Declawing: I wish I knew then what I know now (Director Humane Society)

Lora O’Connor, director, Humane Society of Western Montana, Missoula  states that she wishes she knew a whole lot more about declawing when she was in her twenties.  If she had known more about declawing and what it entails when she was in her twenties she would not have had her cat, Vivian, declawed at the time.

I think that is quite a bold and very honest statement for a director of a branch of the Humane Society to make.  I think it carries weight.  I wonder how many other people regret declawing their cat?

I know of one who made the same admission on my website. There must be many people who privately think they were wrong to do it but won't admit it publicly. It is really a question of education, dare I say it. When a person really understands what delawing is about and why it is unnecessary and the sort of damage it does they won't ask a vet to do it again.

There are piles of problems. Many vets mislead clients about the declaw operation. They underplay its consequences and the severity of the operation. They give the impression it is just removing the "nails". Wrong. It is a bone fide amputation x 10.

And many vets botch the operation doing it too fast using a cheap guillotine device and in any case the operation is designed to be a botch. It can't be done properly with repercussions for the cat in extended complications.

I could go on but I won't. I just thought is was nice to see someone in authority working for the Humane Society making a frank admission of a mistake regarding something that has a negative impact on a cat's health and welfare. There are many alternatives to declawing which are far better.

Complications Of Declawing

Complications Of Declawing

I simply want to advertise the page which the link above points to so please click on that link and go to the page.  It is a long page and quite a complicated page.  There is a long list of complications but what is astonishing is that a well-respected veterinarian has left a comment in which she states that the list of complications is nowhere near long enough.

When I wrote the page several years ago I thought there were a lot of complications for an operation that is not required.  But then to learn today, May 9, 2014, that you can add many more complications to this latest I was gobsmacked.  I was also very sad.

I hate to go on about this.  I don't want to go on about declawing and complications and why it shouldn't happen.  It is boring.  It is tiresome.  It upsets people who support the idea of declawing cats.  I don't want to upset people.  I don't want to upset anybody.  I want people to like me and like what I say.

However, how can anybody not address the side-effects of an unnecessary operation and then reflect on whether the operation is a good thing or not.  If we care about our cats then we must reflect on the complications of declawing.  We mustn't listen to the veterinarian who is doing the declawing without questioning and without reflection.

The declawing veterinarians make a lot of money from the operation and they are bound therefore to promote it because ultimately they are in the business of making money.  Their views are not impartial.  The vet's views are coloured by financial profit.  It doesn't matter how honest and good and moral the veterinarian is if there is a choice between 2 decisions and 1 decision makes more money he will choose that option.  That is totally to be expected and a normal human reaction.

There are some wonderful American veterinarians and one of them is Dr Kirsten Doub. She is currently engaged in a study which provides insights on the subject of complications of declawing. Her study is investigating the sort of pain that a cat suffers from after the operation.  She is revealing new information and it does not square up with what we are familiar with and which is disseminated by the veterinarians who routinely conduct the operation.

Anyway,  I have gone on enough.  This post is simply asking people to click on the link at the top of the page and then read that page slowly and carefully and then read the comment of Dr Hofve below the page and then finally digest the whole thing and decide, once and for all, to never declaw any cats again and ask other people do exactly the same thing.  Thanks for reading this.  If you got this far you have done fantastically well!

The Cat is the Veterinarian's Client

I think people forget that the veterinarians real client is the cat when a cat's owner turns up with her cat for treatment.

OK, it is obvious that a cat cannot enter into a contract with the vet. The cat's owner does that, which places her in the position of guardian and caretaker. It is a position of trust and bounded by morality. There are no professional rules to follow for the cat's owner. She just has to do her moral duty towards her cat. The moral duty may extend to a duty under statute if she acts in a criminal way towards her cat. I am referring to cat abuse.

The cat is the vet's client when treating a cat.

