Do declawed cats find homes more easily because they won damage furniture? Will people abandon or euthanize their cats if they cannot have a veterinarian declaw their cats?
Actually, declawed cats may be at a disadvantage. There is evidence that declawed cats are disproportionately abandoned at shelters, and that declawed cats may be euthanized more often because of the behavioral and physical problems that result from declawing. Pet owners typically cite protection of their furnishings as being foremost among their reasons for having a cat declawed; however, such owners may not realize that the pain and other complications from the surgery can cause behavioral problems that are even worse than the problems for which the cat’s toes were amputated. A cat can still bite a child and may become more prone to do so if it has no claws. A cat whose paws hurt when scratching in a litter box may avoid the litter box altogether, a behavior that may not be tolerated by the owner. In a 1996 JAVMA article, Gary Patronek, VMD, PhD, using multivariate statistical analysis, found that declawed cats were at an increased risk of relinquishment to animal shelters and that a
