The act of declawing cats is frequently and incorrectly seen as a simple, pain-free way of ensuring that you won’t be subjected to the inconveniences that cats’ claws can bring about, such as scratching on furniture and climbing up the drapes.
However, the process behind declawing cats is quite a painful one and when people find out what the equivalent of performing the surgery on a human would be, they frequently change their mind on the humanity of the surgery.
Declawing cats involves removing the last phalanx of the fingers – that is, amputating the end of the fingers back to the first knuckle. It is not merely a case of removing the claw, instead removing the entire finger joint in which the claw mechanism resides, bone and muscle included. Can you imagine having all of your fingers amputated back to the first knuckle?
With some simple training and the provision of scratching posts and boxes, you can easily remove the annoyances of scratching and climbing without subjecting your cat to this painful surgery.
Please check out these online resources for more information on the practice of declawing and why we’re opposed to it at Not The Mama:
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Wow! This was great to read. I have several friends and I am constantly in debate with them about declawing…but it's hard to intelligently argue the case as I am a “dog” person having never owned a cat. I am going to share this with them. Thank you for describing the procedure…never knew this.
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