The veterinarian has a professional duty of care towards the cat and this is through the cat's guardian the cat's owner. The vet must also follow professional guidelines and his oath.

Sadly, from my perspective, almost all the vets in the USA are in breach of this simple duty of care when declawing cats because it is not done for the cat's benefit or welfare but for the cat owner's convenience. In fact they are probably in breach of the criminal code but are protected by convention. At the same time the cat's owner has acted immorally and in breach of common sense principles that she must act in the best interests of her cat.

I think it pays to dwell on that simple but shocking fact.

Veterinarians can do more to educate cat owners about declawing

Veterinarians don't do enough to educate their clients on the difficult matter of declawing. Specifically, they can underplay the severity of the operation and can even deliberately mislead the cat's owner.

Some veterinarians call a cat's claws "nails" for example. This hints at human nails. They are largely made up of the same substance "keratin" but they are attached to the digit in a completely different way. Then they say "removing the nails" when describing declawing is no big deal especially if the cat is very young. Poor kitten, I say.

This sort of talk is hightly misleading. Even advocates of declawing, the people at the AVMA, cannot deny that this is neither ethical nor does it adhere to the AVMA policy on declawing.

I say the AVMA are advocates of declawing. They would deny this and state that declawing is a last resort. Yet, they stand by and do nothing when vets mislead clients and declaw cats when it is obviously not a last resort but for the convenience of the cat's owner; to protect furniture. The AVMA's passive, accepting behavior of their vets obvious breaches of the guidelines supports declawing.

The human nail is not attached to the hand or foot by a bone. It is attached by tissue: the matrix and nail bed. You may have had the experience of losing a nail because it was hit by something. It just falls off.

Human Nail showing that it is not attached to bone

The claw (not a "nail") of the cat is embedded into the last phalange of the cat's toes. This phalange is a complete bone structure that is very similar to the last bit of bone after the last joint of our fingers. The claw has to be attached to the toe so solidly because it is used very vigorously. An example is climbing. You may have seen cats climb brick walls using their claws and hanging from curtain poles and such like by their claws.

Cat Claw showing how it is attached to solid bone,  a part of the toe of the cat. The picture shows an actual claw+bone that was declawed. You can see the blood.

A vet cannot remove the claw without removing all of the last phalange of the toe. Declawing is an operation that is an amputation and it is done ten times in one go (five toes of each front paw). No surprises, therefore, that the cat would be in agony but for a ton of painkillers.

So, when vets write stuff like this:

The claws of animals, like the fingernails of people are modified hair. When the front claws of cats are removed at an early age (less than six months of age) it is a minor procedure. No worse than circumcising a baby.

He is lying and misleading. My words are strong but they have to be because this vet is in breach of his duties.  A vet is in a position of trust towards his client and let's remind ourselves that the client is the cat. The cat's owner is also a trustee, a guardian and an agent on behalf of the cat. Misleading the cat's owner is a breach of trust.

I have heard other vets use the word "nail" in place of "claw". I can only conclude that it is a deliberate ploy to underplay the severity of the declawing operation that is called: Onychectomy.

The quote is from Dr Hine's website. He is a well known vet with a website that gets lots of visits. Therefore he is misleading a lot of people. There is no doubt in my mind that he has caused a lot of cats to suffer unnecessarily. He should be ashamed of himself and someone at the ineffectual AVMA should have reprimanded him by now.

The Big Cat Scratching Post

The more I think about it, the more I realise that a cat scratching post needs to be large and well sited. There are a lot on them on the market which are not large enough. They don't work because a cat won't use it or is reluctant to use it. This has ramifications.

Kitten climbing a 'tree' - a large scratching post.

One consequence that comes to mind is that people who have thought about declawing their cat but resisted and bought a cat scratching post instead might then decide to have their cat declawed thinking that it is impossible to get their cat to scratch in the right place.

