Is cat euthanasia guaranteed always to be totally humane and painless?

 The question in the title, I think, is a fair one. 99.9% of the general public believes that euthanising a pet is painless and the humane thing to do when the animal is chronically ill and suffering persistent pain. Of course, we know that many pets are euthanised at the convenience of their owner or because they are unwanted. That, incidentally, is a symptom of the failure of cat and dog domestication but it is another story.

I am asking the question whether euthanising a cat with sodium pentobarbital is genuinely painless. When this drug is delivered to humans in 84% of cases their lungs fill up with a frothy liquid which causes pain and distress indeed panic because it is like waterboarding torture. How do cats feel when this drug is delivered to them? Image in public domain.

Perhaps the two words "painless" and "killing" simply cannot live together. It seems unnatural that we can kill animals painlessly because being killed would seem to be automatically painful in the natural world. At least in some way or other. Can it be entirely painless? We like to think it is. My research indicates that it isn't.

Even the best veterinarians, much-loved in their community, might occasionally screw up and make a botch of the euthanasia of a loyal customer's cat or dog. And some veterinarians do not follow sound procedures.

There are different ways to euthanize a pet at a veterinary clinic. You can employ the one jab injection of barbiturate anaesthetic, sodium pentobarbital, that's the simple route. But it can go wrong because the hypodermic needle might be misplaced or the vein might burst. The sodium pentobarbital might spill out into the body tissue which I'm told is painful. It may be very painful.

That's the first issue. And in any case, simply injecting a cat in a vein of itself is going to be at least potentially painful and probably actually painful.

We shouldn't forget, by the way, the distress/pain of the pet's owner who should really be present in the consultation room when their beloved companion is being humanely dispatched.

The way to avoid the above-mentioned difficulty in administering the killing drug is to apply an intravenous catheter to the animal and then you administer the drug through that catheter. It is a more controlled and predictable way of proceeding.

The problem here is that it can be difficult to apply the catheter. The animal might struggle. The owner won't like it and be distressed. They take the animal into a back room which I think is going to also distress the owner because they won't know what's happening.

Then they bring the cat or dog forward into the consultation room to administer the killing barbiturate anaesthetic. There could be a third step which is to apply a painkiller and sedation drug which renders the cat or dog unconscious before the final injection is applied.

In short, this could be or should be a three-stage process to guarantee that it is painless. That is: a catheter, a knockout drug which renders them in conscious, and then the third stage is the final barbiturate injection.

That's what the best veterinarians do to humanely euthanise a companion cat. However, as I understand it, most veterinarians don't do it this way. They might use the single injection which is I think problematic. Although they might use a two-stage process and avoid using the catheter which of itself is potentially problematic.

The point I'm making in this post is that it requires considerable care and a good method to ensure that the euthanasia of a companion animal at a veterinary clinic is genuinely painless and therefore humane. Sometimes it isn't on my understanding having researched the matter on the Internet. We don't have numbers to rely on to tell us if this is a big problem or a non-problem. I can't find the statistics. 

There is also the issue of the drug sodium pentobarbital which I have highlighted in the caption to the photo above.

Of course, you should know that I'm not a veterinarian and therefore reliant upon research. But I use the best sources and, in this case, these were veterinary websites.

Painkilling injection for cats with osteoarthritis which blocks the pain signal reaching the brain

This is a new drug, as I understand it, called Solensia (frunevetmab injection) which has today, Jan 13th, 2022, been approved in America by the US Food and Drug Administration. It is described as the first treatment for the control of pain associated with osteoarthritis in cats. It is the also the first monoclonal antibody new animal drug approved by the FDA for use in any animal.

AP News explains that the cat-specific monoclonal antibody, which is a type of protein, recognises and attaches itself to a protein called nerve growth factor (NGF) which is involved in the regulation of pain. When frunevetmab binds to NGF it prevents the pain signal from reaching the brain.

This is an advancement in veterinary medicine for the treatment of pain arising out of osteoarthritis. Treatment options for cats with this disease are very limited.

One issue is that cats live longer, as do people, and when that happens there is a greater likelihood of chronic diseases developing such as osteoarthritis.

Accordingly, this treatment will be most welcome, I suspect, by many veterinarians and cat owners.

The video on this page is I believe designed for veterinarians but it does explain this drug quite nicely. There is a dog version of it with an equally complicated name that is also impossible to pronounce 😎.

