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Declawing Is Inhumane
And Risky
- Medically & Emotionally - For Your Cat!
Carole has been
opposed to the de-clawing of cats since she began her practice, and has
discouraged the practice publicly, and argued against it in her books,
for over thirty years.
Too often, her advice and
protestations fell on deaf ears. However, she is very pleased to note that a new wave of awareness of the harm
caused by declawing, and resistance to this inhumane practice, is
growing in America. This is important because America lags behind the
rest of the world in this area. Declawing is illegal, or strictly regulated, everywhere else in the developed world.
Therefore, we are adding
this separate page of declaw information and resources to her site. We
hope that by giving this important topic it's own page to be Googled,
and it's own navigation button, she will further raise awareness of the
problem.
A number of Carole's
subscribers have been writing her on this topic in recent months,
calling her attention to this new wave of activism. Her webmaster relays
them to her as they arrive.
Many messages on this
topic came to us through the
Veterinarians and Animal Rights Issues Yahoo Group. It's clear their membership is overwhelmingly anti-declawing. We
are taking the liberty of including several posts from their members
below which summarize links to references, articles, and
pictures which oppose declawing.
If
you have links to resources you think should be displayed here, send
them to
webmaster AT thecattherapist.com.
Laser De-Clawing is Just as Inhumane
People are being falsely led to
believe that laser surgery will somehow be a painless procedure,
and that it is OK to have your animal declawed by this method.
Longterm problems associated with any amputation will still
present themselves. For the details visit Jan-Jan's Kitten Kids:
http://www.janskids.com/laser.html
http://www.janskids.com/LaserDeclaw.html
West Hollywood (CA) Declaw Ban Upheld by Appellate Court
June 22, 2007:
The Second
District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles
upheld the 2003 West
Hollywood (CA) Declaw Ban and overturned the 2003 ruling of a Los
Angeles city judge. Justice Denis Perluss began the announcement of the
court's 2-1 majority opinion by citing Mahatma Ghandi's now-famous
statement, "The
greatness of a nation and it's moral progress be judged by the way its animals are
treated.''
This decision may still be appealed to the California Supreme Court, as
the West Hollywood law has been opposed since before it's passage by the
California Veterinary Medical Association (rather ironic, no?).
Here is a link to the
San Francisco Chronicle's article detailing the legal issues.
BIG NEWS: NORFOLK (VA) BANS
DE-CLAWING OF CATS!
April 25,
2007: Norfolk (Virginia) is taking a stand for it's feline
friends. If you want to de-claw your kitty, you're going to have to go
another city. Norfolk recently passed a
law that makes de-clawing illegal for anything but medical purposes.
The law also covers tail docking and ear cropping.
This news
appears to have surprised Anti De-clawing activists, whose attention was
focused on legal efforts in West Hollywood (FL) and elsewhere.
But, as one activist put it: "No disrespect intended to West Hollywood
(or Norfolk, for that matter), but if an "ordinary" city like Norfolk
can do it, what excuse do other (presumably wealthier, more
progressive cities. Editor) places have for NOT doing it?" We
heartily agree.
Hello Leo,
You are right that
The Paw Project, Councilman Duran and Assemblyman Koretz were
not specifically mentioned on page 34 in regards to the West
Hollywood legislation. The Paw Project was referenced on page
36.
Nancy Peterson
Issues Specialist
The Humane Society of the United States
2100 L Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
301-258-3129 (p)
301-258-3081 (f)
www.hsus.org
Thanks for the resources. In
particular, Pawproject.org
has good scientific data in its FAQs section. We just read HSUS's
"Indoor Cats, Scratching, and the Debate over Declawing: When Normal
Pet Behavior Becomes a Problem" and wonder why Paw Project was never
referenced (unless we missed it). That is the nonprofit that
sponsored the only anti-declaw legislation that has ever been
enacted in the US. An unfortunate omission, we think.
Woodhousecat@aol.com wrote:
Here's some
great resources to use to counter Landlords that require
declawing. I have always been shocked and appalled at the amount
of landlords in my area that require this, and through my declaw
research have sadly found that my city isn't the only place
where this is common.
If any of your adopters are
dealing with landlords who require cat
declawing, please pass along the resources listed
below, which can inspire and empower them to challenge
the requirement. These resources include some of the
anecdotal evidence that declawed paws can result in, or
develop into, litterbox problems, which can lead to
more expensive & extensive property damage for the
landlords to repair.
