Horrors of Declawing a Cat

Declawing a cat can lead to all kinds of emotional and behavior issues-not always apparent right after it is done. Declawing is a negative feature for cats that find themselves in shelters therefore they are more likely to be euthanized than adopted.

What is declawing?

Declawing is otherwise called as onychectomy, which means digital amputation. Do you know cats claw is not a toenail? It is a part of the last bone in the cat's paw.

It is more or less like removing our fingertips (not just nails). Declawing won't fetch any benefits to the cat. Most of the vet's won't advice and go for declawing as it is inhumane.

Do you know declawing is illegal in New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Finland, England, Australia and many other countries? This is performed for the convenience of human than feline consideration.

Declawing cats is not as simple a procedure as clipping nails or removing a portion of a cat’s claw. But, is a major surgery and should not be taken lightly. The reason of a cat’s declawing may be undesired scratching. That is where you need to pay extra attention to cat training , the key to which is to make sure that whatever you want your cat to do is exceedingly rewarding and pleasurable. A red cat seems very interesting and can be kept busy with different objects indoors. While a bengal cat can be relatively tough to handle because of being a highly enegetic and curious creature.

Most of us think that our furniture's will get protected once our kitten was declawed. NO!!! The negative points are more than the possible benefits, which include-

1. No reduction in scratching hard objects- Scratching is a natural phenomenon. Cats simply enjoy scratching. Declawing never helps to prevent scratching.

2. Unsafe to cats- you should not allow the declawed cat to go outside because it can't fight with other cats and also unable to climb up the tree also!

3. You may experience litter box problems. Cats normally cover their wastes. But the declawed cat may experience pain in their paws, which will prevent them to urinate the litter box and soil the surroundings.

4. Due to change in the structure of the first knuckle, the cats with no claws develop long-term medical problems- pain in the knee and hip joints, and debilitating arthritis.

5. Your cat may distrust you, who is responsible for such a pain. Other personality changes also being recorded- docile tabby changed into temperamental tiger, or suffered from 'Phantom pain'.

The Solution

Undesirable scratching is the most important reason for the owner's preference to go for declawing kittens. The humane and sensible solution to this act is to change the cat's behavior by modifying the environment and directs the cat's natural scratching behavior to an appropriate area say, providing scratching post.

As bottomline, don't betray your kitten!!! It loves you like anything. There are many conventional and imaginative solutions that can be tried before resorting declawing your cat. To update an old saying, there's more than one way to cure a cat from scratching your furniture.

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