considered only after attempts have been made to prevent the cat from using its claws destructively)

This is aimed at the people who have spoken against declawing, by now the replies are becoming abusive.
None of my 5 cats that I have had have ever bit anyone unless playing. How do you stop your cat from scratching your furniture-? let me guess? you dont- you have old ****** furniture and dont care- probably has cat **** all over it too.
Unfortunately it seems that furniture is the biggest worry.

More from above poster
When I worked at the Humane Society cat bites were very common among the declawed cats in the cat room. These are cats that saw the same 3 faces every day for the many months I was there, trusted us but still bit us.

There are alternatives to declawing one is tendonectomy... which is the snipping of the tendon that allows the cat to extend their claws. the cat keeps their knuckle and claws.”
I've never heard of that, but I assure you, I'm all for it! I hope something like that becomes the norm instead of chopping off a knuckle.
Making the claws useless carries it’s own problems. Because the cat can no longer keep the claws trimmed, the claws will naturally grow in a circular manner into the foot pads causing pain and infection unless the owner is able to trim the nails on a regular basis. (The tendonectomy patient will require life-long management in the form of regular nail clipping).

In order for me to allow a cat into my home I want to make sure it isn't going to put my child in danger or ruin my nice things that I proudly pay for with my own money. I want my child to experience having a pet, we always had pets growing up, it was great. My kid will be able to know what it's like too, and we'll all be happy because no one will be getting scratched and my furniture will stay nice and the cat will get to live in a warm and loving household.

Furniture again and the remote posibility of the child being “in danger” and how is the child going to experience, truly, having a pet and learning about caring for pets if he's going to be brought up thinking that cats should be made clawless. Is that equiping him for the big bad world? No.

All vets around here still declaw. and I think it is soo damn ridiculous to say we dont care about our pets if we declaw them- they dont need claws inside the house!!! (is this truly a misconception or is it an excuse? Can people really believe that cats don't need claws?)

This poster lives in OHIO, all the vets declaw (In many cases, cats are declawed pre-emptively, as a part of a spay/neuter package offered by veterinarians, even before claw-related problems occur………) HSUS statement see page 1,
(Declawing of domestic cats should be considered only after attempts have been made to prevent the cat from using its claws destructively or when its clawing presents a zoonotic risk for its owner(s))
AVMA policy see page 1
So can it be that all cats in Ohio use their claws destructively and have resisted all attempts to prevent this happening or is it that all vets in Ohio offer neuter/declaw packages, probably in competition with each other in a sort of price war, and actually encourage the declawing of young cats that have had no opportunity to demonstrate how they will use their claws? I know which I think is the real answer. And I think money is at the root of it.

All 5 of my cats did fine with declawing and were not in serious pain- the one that we gave pain meds to just ended up injuring herself and ripping them open by jumping because she no longer felt any pain and then they got infected-

I know about those, (Soft Paws) they come off. Our next cat will be declawed also.
So a kitten not even conceived let alone born weaned or adopted is already doomed to have it’s claws removed.

This sort of dialogue is sadly all to common, every day you can read posts from people chatting about declawing cats to save their furniture, how can this be allowed to happen?

Until declawing is banned right across the USA this type of ill informed, unfeeling, uncaring attitude will prevail. But the fact is that 38 countries in the world have banned declawing as inhumane so if millions of people in those countries manage to own cats with claws what makes the USA so different? Availability, supply and demand that is what. Take away the easy (on the owner) option and you sort the wheat from the chaff, the people who want a plaything or moving ornament from the genuine cat lovers who want a healthy happy whole cat to share their home and family.

Ideally yes no one but the owner after consultation with a vet should have any say over what is allowed to be done to an animal, but the people in positions of power, owners AND vets are abusing those positions and opting for painful disabling (and money making) procedures for convenience above the well-being of the cat.

This why declawing should be banned by legislation and this is the petition calling for that ban.