I hope people who have decided against declawing try again and purchase a large scratching post and put it where cats might mark territory as if they were wild cats. These places are normally in prominent locations within the cat's home range. An example might be near the back door if the cat is allowed to go out. When my cat goes outside he scratches trees. These are solid objects that don't move. Of course cats also scratch horizontally but in this post I am referring to the classic scratching post.

My opinion is that:

• a large scratching post that replicates to a certain extent a tree (see picture), placed
• in a prominent location that would be the cat's boundary of his or her home range or on a "trail" and
• to start the process of encouraging to scratch a scratching post while the cat is a kitten...

will result in success. Or at least there will be a good chance of success if these three guidelines are put into place. Patience, gentle encouragement and the judicious use of catnip will also help.

I am grateful for Dorothy for showing me the picture. I don't know who took the picture. If you see this and want a credit please leave a comment.

Pets Are Not Animals

I have stolen the title from Craig McFarlane's site. I think he makes an interesting but very refined point. He also refers to an article from one of those Homes and Gardens type magazines. This one is called, 'Fresh Home Magazine".

They had a page which was on the subject of "Decorating Mantras to Live By". That is a big statement for one of these magazines. The author lists five points to live by. One of them is: Every room needs something living, flowers, goldfish, a pet. Fair point. A good point. But, it is the way the point is made that indicates that pets are not animals.

You can see what Craig is getting at. It is something I have mentioned before myself. It is unfashionable mind you; very unfashionable with a large section of society but it is true and therefore worth mentioning again.

When you write about decorating your home and refer to 'a pet' - any pet ('a' pet), as part of the decorating process you are on dangerous ground. This is because you are treating the 'pet' as a item of decoration and not as a living, breathing animal with all that that imparts. It is this mentality that can lead to incorrect expectations regarding caring for a cat and that unfortunately is part of the mentality that can lead to deciding to declaw one's cat because claws tend to spoil the decor.

Sorry to keep going on about declawing but it seems I have to because it still goes on when it should have stopped.

Craig emphasizes the point that pets are not treated as animals because goldfish and 'pets' are separated by the author. It is like separating curtains from sofa coverings.

The reference to 'a pet' is worrying too. Any pet (and 'pet' is a bad word) will do. Just add it into the mix and make your home better. No; this is not the way to adopt a cat.

Adopting a domestic cat is far more profound because a cat is a living animal with feelings. And animals are like us. Jean Cocteau got it right when he said:

"I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul."

In this cat quote Cocteau is referring to cats as part of making the home better, more pleasant and it goes much deeper than decoration. A cat's presence goes to the soul of the home. A domestic cat does add a dimension to the home that inanimate objects cannot.

That is why the cat should not be treated as an inanimate object. Finally, the other points 1,2, 4 and 5 are good points. He or she just has the wrong mentality on pets or (s)he did not express herself as well as she might have.

American Veterinary Workers Against Declawing

The American Veterinary Workers Against Declawing Facebook community is fantastic. It is for American veterinary workers who are working in, or have worked in, the veterinary business. It is brave of people who currently work in the business to publicly fight against declawing. I admire them tremendously.

I particularly like the concept of people inside the business working for a better service for cats. Vets have to admit that the declawing process is not for the benefit of cats. It can't be, can it? So working to stop declawing is working towards a better service for cats.

I would hope that there will a gradual shift - and it will be gradual because declawing is an entrenched problem - towards a more enlightened attitude within the profession through the efforts of this Facebook community.

I find Facebook hard to navigate so I am unable to discover who started the community. Whoever she or he is deserves a big pat on the back and a cuddle! :)

If you have time please visit their Facebook page and click on their like button. The Facebook like button will take over our lives one day!

They have some excellent links to webpage on their Facebook page. One is The Future of the Veterinary Profession by Michael W. Fox, BVetMed, PhD, DSc, MRCVS on the website of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association. I don't know how this association squares up with or is related to the AVMA. As far as I am aware, Michael Fox is a well known advocate for ethical veterinary behavior. I admire him.