Berkeley cat has sudden aversion to being petted

I have taken the title from The Mercury News. The reason why I am writing this note is because a reader of that online newspaper asked a question of their resident expert, Joan. They said that their nine-year-old beloved indoor cat had suddenly taken to clawing at her after she petted him for more than a minute. She found it very odd because he is usually very docile. She wanted to know the cause. I'd like to throw my hat into the ring.

Cat being petted. Image: Getty.

Joan suggested two possible causes: that the cat was feeling pain for some reason and petting him exacerbated the pain causing the inadvertently provoked aggression in response. And secondly she thought that he might be feeling stressed because of a change to his lifestyle as a result of the pandemic.

It's a good question which implies that for many years this woman has been petting her cat in a completely acceptable way. Therefore nothing has changed in the way that she is petting her cat. Therefore the change must come within the cat i.e. there is pain or the environment has changed.

The most likely cause would be that this middle-aged cat has developed sensitivity to petting. This could be quite easily investigated. It may be a certain area of his body which is tender. The owner could do what veterinarians do namely palpate her cat which means to feel her cat and apply a bit of gentle pressure. She can then observe her cat's response. An aggressive response after palpitating a certain area would clearly indicate pain in that area. She could then telephone her vet is there was no external injury.

Cats perceive these circumstances as the person being aggressive towards them. They don't rationalise the fact that they are injured and the person is trying to find the injury. They just feel pain and the pain is being caused by a person so they think that person is deliberately causing them pain. And this would apply even if they have lived with that person for many years in a very good relationship. It's instinctive.

If that doesn't produce any results then you need to look to the environment. I don't believe the coronavirus is the problem (but see below). There may be something else in the environment which is upsetting him. For example, there may be a cat outside which he has noticed which is irritating him because that cat is invading his territory. He wants to attack the cat but can't because he's an indoor cat. Therefore he redirects his aggression at his owner. Petting can irritate under these circumstances and therefore he claws the owner. This, I believe, is the most likely kind of environmental issue causing this abnormal response to petting.

There might be someone else in the home which is upsetting them. Or the owner might be away a lot more than before. On reflection Covid might be a factor on this basis because if the owner was home all the time and then it suddenly away from home the cat might be upset. However the aggressive reaction under these circumstances is unlikely.

The first thing to do is to check health as Joan said (the most likely cause) and then to go through the environmental tick box possibilities until you hit the right answer. The problem might subside naturally with patience.

Can you detect a faint smile on this rehabilitated feral cat?

This is Sad Boy. As you can see, he had a hard life as an unneutered feral cat. In the photograph on the left his face is tense, his eyes are closed slightly, his nose is badly scarred through fighting, and his mouth points slightly downwards. All in all, his face as a feral cat indicates the difficulty in surviving.

Can you detect a faint smile on this rehabilitated feral cat? Photo: Reddit user: u/PoetsSquareCats.

Move forward a couple or three months and thanks to the care of an individual (we don't know her or his name), he is rehabilitated. Sad Boy appears to have been a semi-domesticated feral cat because he looks domesticated in the second photograph implying that it didn't take that long to integrate him into the human lifestyle.

What is noticeable is the lightness in his face. I even detect, I believe, a faint smile. His eyes are slightly more open and the tenseness in his face has disappeared.

Also, his jowly cheeks have disappeared. This is because, I presume, he has been castrated (neutered) and when you do that the production of testosterone is more or less completely stopped (but not entirely as it happens as the adrenal glands produce this hormone). This shrinks the cheeks and you end up with this slightly less masculine appearance.

The two photographs help us to focus on a domestic cat's facial expressions. I suspect that a lot of people think that domestic cats have no facial expressions. They are used to seeing the same impassive face every day. This leads people into believing that domestic cats are aloof. It is not actually true. They do have facial expressions and they are not aloof. Pain is certainly reflected in a cat's face. That is been established scientifically and a cell phone app has been created to read a cat's face so that the owner can better understand their mood.

Perhaps, the subtle changes in the expression of a cat when their mood lightens as reflected in this pair of photographs, is due to the fact that they suffer pain with greater stoicism than humans. Humans express their emotions almost wildly sometimes through facial expressions. There is a stark difference between felines and humans in this regard.

Your phone will tell you when your cat is content or in pain

It's in development but a cell phone app which has been created using artificial intelligence can read your domestic cat companion's facial expression to tell you whether she is happy or sad, content or in distress and in pain. The technology is based on studies, recently conducted, which concluded that the various elements of a cat's face change position relative to each other when they are in pain just like the human's; although for domestic cats the changes are quite subtle as we well know. Cats tend to hide their pain and they tend to hide themselves when in pain.