Hurting babies

Here’s another proudly declawing practice, in Wisconsin this time run by a husband and wife who we’ll call the Woodentops and another butcher a.k.a Bonehead, on their website they make wonderful proclaimations, which I'm going to highlight in red, and discuss so here we go - “The decision to remove the claws is a personal decision.”
For whom? Not the cat! And really it shouldn’t be a personal decision, because wrong decisions are being made on a daily basis to deprive cats and kittens of a necessary part of their anatomy, this is why declawing needs to be banned by law, personal decision that is used unwisely should be taken away. And how much is personal decision and how much is auto-suggestion by vets/techs programmed to sell declawing as an add on to other surgical services? We've heard this week from someone who phoned to make an appointment for neutering only to be asked if they wanted to add declawing while they were at it. This is obviously a routine part of appointment making, and someone who isn't clued up about declawing, who in fact thinks it's a pussycat manicure, and who has to accept or refuse on the spot may well say "Oh yes please, I hadn't thought of that, thank you so much!"

It may be needed to protect your home or even family members from a scratching cat.
Protect your home? Protect your family members? Were they made to adopt a fearsome creature with huge, sharp, dagger-like pointy bits when what they really desired was something round and smooth? (a.k.a a goldfish). Is there any need for such drama? Particularly when you read on a bit and discover what age they recommend declawing…..

But first there’s this “In a particularly destructive cat, it can be life saving as many cats are turned over to a shelter because of that behavior.”
Completely disregarding the fact that many more cats are turned over to a shelter, and killed, having been declawed and having developed peeing, pooping and biting habits far worse than the scratching ever was. If ever the home and family members needed protecting maybe it’s AFTER declawing rather than before! But there again cats are disposable, take one cat, ruin it, don’t like the result, get rid of it and get another one. Also there is a more than equal chance that far from being life saving it can be life changing or even life ending

The following are possible complications of this surgery:

• Adverse reaction to anaesthetic

• Gangrene, which can lead to limb amputation

• Haemorrhaging

• Permanent nerve damage

• Persistent pain

• Reluctance to walk

• Scar tissue formation

• Sequestrum (bone chips), requiring additional surgery

• Skin disorders

After surgery, the nails may grow back inside the paw, causing pain but remaining invisible to observers. Declawing results in a gradual weakening of leg, shoulder, and back muscles, and because of impaired balance caused by the procedure, declawed cats have to relearn to walk, much as a person would after losing his or her toes.
PETA

Now here’s the killer…remember that home and family that needed protecting??
Removing a cat’s claws can be done as early as 12 weeks if the kitten weighs at least 2 pounds. Or, you can trim back the nails carefully until your kitten is spayed or neutered as a temporary measure you understand? Or forever if you opt not to have the claws removed. Opt not to? NOT TO should be the norm not something you opt for. And here's a wild idea...why not leave the damn claws alone?

The picture at the top of this page is of a 12 week old kitten, look at those tiny paws and imagine this kitten hardly yet used to having left it’s mother being subject to general anaesthetic and multiple amputations, strong pain relief (hopefully), tight bandaging and post op confinement. Kittens are never still, they just want to play all day. This poor little 12 week old kitten is going to have its toes amputated, so no learning, play fighting, stalking practice or fun and games for him for a long while.

Moreover what about this statement from the AVMA “Animals must be provided water, food, proper handling, health care, and an environment appropriate to their care and use, with thoughtful consideration for their species-typical biology and behavior. (Bold type added by me)

Where pray is the "thoughtful consideration for their species typical behaviour?" Cats need to scratch. Cats claw to have fun and exercise, to maintain the condition of their nails, and to mark their territory—visually and with scent. They stretch by digging their claws in and pulling against their own claw-hold. Cats’ natural instinct to scratch serves both their physical and psychological needs (Peta again) Ergo deny them scratching = deny them thoughtful consideration, yes? Yes!