He makes some very good points in his article. One is that he sees vets torn between the calling of a vet - to help animals - and the need to make a good living from working as a vet. In the desire to make money, which we cannot criticise the vet for, he or she drifts into areas that are opposed to his or her calling. Mr Fox says that these conflicting objectives can be reconciled. Of course he is correct. All the vets in Europe manage to resolve the problem so why can't American vets?

I don't think it is pure financial greed that leads American vets to declaw. It is partly a mentality that sees declawing as acceptable: humans can do what they like with animals because we are superior etc. that kind of argument.

Which brings me nicely to another point that Michael Fox makes. The interests of the human should not automatically be considered more important than those of the cat. A true respect for the cat would prevent declawing. I genuinely feel that it is time for the human to move on from what I consider unenlightened and old fashioned views about them and us, animals and humans. We are all together on the planet trying to survive and we are equal in that onerous task.

In declawing a cat a vet has three competing interests and motivators. The person who owns the cat requests or agrees to the operation. That person is seen as the client. If the cat was seen as the client and the person seen as the cat's guardian and not the owner, it would alter the relationship between cat and vet to the point where declawing would become impossible. The first two competing interests are then (1) what is right for the cat (2) what is right for the cat's guardian. These should not be competing because a guardian should have the interests of the cat at heart.

The third interest is that of the vet. He needs to make a living. He can do it just fine without declawing cats. He should be prepared to take the plunge and stop it. He would find new ways to raise revenue and in the long term he would see that he had a better life. He will certainly see that he will have no mental conflict between his calling, his original driving force and what he does now, mutilate cats against the welfare of the cat.

Notes on Cat Scratching

Cat scratching is necessary and normal feline behaviour, which can be a problem for cat caretakers. It is probably one of the top "behavioural problems" reported by cat owners. The sad thing is it is normal and is therefore not strictly speaking problem behaviour. The problem is more about human expectations, behaviour and attitude.

Cats scratch objects for the following reasons:

• to remove the outer sheath of the claw from the front feet. This reveals the sharper fresh claw underneath.
• to exercise the mechanism made up of tendons, bone and muscles, that protracts the claw when required e.g. attacking and grabbing prey. The claw is normally retracted.
• to stretch the back muscles (this is probably incidental to the primary functions).
• as a means to communicate in two ways: (1) depositing scent from glands in paws - olfactory communication and (2) leaving scratch marks  - visual communication.

If a single cat scent marks and scratches furniture in the home as a form of territorial marking it may be due to being ill at ease, anxious. The reasons should be investigated.  This may happen on objects near doors to the outside, for instance.

If in a multi-cat household a cat or cats mark territory through scratching and/or spraying or depositing feces it is probably due to stressful social interactions. Multi-cat households might require some management if the cats where selected to join the group by the person and not by the cats as is usually the case (in feral cat colonies). That might sound odd but cats have preferences. They like and dislike other cats and people.

A scratching post is an important piece of cat furniture. However most commercially available models are too small. The post should be of a sufficient height to allow the cat to fully stretch upwards. Scratching on armchairs occurs towards the arm rest or higher at the back of the chair; that sort of distance off the ground. We are looking at about three feet tall or more. Cats will also scratch horizontally (e.g. on carpets) so perhaps two devices should be installed, both of solid construction.

Never "solve" this so called cat behavioural problem by declawing the cat. That is cruel and unnecessary.  It also tends to create other problems that cannot be resolved. There are much better, gentler and more moral alternatives.

Associated: Will my cat use the scratching post?

How to Declaw a Cat | eHow.com

The eHow.com article on How to Declaw a Cat was deleted by the owners of the site. This is because of the general outcry against it by decent minded people who posted critical comments. I think I contributed to that outcry when Ruth (AKA Kattaddorra) showed it to me (thanks Ruth).