 Your phone will tell you whether your cat is happy or sad. Image: The Times. Sorry for stealing it.

But the beauty of this application for cell phones is that cat guardians who are uncertain about how their cat is feeling can photograph their cat full-face (a bit like a passport photo) and then ask the software to analyse the image.

The software has been programmed with thousands of images of cats and AI used those images to work out their feelings. Software can then produce a readout for the owner.

The image on this page shows you some of the facial expression differences between a happy and a sad domestic cat. I think perhaps the better description of the difference is between a contented cat and a cat in distress or in pain. 

You'll find that a cat's face tightens up when they are in pain and their eyes become more squinty. In short, their face becomes more tense which actually is what happens to people as well. Although the domestic cat's ears become flattened and rotated outwards compared to in the alert position facing forwards and direct.

You can download a beta version of it using a desktop computer as I understand it by going to the website: Sylvester.AI 

You might like to click on that link to see where it takes you. It is said that the accuracy is as high as 97% provided you give the software a decent quality front-on image of the cat's full face. I think there will be some failures because some cats are camera shy and, in any case, it can be difficult to provide a high-quality image of a cat.

I think what I might do is write another post about how to achieve that. It does take some skill. The app has been developed by an animal health company in Canada. It is a collaboration between an AI company and a cluster of other companies involved in sectors ranging from animal health to sleep gadgets.

Do cats feel pain like humans?

Yes and no is the answer. Domestic cats have a very similar physiology to humans. They have a nervous system and a brain. The peripheral nerves feedback to the spinal cord and thence to the brain. The brain processes the electrical impulses which pass along the nervous system and which are triggered in peripheral parts of a cat's anatomy through injury or disease et cetera. So, everything is in place in a domestic cat for them to feel pain like humans.

Humans cause pain in cats through their ignorance. And even intelligent people behave ignorantly such as declawing vets.

ABOVE: The story of Zoe is nothing less than horrendous and I am sorry to recite it but I have to. Zoe was declawed. His behavior changed because of the pain of - botched surgery. He was then de-toothed. He is now untouchable. He will undergo paw repair surgery by Dr Doub.

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And I believe that these electrical impulses which send signals to the brain are the same as in humans. I also believe that the cat's brain processes the signals in a slightly different way to people. I believe that cats have a filtering system in their brain so that they dampen down the sensation of pain that is signalled to them through their nervous system. It is a method which is akin to humans using psychological therapies to manage chronic pain as taught to them by therapists.

We know that a person cannot or should not use painkillers constantly, day in day out for chronic pain and therefore they are taught to use their mind as one way of better managing pain. And I guess these are psychological techniques which can dampen down chronic pain and make life more bearable or acceptable.

The fact that domestic cats hide pain so successfully is, I would argue, evidence that they are better at controlling it in their mind. Potentially they feel exactly the same amount of pain, let's say because of an injury to a limb, but when the signal gets to their brain it is processed and filtered as mentioned.

These are my personal thoughts and I don't think you will find this concept written about by the experts. I have simply made my own deductions through observing cats and reading about them. I would doubt that you would find studies on the subject either. But evidence points to it because cats inherit this skill to hide pain in the furtherance of their survival.

Rather than reaching for painkillers as humans do and complaining about being in pain, cats tend to shut up and slink away to a safe place where they can defend themselves and snooze. They might not even do this. My elderly female cat who I now believe was in pain for a long time used to sleep in the middle of a large lawn or over a grill leading to a sewer because it produced a cooling air stream which I believe alleviated her pain. It still hurts me to think about it.

And domestic cats do show subtle signs of pain in their facial expressions. Scientists can now measure this. There are other signs which you can read by clicking this link.

Not so long ago, even the experts e.g. vets were unsure that domestic cats felt pain because there is an inherent speciesism in the human mind. Humans come first and animals come second. Animal sentience is an awakening process. Poorly educated people are still unaware of it. A greater awareness of sentience in animals leads to much less animal abuse and an improvement in animal welfare. Sentience is the ability to feel sensations, emotions and of course as mentioned pain.

Sport and trophy hunters temporarily suspend their knowledge that animals feel pain because how else would they be able to cause such acute pain for their entertainment?

Domestic cat bites off the end of her tail. Why?

The owner of this cat, Cleo, suggests that she plays with her tail because she was raised with dogs. The problem has deteriorated to the point where she growls and is more aggressive with her tail. She actually bit off the end off, which is self-mutilation and this cannot be normal. 

