Declawing Cats

It’s shocking to me that a lot of people who have a real love of cats will get their cat declawed.  I think the reason they don’t think twice about doing this is that they are imagining a surgery that would involve something similar to getting our fingernails removed.  After all, a claw is just a nail, isn’t it?  Actually that is not the case.   The analogy between declawing and human hands is more like having our fingers amputated at the last joint.  

What does declawing involve?

Declawing involves the amputation of bone – the last joint of your cat’s toe.   Why is it necessary to remove the bone at the joint? It’s because the cells that will eventually become claw originate in that part of the toe, so if the declawing surgery did not amputate the bone above a certain point, the claw would grow back. This amputation is “necessary” sheerly for the convenience of humans.  

Is it painful for the cats?

Yes. This is a painful surgery and painful recovery for any cats. Many people don’t seem to realise how much it must hurt, because they see that their cat is still going to the litter box or going to the food dish. Well, what else will your cat do? She must walk on those painful feet in order to eat and go to the litter box, and we need to remember that cats are great at hiding their pain or illness.

The drawback to declawing that seems to be obvious to the public is that the cat can no longer swipe a dog across the face with her claws or quickly climb a tree. Everyone I know personally who has taken his/her cat to be declawed proclaims that Kitty will always be an indoor cat!  And maybe that is true.  Maybe they do not have relatives, friends, or workmen who will leave the door open accidentally.

The thing about declawing is, aside from the horrible pain and the danger from other animals if the cat gets outside, cats walk on their toes! They depend on their excellent balance and agility every time they walk and jump, and certainly this amputation throws off that natural balance as the cat has to re-learn how to use every muscle to walk on what is left of her toes. 

Scratching comes naturally to your cat, and cats actually exercise their backs and shoulders by digging their claws into something and stretching as f-a-a-a-a-r as they can.   Scratching and claws are just part of what makes a cat a cat!    Declawing surgery, onychectomy, is illegal in many countries but is still going on in North America.  Veterinarians in this country sometimes do onychectomy because the owner of a cat will claim that they will throw their cat out or have her put to sleep if the cat isn’t declawed.  

The Humane Society Veterinary Medical have launched an outreach effort focused on the issue of cosmetic and convenience surgeries in companion animals, such as declawing for cats, devocalisation in cats and dogs, and ear cropping and tail docking in dogs. 

The HSVMA is producing materials to educate the public and also to give tools to veterinarians who are asked for these surgeries. 

What can we do to avoid having to replace our sofas and rugs every couple of years then? 

One thing I did as a teenager was to clip my cat’s claws for her with an inexpensive cat nail clipper. Just clip the white tips of the claws off; don’t cut into the “quick.” Cats can learn to sit quietly and let you clip the tips of their claws if you don’t ever cut the quick and hurt them! Other ideas are a sturdy scratching post which is big enough for the cat to really get on and rip into, or if that doesn’t work, Soft Paws / Soft Claws.

Remember though, if you decide to go with the Soft Paws, your cat will not be able to use her claws for defense and should stay indoors.

My own cats had not had much of a scratching problem, or so I thought. Then they started a habit of ripping into the back of a soft sofa in the den. The carpeted scratching post I had bought when they were kittens sat totally ignored, so I gave it away. I turned to the Sticky Paws line of products. The Sticky Paws for Furniture mild adhesive strips were simple to apply to the top and side edges of my sofa. The cats touched it ONCE and never returned to that sofa. To give them a place to enjoy their claws, I bought the Scratch This! It comes with a bag of very potent catnip. I sprinkled a little on the Scratch This, and my two cats FOUGHT over it, complete with spitting. Obviously a second Scratch This was in order, so that way they didn’t find some other target for their scratching. I put one Scratch This in the area where my cats do most of their daytime sleeping, and immediately when they awaken they always go straight to it to stretch and scratch!

If you have a great way to keep your cat from destroying your house while keeping her toes intact, please let us know about it in the comments!

Cats Hairloss

Cat lose their hair for many reasons. Sometimes it is from boredom or stress, and hair loss from that cause most often appears as thin or short hair on the tummy and insides of the legs. Sometimes there is a major disease behind the hair loss. And sometimes the hair loss is from allergy. The allergic reaction can be set off by four different groups of things: insect allergy, food allergy, pollen allergy, and contact (chemicals, plastics, other things your cat touches) allergy. Insect allergy is the most common reason for cats to do excessive licking and scratching, with flea allergy being the most common insect allergy.

With flea allergy, often cats will pull out their hair, especially on the back half of the body. They often do it when they are not in our sight, so we owners may think that the hair is just failing to grow. And apparently in cats with flea allergy, you may never even see a flea on the cat because since the cat is so sensitised to the bites, he will meticulously remove any single flea that bites him. Many of these cats develop miliary dermatitis, which is small scabs and crusts over their body caused by the cat biting and scratching the itchy skin.

My cat Rosie started losing her hair one summer and it was very gradual. The thin areas even looked a bit fuzzy, so we always thought it was “coming back.” She was eating and running around like normal, so we didn’t fear a serious disease, but something was wrong. I took her to the vet, and the doctor we saw did skin scrapings but found no parasites like mange to worry about. A few more weeks went by and she continued to lose hair. Finally I took her to a different vet and he immediately pronounced that she had flea allergy. She never had any fleas that we could see, but she did go outside for a short time each day after everyone was home from work and school. The doctor showed me how if he touched the skin on her back right above the base of her tail the skin would wiggle as if it had a life of its own. He said she was hypersensitive to fleas and that the bite of even one flea could set off the intense itchiness that was causing her hair loss, and that reaction could last for days or a couple of weeks! He gave us some pills that we could use to remove all the fleas on her, but of course we had to spray our carpets and wash all bedding several times before all the fleas were removed from the house. And that also meant that she could no longer go outside. After all the flea removal heroics we had just done, we certainly did not need to bring in more fleas to multiply and start all over. Rosie got all her hair back, and she is a happy tabby now. Remember, don’t use dog flea products or cheap flea products on your cat or you could actually kill him or her. Use products made for cats, and maybe even ask your vet’s office for a recommendation.

Reference: Cat Health Encyclopedia Edited by Dr. Lowell Ackerman T.F.H. Publications, Inc.