And what about their famous “Declawing of domestic cats should be considered only after attempts have been made to prevent the cat from using its claws destructively or when its clawing presents a zoonotic risk for its owner(s).”

Realistically how much attempt can have been made to prevent a 12 week old kitten using it’s claws destructively? A 12 week or 2lb kitten hasn’t got the strength in it’s paws and leg muscles to do destroy anything! (Yes they can and do make a mess of your feet and ankles with their tiny needles but hey they’re kittens, that is what those amongst us who comprehend that kittens are baby cats and that cats have claws realise and expect.) How could you decide to make an appointment, starve the kitten, put him in a carrier and deliver him to the surgery knowing that he is going to come out of there the next day hobbling on part-feet, on strong pain relief (hopefully) and lying around sore and confused? I know I couldn’t ever subject a cat to any unnecessary surgery, bad enough the surgery they have because of need and because of neutering, but elective cosmetic surgery for the owner’s convenience? Evil!

Zoonotic risk, which must account for a miniscule percent of cats declawed, is still totally unnecessary. It’s been said many times, and it’s true, that people with immunosuppressed conditions in countries where declawing is rightly banned as inhumane manage nicely by following hygienic and safe procedures, or they just don’t have, or hang around, cats. It’s this assumption that everyone has a right to own and adapt a cat that annoys me. Cats are not suitable pets for everyone, they’re not suitable pets for house-proud people who value couches and drapes so much that they’re willing, eager even, to pay to have the cat’s toes amputated. And in some cases cats are not suitable pets for people with certain illnesses, surely the best thing to do is accept that rather than take a perfect cat and make a Frankenstein’s monster out of it’s paws?

So back to the words of wisdom from the Woodentops and their sidekick Bonehead: Generally, it is easier on a cat if done when young as there is less weight on the paws during the recovery period. What is even easier is to take that 12 week old kitten and provide him with scratching equipment, a tall scratching post and a flat scratching pad and show him what to do, interaction with a kitten is nothing but pleasure and is part of the joy of cat owning, or cat parenting if you’d rather, helping your kitten to learn by play is such a lovely experience, I can’t bear to think that anyone would prefer to surgically mutilate a baby animal than spend time shaping the kitten for the years ahead together.

Declawing still can be done even in cats that are older, although they will rebound more slowly.

Here’s one definition of rebound: a reaction to a crisis or setback or frustration
And here’s another A return to health or well-being; a recovery
The first one sums it up for me, crisis? YES Setback? Oh yes! Frustration? A 12 week old kitten deprived of it’s claws, bandaged, confined, medicated? What do you think! Frustration with a capital F!
And of course an older cat will take longer to heal, if at all, mentally and physically. Methinks the word “ rebound” has been chosen in a very sly and crafty manner, “recover” or “convalesce” or “recuperate” all sound very medical. Think of the word rebound and I bet you have a mental image of something bouncing back…hence the implication that they bounce back to full health and vitality (albeit slower they say). The second definition of rebound can’t possibly apply in this case, a declawed cat is NEVER going to return to health or well-being or recover, how can he when at least ten important parts of him are missing?

If you choose to have your cat declawed, it is important that he or she remain indoors. While declawing will not change your cat’s personality, he or she will not have a natural defense

So, as we used to say… “What’s this then, Scotch mist? ”Furthermore, cats without claws have lost their first line of defense, and because of this, they live in a constant state of stress. Less able to protect themselves, they cannot fight off other animals, or escape quickly from a dangerous situation. They may also become biters because they no longer can use their claws as a warning. Groomers, veterinarians, and people who care for declawed cats in shelters find many of them to be nervous, irritable, and difficult to handle.Finally, declawed cats often stop using their litter boxes. Some apparently associate the pain they feel in their paws when trying to cover their waste with the litter box itself. They seek a less painful place for elimination, such as the carpet or bathtub. Even though there are effective ways to modify a cat's litter box behavior, it is a particularly difficult challenge because a declawed cat's aversion results from pain. SOURCE

This is only one of a zillion sites listing the personality changes that can, and do, happen to declawed cats, I mean if these people haven’t researched into this very real and documented complication of declawing how can they possibly judge themselves capable of not only declawing cats but of their aftercare? And the only thing they can possibly think of to warn their clients of is that cats will have a natural defence (and they can’t even spell the word properly)

Here are their self congratulatory credentials Our pets warm our hearts, comfort us in illness and are always good listeners. They are our friends, companions, and family.