Kitten plays with tail. Photo: Warren Photographic published her with his express permission.

Perhaps a domestic cat might get into a habit of playing with their tail more often than normal and it may go wrong but I don't think a domestic cat can bite off the end of her tail unless something is wrong. I would suggest, therefore, that she has a mental health problem or she feels pain in her tail.

MENTAL CONFLICT

Firstly, she is in mental conflict or in a state of anxiety and is engaged in displacement activity. Displacement activity is when a cat does something which displaces their emotional state which is uncomfortable. The classic example of it is when a cat licks their nose. Humans do it when they bite their fingernails. Over grooming is also a form of displacement activity.

Sometimes the cat's owner may intervene in the wrong way, perhaps in an indelicate way which exacerbates the situation. And if a tail has been damaged in this way it may also exacerbate the situation because there would be pain. The tail may have to be amputated. The underlying mental condition would remain, however. They would need to be an assessment of the cat's mental state i.e. mental conflict causing this 'compulsive disorder'. And the pain would have to be managed. 

A barrier to biting the tail would have to be introduced e.g. a collar.

A veterinarian might prescribe mind altering drugs to calm the cat and also the owner can do a lot by creating regular routines and providing daily interactions. I think a lot of this sort of problem is due to anxieties which are difficult to detect.

BEHAVIOURAL

A second possibility but one which is probably much less likely would be that a cat has become too aggressive when playing with their tail. It is commonplace for a cat to play with their tail. I think that it can often be due to boredom and they have this natural hunting instinct so they hunt their own tail. It might develop into something which is too aggressive causing self-mutilation. If this is the cause then it is relatively harmless but once again a way out of it would be for the human guardian to engage with their cat more often in play and to ensure that their cat was fully stimulated.

PAIN

A third possibility would be pain in her tail. There should be an attempt to alleviate it. There would have to be a full veterinary assessment to look for conditions such as neurologic diseases and dermatologic disorders. Animals do try and resolve pain by nibbling and biting and when it gets worse, they may end up self-mutilating. Along that way of thinking, there appears to be three overall possibilities. 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion the three possibilities are (1) mental conflict (2) overaggressive play (3) disease causing pain and discomfort.

P.S. I am not a vet just a concerned cat owner.

How Do I Know If My Cat Is Stressed?

Perhaps a good starting point is to know what kind of environment a domestic cat should live in which is ideal and within which a cat should not become stressed.  If, then, the environment is not ideal, it is possible that the cat might be stressed.

An ideal environment for a domestic cat is one that is secure, calm, without too much noise and without stressful interactions from either people, strangers, other cats or other companion animals.  In addition the cat should not be punished but all training should be carried out through positive reinforcement if the owner really wants to train her cat.

Shelters are stressful places for cats.

There should be no abuse, obviously.  The cat should be free of pain because pain causes stress.  The cat should be well fed.  The cat should be healthy and free of disease and parasites etc..  The environment should be stimulating for a cat.  It's what the experts called an enriched environment.  This is because boredom can also cause stress and the more natural a place is in respect of normal intellectual stimulation that a cat would encounter in the wild, the more healthy and de-stressed the cat will be.

As can be seen there are quite a lot of things to think about when creating an ideal environment for the domestic cat.  The classic thing that could cause a cat to be stressed is a background threat of some sort, either from another animal or a person.

A stressed cat would probably demonstrate a change in normal behaviour.  In order to be aware of the change in normal behaviour the cat's owner obviously needs to know what normal behaviour is for this individual cat.  There is therefore quite a lot of necessary observation required in order to know how one's cat behaves normally and then to measure any changes against that.

Specific sorts of behaviour that a cat might demonstrate when stressed would be: over-grooming, usually in easily accessible places like the belly.  Hiding is another form of behaviour that indicates a cat is stressed.  Incidentally, every cat needs a place to hide so the owner of the cat should ensure that such a place exists in the household.  In addition it is useful even necessary to have some vertical spaces meaning places that a cat can climb to, to feel secure.  Height brings security.

A stressed cat might also engage in inappropriate elimination.  There are many reasons for inappropriate elimination and one of them could be a feeling of insecurity and the need to mark territory either through spraying or even defecation.

A stressed cat might also become irritable and more aggressive than usual.  The form of aggression would probably be defensive aggression because the cat would feel a need to be defensive in what would seem to the cat to be a hostile environment or at least an environment that was not calm or secure.

I suppose, a stressed cat might decide to leave.  It is not uncommon for a cat to leave the family home and find another home that feels better.  Sometimes cats which are what I call time-share cats (sharing more than one home) eventually decide to stay at one home which may not be the original home.