I believe that many of the good people at PoC made comments to the article criticizing it. It was a basic, crude article. It was written by a person who had no sensibility towards our cat companions. It was dangerous in its inadvertent promotion of declawing.

And I would like to praise, if I may, the lady who runs the ExclusivelyCats Blog. She pointed out to me that the eHow.com article had been deleted. And she makes a very valid and important general observation about the Internet.

It panders to the modern cult of dumbing down. The large sites churning out web pages by the thousand, which incidentally, Google.com promotes in ranking them highly in search engine results pages (SERPs), tend to dumb down topics that simply cannot be dumbed down. Sometimes the quality is nothing short of appalling.

When you dumb down serious and important subjects such as declawing, you trivialize it and you send out the wrong message. In doing so you indirectly encourage it.

To encourage declawing is to encourage all that is wrong about cat caretaking. There is a lot of good in cat caretaking in the United States, but declawing can never be good.

There is power in the people on the internet. The basic motto is: Don't get sucked in to reading rubbish just because Google thinks it is good. Google.com does not get it right all the time. Please think critically.

Note: as at 15th May 2012, a Google.com search still finds eHow.com article but the article is not their. It takes a long time for Google's search engine to genuinely delist a web page.

Update 21-May-2012: the article has been replaced with: "How to Care for a Newly Declawed Cat"

Cat Owners Should See Declaw Operation

There should be a compulsory requirement that all cat owners watch the declaw operation before deciding to request the operation for their cat. I don't think this is such an extreme idea. When people purchase something, an object or a service they often do a considerable amount of research beforehand. When a person takes their cat along to the vet they don't have a clue about what is to going happen to their cat.

The whole horror of the operation is hidden from view. It is packaged and sterilized. The reality is turned into something palatable.

If it was made compulsory for a cat owner to see the entire operation performed, together with the aftermath, it would at least allow the person to make an informed view. It would not infringe upon that person's democratic rights. It would simply be a bit of obligatory education on the subject of cat caretaking and we know how important that is.

Of course something as sensible and as humane as my suggestion will never happen because in general American's just don't care enough about declawing. Declawing of cats is a non-issue. It is not on the agenda. It just happens like buying the groceries.

This vet tech thinks like me.

Veterinarians Dealing With Animal Abuse

Forty-eight percent (48%) of a sample of 1000 veterinarians in the United Kingdom stated in a survey (2001) that they had suspected or seen cases of "non-accidental injury". This is a euphemism usually for animal abuse. The breakdown was 243 dogs and 182 cats. To me, that seems like a very high percentage.

In the United States, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) says that in relation to animal abuse and neglect, the veterinarian has an obligation to report the matter to the authorities as soon as possible and to keep accurate records. The association also says that it is the responsibility of the veterinarian to "educate clients" with respect to the humane treatment of animals.

I wonder then why nearly all the veterinarians in the United States declaw cats when it is inhumane to declaw a cat 99.9% of the time. I am being generous in that figure. You could argue that it is inhumane 100% of the time.

I never read about vets educating cat owners on the subject of declawing alternatives. I am sure some do, but they will be few and far between. Why don't we see veterinarian websites with a page on alternatives to declawing? It would be in compliance with the obligations of a vet in the United States.

Associated: Vets in the USA who never declaw. Declawing cats.

Declawed Cougar

This is a heartbreaking video of a declawed cougar. His name is Kona. He is crippled by the declawing. I can't watch it except for the first seconds. What can you say? To think a person did this to this beautiful animal. Cougars are one of the world's greatest jumpers. Kona can barely walk!

It is a simple case of what I call "the human condition": ignorance compounded by arrogance. It is this that results in what you see in this tragic video.

And, you know, there are an estimated 2,000 or more captive cougars in Florida and most are declawed. Because people like to keep a cougar as a "pet". Cougars are not meant to be pets. I guess they see a nice cougar cub that has been stolen from their mother in the wild and the new owner's first thought is "let's declaw". Horrendous isn't it?. Then the cub becomes an adult and their second thought is, "let's get rid of it".

