Is it o.k. to get a kitten declawed?
If you’re thinking about having your cat declawed, there are many things you should know before you make your decision. The surgery is basically an American trend, and is considered inhumane and is illegal in many countries (England, Scotland, Wales, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Slovenia, Portugal, Belgium, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Yugoslavia and Japan). If that doesn’t impact your opinion about declawing, maybe this website will help you decide: http://community-2.webtv.net/stopdeclaw/… I believe that people who have their cats declawed are uneducated. It is not very difficult to train your cat to use a scratching post. The surgery is not simply a trimming of the claws, it’s an amputation of the distal phalanx, including bones, ligaments, and tendons! To remove the claw, the bone, nerve, joint capsule, collat
Declawing a cat is cruel. If you are really worried about it tearing up your furniture or scratching the kids, please consider an different pet. I agree with trimming the claws, it works, but you have to make sure you do it on a regular basis, those nails grow awfully fast. Please don’t declaw your kitten if you choose to get one. “Declawing your cat does more than just eliminate the problem of scratching. Her claws –and that portion of the toes that are removed, are valuable to her in another vital way. Removing her claws may throw her entire system of natural balance off. That means a cat’s claws are absolutely essential for her balance as well as for her ability to exercise effectively. Not only that, her toes – and especially her claws are vital aspects of her stretching. Notice when your cat scratches at a post (or, yes, your furniture!). Most of us assume she’s just sharpening her claws. Not so! She is really stretching her entire body.
My opinion is to not get them declawed, i just trim my cats nails, they are the equivalent to a baby’s nails, just the part where they start to bend over and look evil. When you have a cat declawed it is like cutting off the joint of the finget that the human nail is on. You know, like look at your hand there is a knuckle, a middle joint and the top joint…this is essientially the same as on a cat. When you have them declawed they cut off that top joint. I don’t want the top joints on my hands cut off, so i am not goin to do that to my kittys. There are a few alternatives. They make rubber tips that the doctor puts into place that fit nicely over the cats nail so that they can’t scratch you or the furniture….i also like the alternatives because if your cat got out it would not leave them completely defenseless….the rubber tips can be removed by the doctor….but i believe that if the cat had rubber tips on it could still defend itsself while out in the wild to some point. Just my
It’s good that you are asking this question. Some adoption entities now make people sign agreements to not declaw because it is deemed cruel and many people don’t understand that. It’s not like removing a fingernail. I’ve read that claws are attached to tendons and ligaments and that problems can develop in declawed cats. It does not make a cat more “safe” around children. My cats have never scratched children (or anyone, for that matter). WIth a little tolerance, you can train cats to not pick furniture most of the time. It’s good that you asked this question. Please, please do not declaw your cats.
It is a terrible thing to do. The odds of the kitten not using the litter box increases and the odds of this kitten biting someone increases. It can change the structure of the kittens foot and lead to long term problems with their back. It is very painful and if you trim nails and provide a scratching post it can be very successful.