If you know of any
landlords or apartment complexes that require declawing
and you'd prefer not to discuss it with them personally,
please email me their full address (email or land) so I
can send along this information.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The MAPCA's Pets in Housing Program
"Declawing
of cats can not be required by management. As the pet owner is
fully liable for all destruction of property, management should
not anticipate the possibility of damage and request this very
painful procedure."
Best Friends for Life - Humane
Housing for Animals & People
Published in 2001 by the Doris Day
League and Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
To Animals. page 50, "Declawing of cats can not be required by
management..."
http://www.ddal.org/pdf/bffl.pdf
Massachusetts Animal Coalition Tips For Landlords
DO and
DON'Ts for Landlords
DON'T: Require
declawing of cats. This is a cruel and disfiguring procedure
which often results in more severe behavior problems. Scratching
is better solved with behavior modification and management
techniques on the part of the cat owner.
"Landlords should not
require you to
declaw your cat.
As a renter, you are already fully liable for all destruction of
property. Often, landlords don't understand that
declawing is very cruel and can lead to chronic pain, neurosis,
and even skin and bladder problems. Educate your landlord about
declawing, pointing out that many declawed cats develop
aversions to the litterbox and begin urinating and defecating
outside of it.
http://www.helpinganimals.com/animalsHome_gi_renting.asp
"Bryan Pease, an attorney with the Animal Protection and Rescue
League in San Diego,,,.
There's no way that federal
law or any other law would require cats to be declawed because
it's such a cruel procedure. It's been outlawed
in several jurisdictions.
Will Declawing my Cat
Reduce Damage to Household Items?
By Wisconsin
Humane Society
*
Published 2/1/03 on CourierPostOnline.com, "Eighty
percent of the cats that are surrendered that are
declawed are euthanized because they have a behavioral problems.
Declawed cats frequently become biters and also
stop using litter boxes, One or the other, said William
Lombardi, shelter director, Gloucester County, New Jersey.
* Gloucester County Animal Shelter, says
Lombardi, who's been the director for three years and an animal
control officer for 25. Cats with claws, he says, are always
surrendered for human-related issues, mainly moving and can't
take the cat with us. Declawed cats, on the other hand,
have behavior problems, and most who come in end up having to be
euthanized. Even when Lombardi works with declawed cats
and tries to place them in new homes, they often come back to
the shelter for not using the litter box. Almost all of
our hotline calls are declawed cats with litter box issues,
says Pat Rock of the Oshkosh Area Humane Society in
Wisconsin. "The Declaw Dilemma", Nancy Lawson of
the URL previously shown for this article no longer works. If
you have another URL for another site that is offering this
article, please send it to me and I'll post it here. Dick, the
webmaster. <dick AT thecattherapist DOT com>
*In a study published in the January, 2001
JAVMA, 33% of 39 cats that underwent onychectomy developed "at
least" one behavior problem immediately after surgery, with the
most common problems being litter box problems and
biting.
*Seventy percent (70%) of cats turned in to
pounds and shelters for behavioral problems are
declawed. (National Survey from pounds & shelters
obtained by Caddo Parrish Forgotten Felines & Friends)
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/declaw.html
*From the Summer 2002 issue of PETA's Animal
Times: A survey by a Delaware animal shelter showed that more
than 75% of the cats turned in for avoiding their litter
boxes had been declawed.