A cat who is subservient to another in a household without a secure place to go to will be stressed. Problems can occur at feeding stations and at cat litter trays.

Stress can lead to ill-health. Cats at shelters are exposed to stress and contagious diseases.

The above are some initial thoughts on the matter which I have written about without reference to any web page or book.  You might like to add to the list if you have time to comment.

How do you know if a cat is in pain?

How do you know if a cat is in pain? This is something that is worrying me. Cats put up with the pain of cancer much better than we do. If a cat has a low level discomfort or pain due to say the effects of kidney failure, how do we know? We should know because in a very old cat we have to decide when to euthanize a cat that is in constant pain and terminally ill.

Pain that is the result of an incurable disease is a major factor in deciding when to be kind and to euthanize that cat. If we can't work out with even a poor degree of accuracy whether our cat is in pain, even low level pain, how are we to decide? It is a worry to me because I live with such a cat (Nov. 2011).

There is nothing in the index of the best book on cat health on the question. "How do you know if a cat is in pain?".

When this book describes the effect of kidney failure, it does not mention pain. It does not tell us if the various symptoms of kidney failure cause pain. And if our cat does feel pain under these circumstances, how is that pain expressed? There are symptoms but do they include pain rather than discomfort?

If we pick up a cat that is injured and cause pain the cat will probably cry out. A cat that was given a bad injection (vaccination) cried out. That is a sign. Verbalizing pain. But long term low level pain is different. If I am in discomfort and pain, I become quieter and less active. I want to be left alone to manage it. Is that how cats behave when they are in pain? Probably, yes, and they might lose their appetite. Accordingly, weight loss may be a sign of pain.

Non-routine behavior may also indicate pain. This page describes some rather vague symptoms of cats in pain. It is a difficult subject. Administering pain killers must be done under vet supervision.

When cats are declawed they feel acute and prolonged pain. They can't keep still and try and tear off their bandages. Strong pain killers are administered these days. That was not always the case because at one time vets thought cats did not feel pain - bizarre isn't it?

Associated page: Do cats feel pain after neutering?

Cat In Pain

Perhaps the most significant thing about a cat in pain is that they hide or mask it. It is said that they do this is as an act of survival. It is also said that the domestic cat is small and therefore vulnerable to larger predators and so hides pain that would give a signal to a predator that the cat might be easy prey being weakened by an illness that causes the pain.

That makes sense in one way but not in another. Do lions and tigers mask pain? They are top predators and they are cats! They probably do mask pain or at least it won't be obvious that the lion or tiger is in pain.

There is no doubt that it can be difficult to tell if a domestic cat is in pain. But it is not all that difficult. A domestic cat in pain will become quiet and more passive. He or she will find a quiet corner or place that is well protected, curl up and keep out of the way. If a cat is fatally injured he or she will find a quiet spot to die.

I am not sure that this is a survival strategy. It is more to do with a simple and logical reaction to feeling ill and pain. Humans go to bed and are passive when in pain and feeling ill. We don't want to do anything. We feel depressed and demotivated. I am sure that cats feel the same way.

A cat in pain will feel poorly and become inactive. If we notice a change in the routine of a cat towards being more passive and quiet,  or demonstrating a "do-not-disburb-me" behavior we might assess that our cat is in pain and go to the vet.

Other possible signs of a cat in pain might include:

• inappropriate elimination - although the cause is more likely to be stress or other causes
• eating habit changes
• eating litter
• weight loss
• sleep habit changes
• more vocal

These, though can also include general symptoms of feeling ill.

Many years ago, when my lady cat got a grain of wheat stuck in her eye - a sharp and painful object - she went to the bottom of the garden and kept quiet. She had not gone to that spot before. There were two changes in routine - quiet and a remote, new place to rest.

I noticed this, checked her out and spotted the object in her eye. I stopped her, held her still and between the nails of my thumb and finger grabbed the end of the grain and yanked it out. I was lucky to get it. She yelped and immediately looked more comfortable. A lot of gunge had built up around the grain to protect the eye but it must have been painful.

At the time, I was about to take her to the vet. Look for changes in routine and quietness if assessing whether a cat is in pain or not and when there is no obvious reason why your cat should behave differently. However, when pain is acute the cat will probably be vocal and try and relieve it. In short the cat might move.

But please don't administer pain relief without a veterinarians supervision. Pain killers can kill cats - feline pain relief.

See the story behind the picture heading this post.