My pets are like that, I think a lot of us would be worse of mentally and physically without the loving accepting presence of a purring cat, so having warmed our hearts, listened to us, befriended us, kept us company and been like kin to us, should our reward to these friends be OFF WITH THOSE TOES?

Knowing how important these animals are in your life, it is an honor to care for these important members of your family.

You would never have the honour of getting within a hundred yards of my important members I can tell you! Their importance is soon forgotten when $$$$$’s are in the offing for chopping off those toes.

We treat your pets like family and are committed to celebrating and protecting the human-animal bond.
So, the Woodentops offspring are declawed? Maybe all the family is declawed? Oh no, that’s right only the cats have been declawed, the lesser important “family”, the human animal bond? WHAT human animal bond?

Compassion

We will care for your pet as if he or she was our own. We will treat all pets with dignity and respect.
I can’t even be bothered to comment on this, they don’t know the meaning of compassion, of dignity or of respect, no one who respects animal life could or would take money to remove healthy, vital parts of a cat. Respect Mammon maybe! (Oh, I did comment after all!)
Integrity

We will act with truthfulness, honesty, responsibility and accountability.
Well we’ve already seen the lack of truth and honesty where they stated “While declawing will not change your cat’s personality…..”
We’ve seen a lack of responsibility in their offer to declaw kittens as young as 12 weeks before those kittens have control over their claws and before they have had any training or displayed any destructive tendencies.

Accountability? I think they are thinking of the accounts they send out that are due for payment, lots of lovely dosh

Finally they claim this
Always putting our best paw forward for you and your pets.

They are lucky to have a best paw, the kittens and cats that they have declawed have ruined paws!

Elsie can’t lose – he gets it both ways

Well now, here we have a chappie, let’s just call him Elsie at random, who owns an all cat clinic in Denver, he believes that “all cats should lead happy and healthy lives” and so he offers “Spays, Neuters and Declaws”. Oh what fun for the cats to be declawed, how healthily they shall limp through the rest of their days on ruined paws. He also says “we offer spays and neuters at an affordable price. We also provide pain medication and fluids in the price of every surgery.” Well give the man a carrot – he recognises the need for fluids and pain medication not only for necessary surgery such as neutering but it seems that even the cats subject to cosmetic surgery just might feel a tad of pain and so he includes it in the price, very big of him.

Now then, this toe amputating wonder boy has made a study of cat behavioural issues, and he’s getting himself a bit hot under the collar about litter box aversion, because he’s gone and found out that over 5.9 million cats are taken to shelters each year and that 73% are killed. And on this site there is this fact
Seventy percent (70%) of cats turned in to pounds and shelters for behavioral problems are declawed. (National Survey from pounds & shelters obtained by Caddo Parrish Forgotten Felines & Friends) source

So Elsie, lets do the math, 70% of the 5.9 million cats surrendered each year are declawed so I get that to be 4,130000 million cats, of which 73% are killed which is 3,014900 cats killed each year because of behavioural problems caused by you and you ilk who cut off their toes! This, Elsie, is what you cause:
“Behavioral problems frequently haunt declawed cats. By far, the commonest thing we see is cats not using the litter box. When cats have stress beyond what they can take, it often shows up as a litter box problem and declawing makes them stress intolerant, in general, for the rest of their lives,”

If you were doing that to humans you’d be a mass murderer sonny!