* In my own three-year experience, 95%
of calls about declawed cats related to litter box problems,
while only 46% of clawed cats had such problems” and most of
those were older cats with physical ailments. Of my
calls, only declawed cats have cost their owners security
deposits, leather sofas and floorboards. And it's
mostly declawed cats that have been prescribed pain killers,
anti-depressants, tranquilizers and steroids. Two-thirds of my
calls are about litter box problems. In 90% of those cases, the
cat is declawed, sick or old. In 7 years, only 3 people have
called about a scratching-the-sofa problem - yet countless
healthy declawed cats have peed on
sofas". Annie Bruce, cat consultant & author Cat Be Good,
www.goodcatswearblack.com
* Anecdotal evidence of
behavior changes occurring post-onychectomy provides compelling
support for the observation that declawing cats increases their
likelihood of expressing litter box avoidance and aggressive
biting. The studies done so far to analyze this
relationship have been limited in their ability to control
multiple variables and form a definitive conclusion. However,
the observations of many veterinary practitioners and
behaviorists give strong support for these connections. AVAR's
Cat Declawing Position Statement
www.avar.org
*
Dr. Susan Swanson, DVM, owner of the Cat Care Clinic in
Mahtomedi, Minnesota, notes that "year after year, the
declawed cats that I see in my practice have
higher rates of litter box issues such as inappropriate
elimination." Nearly every shelter and rescue group
director in the country makes the same observation. Sore paws
that don't feel like digging in the litter may be one reason why
declawed cats are more prone to litter box rejection. (The
accumulated stress buildup from lack of scratching may also be a
contributing factor, as stress is implicated in half of all
urinary tract problems). "Why Cats Need Claws", Gary Lowenthal
http://www.oahs.org/pdf/WhyCatsNeedTheirClaws.pdf#search=%22%22%3AWhy%20Cats%20Need%20Claws%22%22
*
Asthma and cystitis (inflammation of the bladder) have also been
linked to the stress of declaws consider the possibility of
post-surgery behavior problems especially litterbox
issues and aggression reports abound among cat owners
and some animal behaviorists also notice a link. Karen Overall,
VMD, Ph.D a specialist in veterinary medicine, has seen
transient aggression and reluctance to use the litterbox
after declaw. There is also the issue of
trust...Interestingly, the humane society workers have made
these claims about declawed cats for years. "Declaw Details",
Dr. Brenda McClelland, DVM, Cat Fancy Magazine Jan 2006
p. 44-47
* San Francisco
Care and Control ("some declawed cats become more nervous
biters; others are known to become even more destructive
to furniture than before the operation; and many cats
stop using the litterbox"), East Bay SPCA ("deprived of their
primary form of defense, declawed cats become nervous, fearful,
and/or aggressive, often using their only remaining defense,
their teeth. Some cats stop using their litter pan.
This may be associated to the discomfort of scratching in the
litter after the surgery"), and Palo Alto Humane Society ("we
have a no-declaw policy"). These organizations and the
individuals working there are obviously highly motivated to find
each cat a home and do not wish to see the cat returned. They
have found that declawed cats, with a disproportionate rate of
biting and house soiling, have a relatively low
adoption success rate. Dr.
Jennifer Conrad, The Paw Project,
http://www.pawproject.com/html/faqs.asp
*
our cat care coordinator was becoming increasingly
disturbed at the euthanasia rate for declawed cats and decided
to conduct an informal study. She discovered that more than
80% of declawed cats that were either returned or owner
surrendered that year were done so because of litterbox
problems or biting.
http://declaw.lisaviolet.com/declawshelter.html
* In some cases,
when declawed cats use the litterbox after surgery, their feet
are so tender they associate their new pain with the
box...permanently, resulting in a life-long adversion to
using the litter box. Other declawed cats that can no
longer mark with their claws, they mark with urine
instead resulting in inappropriate elimination problems,
which in many cases, results in relinquishment of the cats to
shelters and ultimately euthanasia. Many of the cats surrendered
to shelters are surrendered because of behavioral problems
which developed after the cats were declawed.
Risk factors for relinquishment of cats to an animal shelter:
"Among 218 cats relinquished to a shelter, more (52.4%)
declawed cats than non-declawed cats (29.1%) were reported by
owners to have inappropriate elimination problems."
Source:
World Small Animal Veterinary Association 2001
http://maxshouse.com/facts_about_declawing.htm
* Behavioral
problems frequently haunt declawed cats. By far, the commonest
thing we see is cats not using the litterbox.
When cats have stress beyond what they can take, it often shows
up as a litterbox problem and declawing makes them stress
intolerant, in general, for the rest of their lives, Dr.
Harrison, DVM. Dr. Harrison gets 3-12 calls a day about litter
box problems in cats and, after ruling out medical problems,
90 percent of the cats with litter box aversion are declawed
cats. Declawing: Behavior Modification or Destructive
Surgery, Animal Issues, 1998
*
Chronic physical ailments such as cystitis or skin
disorders can be manifestations of a declawed cat's frustration
and stress. David E. Hartnett, DVM
http://www.petstation.com/declaw.html
*In a recent study published October, 2001,
JAVMA by Dr. Gary J. Patronek, VMD, PhD.,
declawed cats were at an
increased risk of relinquishment.
If you have links to resources you think
should be displayed here, send them to
webmaster AT thecattherapist.com.
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