From Cat In Pain to Home Page

American Vets are Unethical Towards the Cat

I am convinced that a large number (not all, please note) of American vets are unethical towards the cat and as a consequence they are in breach of the Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics of the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) and their oath, if they are members of that association.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), established in 1863, is a not-for-profit association representing more than 78,000 veterinarians….

The veterinarian’s oath under the AVMA is:

Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health, the relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge.
I will practice my profession conscientiously, with dignity, and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics.
I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my professional knowledge and competence.

Selected clause of the AVMA Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics:
PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR

1. Veterinarians should first consider the needs of the patient: to relieve disease, suffering, or disability while minimizing pain or fear. (comment: this is a basic principle and is right at the top of the document. It goes to the core of everything the vet does in his or her practice. The patient is the cat in this instance)

American vets are unethical towards the cat - Please Note: I have reproduced the above verbatim for accuracy and I justify this under fair use as they are extracts of a large document and it is in the public’s interest and the companion cat’s interest to have this discussion.

American vets are unethical towards the cat – Note: If anyone wants to use this article and is brave enough to do so! - I hereby license its use under creative commons. Please place this near the article if reusing it (including the links): American Vets are Unethical Towards the Cat by Michael is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. It is based on work of my own. The license applies world wide. Also Please Note: I like America and Americans but strongly dislike the culture of declawing. It is not found anywhere else. Everything that I say or do in relation to the cat is on the basis of treating the cat as I would a person, with respect. Declawing is highly disrepectful of our cat companions.

Accusing a vet of being unethical is strong language, I know, but declawing cats on the whim of a cat “owner” who wants to protect furniture is an assault on the cat. Under these particular circumstances, it is deliberately inflicting a physical and possibly psychological injury on the cat. It is detrimental to the cat, a violation of a vet’s oath and a violation of the Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics.

In fact, the president of the AVMA seems to agree with me! If that it the case what are they doing about it? The rules should be enforced more strictly and tightened up. She wants the law to prevent it when she can prevent it in changing the code of conduct of veterinarians.

In the UK a vet doing that on a consistent basis would, in my view be struck off and prosecuted under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. He or she would probably be convicted and punished to a jail term not exceeding 51 weeks and/or a fine not exceeding £20,000 ($32,302 USD). His career would be ruined.

Yet in the United States of America, where they are proud to uphold basic human rights (but not the rights of cats, it seems) highly qualified and intelligent veterinarians have criminally assaulted, by European standards, at least 20 million cats. As there is almost no declawing in the UK, despite being allowed on medical grounds, I can only presume that 99.9% of that 20m are for the personal reasons of the person keeping the cat or the landlord renting out his flats (apartments).

American vets are unethical towards the cat – Note: I realise that some people use the argument that declawing saves the lives of cats as it means they can be kept by people living in apartments where the lease forbids it. I don’t go along with that argument. These people should not keep cats at all if the lease forbids it or seek a lease that does etc. It is this kind of self serving mentality that results in unwanted rescue cats that are put down in the millions in the USA.

If it is to be done appropriately the operation to declaw a cat should cost about 600 dollars but may increase up to 800 dollars if done using lasers, but it is worth it, says a well known vet tech (Asker) who contributes to Yahoo Answers. There is also a lot of pain treatment after the operation and “arthritis develops early in these cats and life long supplementation helps keep them comfortable and less stressed” (Asker – vet tech). This all equates to big money (total: $12,000,000,000 (USD) at today’s prices – I think this is 12 billion US dollars) for vets and it is money that drives some vets (a far too large a percentage, I allege) to carry out this operation in defiance of their code of conduct and their oath and also against the best interests of the cat (but in the interests of an ill advised human client).
There is an acute conflict of interest in the US veterinary profession: money –v- ethics. In the USA and elsewhere vets have, over recent years, strived to be treated as the equal of doctors. They started to call themselves doctors. This is a newish concept. If they want the status of doctors they should act like doctors and treat cats in the same way doctors treat people. Cats have no voice and cannot decide for themselves. That places a greater responsibility on the vet towards the cat. And it also places a great responsibility on the vet to explain all the facts to the person who keeps the cat. What the vet says to the cat keeper is the make or break moment as to whether the operation takes place or not. The cat keeper is in the hands of the vet at that moment. The vets words are critical and must comply with the ethical principles and oath.

Only on rare medical grounds should the operation be carried out. You know, there is quite a lot of denial in the veterinarian profession about cat declawing. There is a kind of manipulative management going on in some vet’s practices (I allege) that coerces vet techs and other employees to participate in the process of cat declawing against their better judgment (see the Psychology of Declawing).