But never fear readers! Not only does Elsie cause this problem and cause these unnecessary, deaths – OH NO! He also solves the problems too because by purest chance he also owns a company that manufactures a special cat litter for cats with litter box problems, described oh so coyly as “wee problems”. Here is some of the advertising bumf

“Inappropriate elimination,” “litter box aversion,” and “house soiling” are just some of the kinder, gentler names given to a wee kitty problem—one that’s a leading cause of cat relinquishment.”
“The company (Elsie’s company) suggests that it may help newly adopted cats beginning their litter box training, as well as “problem” cats who’ve developed new potty problems.”

Well wouldn’t you just know it, those happy and healthy cats that have been declawed by Elsie are now lucky enough to have someone to solve their “potty problems”, and it just happens to be Elsie!

Now this must be a dream scenario for our lad, not only does he make a lot of money from making those cats happy and healthy by declawing them, he also makes a lot more money by selling the morons that own the happy healthy cats some special litter to solve the problems that he’s made in the first place! It sells for about $11 to $19 a bag. Looking at the fawning testimonials on his website it seems that a lot of people with cats with litter box problems have found that this Cat Attract litter is wonderful! Hmm, how many of them have declawed cats? I’d put money on 100% of them. Would you agree?

Elsie “won't say what is the active ingredient in the litter that makes cats more attracted to the box but said it is not catnip because only 50 percent of cats are drawn to that herb. Since he introduced the product in December, Elsie said Precious Cat has doubled its Cat Attract sales.”

Yippeeee Elsie is going to be stinking rich – he can’t lose can he? He declaws them and gets BIG bucks, and then if he’s lucky and they join the four million plus club that develops “potty problems” he sells their morons some special litter that only he knows the secret ingredient of. The man is a genius! He will take the secret to his grave, in a luxurious coffin because he's stinking rich, secure in the knowledge that he has made cats happy& healthy

Now, this is going against all my instincts and will stick uncomfortably in my craw because I do not want this butcher to make a penny piece out of the tragic results of declawing, but, if his wonder litter really DOES attract cats that otherwise wouldn’t use their litter boxes and if it saves the lives of even some of those poor crippled little souls then I’m going to have to start recommending it on Yahoo Answers. That is because it is the cats and their comfort that are of vital importance and not my hatred of declawing vets.

So here is the link to his site and the product is called Cat Attract.

God Bless those little cats that need special litter for their problems and give people the patience to treat them kindly.

Not unlike foot binding

When I first got myself steamed up about the number of cats being de-toed in the USA I had recently read a novel set in China in the days of foot binding of the daughters of upper class families. The process of breaking the toes and folding them under the foot and by applying the bindings tighter and tighter over a number of years so that eventually the foot folded right back under itself and the resulting fold being more attractive the deeper it was made me think about the whole ridiculous business of some people having the sort of power over other people or animals that they can perform excruciatingly painful procedures on them and justify their actions to themselves. So using the "golden lilies" as my subject I asked the question on Y/A, was it not a similar thing to declaw a cat as to bind the feet of a Chinese girl child. Needless to say I was shot down in flames and even ridiculed for making the comparison but hey...I got the link to the petition on and got some signatures so what did I care?

But there are similarities nevertheless. Bone from the broken toes of the girls could break through the skin of the foot in the same way that bone from the shattered remains of a cat's toe can break through the remaining skin of the paw. The initial breaking and folding back of the bones in the toes of the girl child could be botched by a mother who couldn't bear to put her daughter through the excruciating pain, just the same as the cutting or lasering through bone, tendon and ligament of toes of cats can be botched, not by vets who don't want to cause pain but by vets who do this operation routinely and quickly and regard it as almost an assembly line procedure, part of a package offered with neutering and vaccination.....money in the bank.