These people don't think.

Declawing Cats In The UK

Although declawing of domestic cats has never been on the agenda in the UK (even before the recent introduction of the Animal Welfare Act 2006), the declawing of wildcats in zoos in the UK seems to have been carried out on occasion.

I am referring to the declawing of lions and tigers at a British big cat sanctuary, Kamo's Zion Wildlife Gardens. This happened some time ago now; sometime, in fact, between 2000 and 2008. The person in charge of the park during that time was Craig Busch. It seems that he was responsible for ordering the declawing operations.

The declawing resulted in two lions being injured because they could not grip on slippery surfaces and in England in the winter there will be a lot of slippery surfaces. These lions had fallen off boxes onto hard surfaced it appears.

Also the declawing operation had left some cats in obvious discomfort - their gait was incorrect putting strain in other parts of their body - and the others, although looking OK, were assessed as being at risk of developing potential problems in the future due to the declawing.

The park was seeking funds to get the well known American vet Dr Jennifer Conrad to do the six hour corrective surgery. Obviously you can't put the claws back on but you can repair damage done during the declaw operation. The repair work should leave the big cats better able to walk and grip properly.

This little story highlights two things: declawing happened in the UK and it causes unforeseen health problems. Craig Busch should be ashamed of himself.

Declawed Lion?

This is a video of a lion pawing vigorously at a perspex window to try at get at a child, it seems to me. The interesting thing is this: there is no sound of claw against perspex. It is just the paw pads. Do they declaw lions in zoos like this? Is this lion declawed or is it me being too suspicious?

If you hate declawing you must hate neutering

It has been said that cat lovers who fight against declawing are hypocritical because they agree with and accept the neutering and spaying of cats. I disagree that we are hypocritical.

There is a great difference between the operations at a fundamental level and the difference concerns us.

There is no benefit whatsoever to the cat when the last digit of his toes are amputated. In fact there is great loss and pain. It is damaging a cat and it is for the convenience of the person.

In contrast, the neutering and spaying of cats is essentially for the benefit of cats in general as it prevents unwanted cats being born and possibly being abandoned to lead short miserable lives or be killed at cat shelters.

There are benefits to "cat owners" too. The male cat is less aggressive because he is less territorial and he will spray less or it is less likely that he will spray. Also there are less unwanted cats and therefore less of a burden on dealing with unwanted cats. But the primary purpose is to prevent unwanted cats being brought into the world and that benefits cats.

What does digitigrade mean?

The domestic cat, is a digitigrade which means he/she walks on his toes or digits. In the video you can see a digitigrade animal, a serval, walking.  It is quite difficult to see that cats are walking are their toes. Perhaps this is because we are so used to it.



The bones that extend from the paws to the first joint are the feet of the cat. The bones of the feet are the tarsal bones and they are quite long. These connect to the lower leg (the leg below the knee) via the hock. The human equivalent of the hock is the ankle. The hock of the hind legs of the serval in the video are about 9 inches off the ground.

You will see cats rest on their feet when they sit upright and sometimes when eating from a bowl. Dwarf cats are well known for taking up the meerkat position while sitting on their feet. My three legged cat Charlie does this.

The fact that a cat is a digitigrade makes it particularly cruel to declaw a cat as the operation is the removal of the last joint (phalange) of each of the toes. It is a partial amputation of the toe and the cat is meant to walk on his toes. What some do after declawing is walk on their wrists.

Is declawing in the UK illegal?

Yes, declawing in the UK is illegal under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The operation to declaw a cat would fall under section 4 - Unnecessary suffering.

This is because declawing is unecessary for medical reasons. It is carried out at the cat owner's convenience to protect furniture and so on - i.e. for non-therapeutic purposes.