The form below is, by the way, completely confidential. I have no idea who is voting. You can see the spreadsheet that stores the votes here: Results

In the UK (a country that is culturally close to and similar to the USA), the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which criminalises cat declawing, made no difference to the act of declawing because it simply hardly ever happened before. It is just not part of the culture and I think this comes to a very large part from the veterinarians. It can’t be the case that British people are more ethical generally that American people. It comes down to being trained and guided by the “experts” (the vets). In many ways they guide us in respect of how to treat our cats and they indirectly police us and dictate how we treat our cats.

“The procedure was considered cruel by almost all British vets, who refused to perform it except on medical grounds. The Guide to Professional Conduct of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons stated that declawing was "only acceptable where, in the opinion of the veterinary surgeon, injury to the animal is likely to occur during normal activity. It is not acceptable if carried out for the convenience of the owner ... the removal of claws, particularly those which are weight bearing, to preclude damage to furnishings is not acceptable."…(Wikipedia author)

As can been seen, the code of practice of vets in the UK is very explicit on this subject. What is happening in the United States? It would seem to me that the American Veterinary Medical Association, which is no doubt run by veterinarians is complicit in this cruelty and in fact condone it (as I understand it they permit it when there is destructive use of claws - this will always happen so it is a full approval but using what I call "weasel" words, words dressed up to sound like the veterinarian is doing the operation for a good reason) . In fact they must allow it as otherwise they would have taken steps to better manage what is a blot on the profession in the United States.

The surgery is basically an American “thing”. And it is an American thing because Americans are very driven by financial profit. It is why they are the richest nation in the world. What has happened is that self interest has got the better of American vets. But as mentioned their actions have, over time, coloured and altered the culture and opinions of a large number of ordinary Americans into believing that declawing is alright and acceptable when it clearly is not as it is in breach of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s code of conduct (when carried out for the personal and non-medical reasons of the cat keeper). That said, incidentally, polls in America (e.g. Petplace.com) strongly indicate that the majority of people are against declawing of cats.

It 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 (src: Yahoo answers).

America is out of step with the world on declawing and it is in the hands of the directors and managers of the veterinarian associations to change an entirely distorted culture that is deeply ingrained in a substantial percentage of the American people.
American vets are unethical towards the cat - See also:

• Declawing Cats
• Declaw cats
• Cat declawing

Update: Babz made a comment and left a link for a petition. This is the link: Declawing Petition (new page).

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Feline Pain Relief

Tender loving care, one cat to another, feline boredom relief -
photo by fofurasfelinas (Flickr)

Feline Pain Relief is too dangerous to be given to a cat without a veterinarians prescription and supervision. All pain relief for a cat needs to be supervised. Veterinarians use analgesics for cats with caution.

First, it is worth mentioning that it may be difficult to ascertain if our cat is suffering from pain. Cats are stoical and hide pain. They may go quiet and hide and dislike being touched and picked up etc.. Deciding whether our cat is suffering from pain is a job for a veterinarian. Also it is pointless treating pain without assessing the underlying cause to see if it can be treated as well. This also needs to be diagnosed professionally. This is the first reason why cat keepers should not administer pain relief without a vet's involvement.

The most common, over the counter pain killer for humans is aspirin. It is listed as one of the common household products that is poisonous to cats, in a well known book, The Veterinarian's Guide To Your Cat's Symptoms by Drs Garvey, Hohenhaus, Houpt, Wallace and Elizabeth Randolph. When taken in all but minute quantities this common painkiller causes nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and possible lethargy in cats.

Aspirin molecule

Above image: published under Wikimedia Commons license, the original provider (author) for the license is Benjah-bmm27.

Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid. It works by suppressing the production of a hormone that helps to transmit the sensation of pain to the brain. It is safe to be given to dogs by unqualified people; but initially under supervision, I would suggest, as dogs are susceptible to the potentially damaging side effects to the gastrointestinal system by ingesting salicylates. Aspirin, however, must be given to a cat with the highest degree of care and caution and in very small doses indeed and under strict veterinarian guidance. This is because the damage that can result as a result of over dosage is very severe indeed. Even small doses can result in vomiting, loss of appetite and depression as mentioned.

One aspirin tablet (for humans - 324 milligrams in weight) is 8 times the proper dosage for a cat. On tablet can cause a host of highly worrying symptoms such as dehydration, salivation, staggering, vomiting, gastrointestinal bleeding. Aspirin is potentially highly toxic and poisons a cat at the wrong dosage.