Those wounded feet/paws in girls and cats can, did and do result in gangrenous infections and the loss of feet/paws - and lives. In the case of the Chinese girls lucky enough not to succumb to any infection they had to spend many hours each day for the rest of their lives caring for their mutilated feet, unwrapping the bindings, washing the feet, cleaning the deep fold and the remains of their toes and then rebinding the feet. This is similar to the attention that should be given to the mutilated paws of declawed cats, they should be examined daily and kept clean because even years after declawing pieces of bone can work to the surface (in the same way that pieces of tooth long extracted can work to the surface of the gum) .

Finally, having been bound the girls had to learn to walk in a new way on their "golden lilies" over very short distances, with short steps, picking their way very slowly, avoiding stepping on anything that would cause pain. Similarly declawed cats have to adapt and learn to walk in a different way, using different muscles and a different way of balancing their weight. Owners say they manage just fine...but what choice have they? Cats don't have access to wheelchairs or palanquins (covered litter for a person carried on poles, formerly used in India and the East) as used by the Chinese girls.

Foot binding is history now, why isn't declawing history too?

Cats have their lives to live whatever that life and whatever their owner chooses to inflict on them and being the brave creatures they are they hide their pain and distress and get on with it.

But that doesn't make it right does it?

Here is the petition calling for a ban on declawing of cats in the USA

The fight against declawing

Last November (2008) while browsing a site called Yahoo Answers it was shockingly brought to the attention of my sister and myself that kittens and cats are still being routinely declawed in the USA (and Canada) and in fact there are certain veterinary practices that actively promote declawing included in packages with neutering and vaccination of kittens. We noticed that almost daily there were posts commenting on the after effects of declawing (onychectomy) there were people asking why their cats were toiletting outside of their litter boxes, why they were hiding away, biting, holding up paws etc etc etc and what emerged to my mind were two types of people. There are the ones who blindly follow either a family tradition of declawing pet cats and never give a thought to how it happens and what the cat thinks about it or they follow the advice of their veterinary surgeon, who let's face it charges quite a whack for what is after all cosmetic surgery. The other type are the ones who really don't care if it hurts, disfigures or disables the cat as long as A) their furniture is OK B) their kids can torment the cat without fear of getting a whack from a clawed paw in retaliation or C) they never get scratched themselves while performing their (un-neccessary) routing bath of their "kitty" (this makes me so angry...why can't they call them cats?)
Disturbed about so many toes being amputated we contacted the AVMA asking what their policy was, the reply was that each state of the USA made their own policy but the guidelines of the AVMA were that declawing should be performed as a last resort when all other means of eliminating inappropriate scratching had been tried or if the health of the owner could be compromised by a clawed cats ( e.g deficient immune system). So we contacted the chief executive of veterinary medicine in every state of the USA and the ones that bothered to reply referred us back to the AVMA statement. So it's a bit of a closed shop then? Too true!

In an attempt to do our bit to get declawing (deTOEing) relegated to history we started a group called the Claws Connection and a petition to the AVMA calling for a ban on the declawing of cats Through the group and through continuous answering of the questions on Y/A we have made some good friends and we call ourselves The Troops and we try as often as possible to educate people about the horrors and sheer non necessity of declawing cats, offer advice on solving problems that may have led people to consider declawing and provide links to sites that give good sound veterinary advice. Amongst our troops is author and cat behaviourist Annie Bruce who has written the book Cat Be Good and has two websites Good Cats Wear Black and Cat Be Good both packed full of good advice.

But what a struggle it is to spread the word, if we lived in the USA we'd be out there on the streets with posters & petition but living in England and being not quite over the hill but rapidly approaching the summit from whence it's all downhill we can only rely on the pen being mightier than the sword (or in modern speak the keyboard being mightier than the sword or the pen). We need thousands more signatures before we present it to the AVMA and we need people in the USA who are against declawing, and yes there are many many people against it, to get out there and shout about the horrors of it, to visit and lobby vets to stop doing it and to get it in the media in any old way they can.

Cats have the right to their claws, why on earth should anyone be able to decide to remove their cat's toes?