Sometimes, extremely rarely it might be possible to argue that it should be carried out for the cat's health. Under these circumstances the operation would not be illegal as it would be a necessary operation.

The operation to declaw a cat would, it seems, also be a crime under section 5 - Mutilation.

Obviously the chopping off of the last phalange or phalanx (bone above the last joint of the toe) of each toe of the forepaws is a mutilation of the cat. It is irrelevant that the mutilation is carried out under anesthetic by a skilled person, the veterinarian.

Declawing is illegal in the UK and a crime. The maximum penalty on conviction is a year in prison and/or £20,000 fine. The crime never occurs because the act of declawing for non-therapeutic purposes never crosses the mind of a UK vet.

Is declawing a cat cruel?

Yes, it is cruel based on the dictionary definition of the word "cruelty" and based on the law as enacted in the United Kingdom and across most of old Europe. The word "cruelty" means "causing pain or suffering". Declawing indisputably causes pain and suffering. Although nearly all the veterinarians who do the declaw operation would deny that it causes pain and suffering.

The vet admits that it is an operation that leaves a lot of pain because these days they give lots of pain killing medication after the operation. In the past they did not. Veterinary technicians report post operative cats behaving in ways that clearly indicate that they are in severe pain despite the pain killers. There is blood everywhere and a great of distress for the cat. Surely this meets the definition of cruel behavior on the part of the vet and the cat owner?

There is also the fact that putting a cat under a general anesthetic is dangerous in itself. I read somewhere that there is a 1 in 100 chance of a cat dying under anesthetic. That is a compounding factor. The figure might be 1 in 1000 but there is also the risk of suffering an injury such as brain damage under anesthetic. Potentially more pain and suffering supporting the argument that declawing a cat is cruel.

There are complications after declawing.

Then there is the generally unknown effect the operation has on the cat's mentality. How does the cat feel after the operation and for the remainder of his or her life? We don't know for sure. If we don't know what the negative effects are on a cat's mental state it is surely cruel to operate. It is reckless to operate.

All these factors are recognised by animal welfare laws in many European countries, which in effect ban declawing. So on the basis that laws reflect the will of the people through the democratic process, up to 731,000,000 people, the population of Europe think that declawing is cruel! I think I have proved that declawing a cat is cruel.

One last point. The cruelty is always done for the convenience of the cat owner. It is not medically necessary to declaw a cat. Yet people still support it and ask whether it is cruel or inhumane.

Is declawing illegal in California?

No, declawing is legal in nearly all of California. It is banned in certain places however. The cities where declawing is banned in California are:

City	When Banned	Voting	Pop. of City
West Hollywood	2003	5/0	35,000
Santa Monica	27/10/2009	6/1	100,000
San Francisco	3/11/2009	9/2	810,000
Beverly Hills	5/11/2009	5/0	40,000
Los Angeles	6/11/2009	11/0	4 million
Berkeley	10/11/2009	9/0	125,000
Culver City	24/11/2009	5/0	39,000
Burbank	08/12/2009	4/1	100,000

The above table comes from a page on laws and cats.

Should cats be declawed?

No, no, no...please no. Why do it? For the sake of some furniture that might get scratched if you don't provide a solid and well grounded scratching post.

There is a lot of argument about declawing. People who advocate it are usually making money out of it - veterinarians. Doesn't that tell you something about it? People who get their cats declawed are usually concerned about protecting objects that cost a lot of money  - cat owners. Doesn't that tell you something about what is behind declawing?

Declawing is banned through animal cruelty legislation in most of Europe. Doesn't that give you an idea that the 20 million people in the USA who declaw their cats are out of step with the modern world?

Declawing causes masses of pain. Would you feel pain if the last joint of each finger was amputated in 15 minutes with a guillotine device? Would you feel just a little bit upset?

All the arguments by all the money grabbing vets in America cannot overcome the obvious immorality of declawing. And we all know it in our hearts.

More: Declawing cats.