If aspirin is just acceptable for feline pain relief, under strict veterinarian supervision, anti-inflammatory drugs that are commonly used by people such as Ibuprofen (I use this myself) and Anaprox are simply toxic to cats and should never be used. These drugs are used by people to relieve stiffness, joint pain caused by rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis for example.

Cross polarized Tylenol crystals - photo by nebarnix

The Veterinarian's Guide To Your Cat's Symptoms also states that another well known drug, Tylenol, should not be used for feline pain relief. Tylenol is a popular analgesic in the USA. The active ingredient is called "paracetamol" (for countries outside USA such as the UK) and is called "acetaminophen" in the USA. Tylenol can cause liver or kidney damage, in humans, in high dosage and if accompanied by alcohol.

Even a small dosage (child's level) can cause hemolytic anemia and liver damage if given for the treatment of feline pain relief.

Another analgesic used for the treatment of pain relief of animals including horses and dogs is called Butazolidin. The active ingredient is phenylbutazone, which is used as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug to treat chronic pain. Side affects are suppression of white blood cell production (white blood cells are part of the bodies defense system) and Aplastic Anemia (suppression of red blood cell production in the bone marrow).

Butazolidin is also toxic to cats in the same way as aspirin and Tylenol and should not be used for feline pain relief.

Conclusion

Although aspirin is potentially toxic to cats, with severe symptoms, it is the only usable analgesic provided it is used with extreme caution in very small dosages and under strict veterinarian guidance and supervision (source: The Veterinarian's Guide To Your Cat's Symptoms). Obviously veterinarian medicine is evolving all the time and at the time of this post there may be alternatives that are relatively safe to use under supervision. The same principles apply, however, in that it is simply dangerous to treat cats for feline pain relief without veterinarian advice.

Update March 11th 2011: Valley Girl, a colleague of mine, has referred me to this page: Fentanyl (Duragesic Patch). This method of pain relief is once again administered by vets only.


Feline Pain Relief - Sources:

1. As stated in the text (thanks to Drs Carslon and Giffin)
   
2. Wikipedia for the chemistry of these drugs and the Wikimedia commons images

Photo: published under a creative commons license = Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License - thanks to fofurasfelinas

Cats Feel Pain

Cats Feel Pain - Vets operating table copyright Brit reproduced under creative commons. Another Flickr photograph had a caption which read something like, "how can I tell when a cat's in pain?". Well if she is quiet, hiding, and behaving in a non-routine manner, she could be in pain. Also cats sometimes purr deeply when in pain. After that you investigate (to the Vet usually and quickly). Thereafter you can normally tell.

Cats hide pain as all do all animals. It is a natural state in their quest for survival. They also hide themselves. But animals and cats do feel pain. A simple test suffices. If for example you accidentally stand on your cat's paw (I've done this once in 15 years - don't do it deliberately please), you will see a reaction that clearly indicates that she has felt pain. She will yelp and cry out. It goes further. My cat suffers nightmares and cries out and wakes up (psychological pain).

It seems common sense to me that cats feel pain. They have brains, nerves and are programmed to survive. It is necessary therefore for the body to know when it is injured by the signal of pain to the brain.

Yet surrounded by day to day examples of animals suffering pain, until the 1980s (yes fairly recently) scientists argued that animals could not feel pain. They routinely conducted experiments on animals including cats inflicting pain without compunction.

Sometimes the objective was to inflict pain and see the result (this doesn't square up with the argument that animals don't feel pain). The fact that mankind had until recently argued that animals don't feel pain is a major reason for the maltreatment of animals worldwide including cats. That and sheer ignorance and nastiness. I am sure this false concept is still alive in a many areas of the world.

This misconception arose out of the idea that animals couldn't rationalize. It suited scientists to maintain this view as it assisted them in their research during which they inflicted pain on animals. It was and is an example mankind rationalizing things to suit himself.

Vets until recently would not routinely (or at all) give "pain meds" to cats after spaying and neutering. The operation is routine but invasive. Now, gradually, the world is becoming more civilized and pain killers are given to cats after this operation, more routinely because the vet understands that cats feel pain.

The great man Mahatma Gandhi famously said that we can measure the degree of civilization in a community by the way they treat animals (or the vulnerable). Obviously we are not very civilized but getting better.

When we wish to trick ourselves about the truth we talk about the subject in a particular and benign fashion to make it palatable and hide it from ourselves. This is most noticeable in politicians and of course animal testing scientists.

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