I got the following long, intelligent and yet deeply disturbing letter from Dominick, a listener in Palmetto Florida, after I denounced declawing on CAT CHAT®, in a discussion about how some vet students at U.C. Davis vet school had defended their “right” to declaw cats if an owner requested it. I pointed out that they would be taking an oath as vets to “First, do no harm” and didn’t understand how they could make an ethical case for the amputation of the first joint of every toe on a cat’s feet for the convenience of humans. And I said that then I found out their vet school doesn’t even teach it anymore — thank God — because I was explaining that the AVMA has come out against the procedure — which is outlawed as animal abuse in Great Britain and other countries which may be ahead of us in animal protection laws. I also said that the Humane Society of the United States would be involved in legislation to ban the barbaric practice of declawing and that their representative from the HSVMA (Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association) would be coming on both DOG TALK® and CAT CHAT® to talk about why declawing needs to be a thing of the past.
Dominic’s letter was so long that this is only the opening – the rest is in a PDF file that you may want to open and read.
I was very upset when you announced on your CAT CHAT® program, that declawing would be illegal in the next few years. All of my cats have been declawed for the last thirty-two years, including my current three. OK, before you take me out to the parking lot and beat me up, I would like to explain my position…
I wrote back to him:
I appreciate the thought and time that went into your letter and hope you will tune in to CAT CHAT® on July 22nd when I have the representative from the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association (HSVMA) who will explain further why I say that declawing (along with ear cropping and tail docking) are cosmetic mutilations of our pets for our convenience that must be stopped. She will also be guesting on DOG TALK® August 8th so you should sign up on my website to hear that podcast.
A few comments on your letter:
1) While I believe dogs and cats should not roam free, when you were a child 40 years ago, pets being free was the norm. There was much less danger to them than today when we have more cars and people, and we also have learned more about how cats die unnecessarily. Therefore, the fact that you proudly admit that you “stole their dogs and cats and neutered them before returning them” is a deeply troubling piece of information.
2) You sound like a dedicated and generous guardian of your animals, but despite that you have justified for yourself that clipping a bird’s wings (or keeping fish in a tank) is equivalent to removing the first joint of every toe of a cat’s paws, the most sensitive part of her body. There is no comparison between the procedures in terms of suffering or disability.
3) You say your cats all immediately ran, jumped and could still climb and “claw” with their toes the day after surgery — this is not physically possible and makes your argument about your own wonderful experiences ring false. The healing period is much longer than a day, and those cats would never be able to claw again, lacking claws. You contradicted yourself when you described Cleo sliding off you after declawing — which is what all cats who are declawed would do. They cannot climb without claws; they can only make the motions.
4) You wanted to know what to do instead of cutting off the tip of your cats’ toes? THE CAT BIBLE explains all this. I hope you have a chance to pick up a copy. First, you need to trim the sharp curved tip of a cat’s nail which is all that is needed to protect other pets and people from being hurt, and also furniture from being damaged since it is the sharp tip that allows those things to happen. You can trim it as often as you like, in a few painless seconds.
5) SOFT PAWS is an excellent product: they are nail caps which the vet can glue on (and then you can learn to do it) that remain in place for about a month. They cover the nail completely, but the cat still has total freedom to use her feet naturally
6) Statistics prove (as I point out in my book) that declawing does not keep people from surrendering their cats. In fact, 1/3 of the cats in shelters have been declawed and many are found running loose, in complete jeopardy with no way to defend themselves or even to be able to climb a tree to escape danger. So there are definitely serious behavior problems in many cats, who are ditched after the surgery. In any case, the whole idea that declawing saves cats lives is disproved by the fact of shelters being full of them.
I am sure you mean well in making the choices you have, but that doesn’t mean they are the right decisions for the cats, or a fair one. I respect your concerns and your experience, but I do hope you will listen on those dates and see if I cannot convince you to please stop doing this to the pets your clearly love so much.
Tracie
The Cat Bible
