It takes a hell of a lot to piss me off to where I respond to it in public, but this, this actually makes it hard to engage a civil fashion. Especially because you also had the gall to send a pretty condescending note about how I should do research before I consider myself an expert. Here’s the thing about academic and practical knowledge - it’s often far more complex than what people find on a google search. So, let’s break this down for you because I know a hell of a lot more about this than what comes from ‘just google’. In fact, if you actually took the time to do a couple google searches, the first thing you’d find is that declawing is considered animal cruelty and banned in at least 22 countries.
Okay, so there’s two different topics to dig into here: the science and the ethics. Let’s start with the science, because that’s easier to break down while I try to stop raging internally.
Here’s a much more detailed image of what the inside of a cat’s paw actually looks like, because the one embedded above leaves out some rather important details.
Okay, so what you’re looking at here is the cross-section of a toe with the claw retracted. Cats walk digitigrade, meaning that their weight is borne entirely on the toes rather than on the internal bones of the foot. The last bone that the claw is attached to is called the distal phalanx (plural: phalanges). You’ll notice that there are two tendons and an elastic ligament attached to it. For a cat to be declawed, that bone must be removed, which means all three of those connective tissues must be severed. That’s going to impair mobility even after it heals (tendons work because of their attachments) and that’s incredibly painful.
Here’s an image of a cat’s paw actually bearing weight. Notice how, because cats walk digitigrade, literally all of it’s weight is on the distal phalanx? Cats walk with all of their weight on the bone that declawing removes. Look at the position of the middle phalanx - it’s perpendicular to the ground and not in an orientation to bear weight comfortably in the slightest. When you declaw a cat, that’s the bone they’re left to put all their weight on and it’s understandably uncomfortable. It’s possible to help cats adjust by leaving part of the distal phalanx in the paw, but that a) means cutting the bone in half and having it heal and b) risks claw regrowth out of the bone and through the extant soft tissues.
At one teaching hospital, between 50%-80% of cats had post-surgery complications. Numbers from other studies vary - the ones cited on the declawing wikipedia article provide a decent sample range, and the complication rates were: 24%, 53%, 1.4%, 82.5%, 51.5%, 80%. All over the place. Reported medical complications include: pain, hemorrhage, laceration of paw pads, swelling, reluctance to bear weight on affected limb, neuropraxia (transient motor paralysis), radial nerve damage, lameness, infection, abscess, tissue necrosis, wound dehiscence, incomplete healing, protrusion of 2nd (middle) phalanx, claw regrowth, scurs (growth of deformed claw segments), retention of flexor process of third phalanx, chronic draining tracts, self-mutilation, dermatitis, lethargy, palmigrade stance (walking on wrists), chronic intermittent lameness, chronic pain syndrome, flexor tendon contracture, and cystitis (stress-associated bladder inflammation).
Long-term lameness is common, but also understudied. One review of related studies reported long-term lameness in 1% of cats, but another with a different sample size and source found that 13.6% of cats showed at least mild lameness long after healing (source).
Chronic pain in declawed cats is incredibly hard to assess. It hasn’t been well studied, cats are cryptic (quiet) when in pain, and most owners are notoriously bad at accurately identifying or reporting behavior in cats that indicates pain. That doesn’t meant that we have evidence that most declawed cats aren’t in pain - there’s just literally no data. We do know that there are frequently observed avoidance/pain behaviors such as walking oddly, not stepping on litter or similar surfaces, paw shaking, and paw biting that correlate highly with cats who have been declawed. Claw growth and arthritis from being declawed are obviously painful chronically.
Okay, so there’s your science. Now let’s talk ethics. In fact, here’s an anecdote for you.
My father’s toenails destroy bedding like little demons. No matter what he does, how much he clips them, how short they are, his toenails will inevitably shred the bottoms of sheets pretty quickly. It’s annoying as hell and my mother keeps mending the sheets or buying new ones when it gets too bad. Now, tell me, should she have the last joints of his toes amputated because it’s an inconvenience she doesn’t want to deal with? Of course not. She knew when she married my father that it would be something that came with the territory and she accepts that fact. Sounds stupid, right?
Voluntary onychectomy is, when simply put, the amputation of a cat’s weight-bearing digits for the convenience of the owner. Most people cite the reasons they declaw cats as behavior problems (scratching furniture) or aggression towards humans. Both of these problems are entirely resolvable through management and/or appropriate training with a little bit of effort on the part of the owner(s).
When you declaw a cat, not only do you put it through an entirely unnecessary, painful, and potentially traumatizing procedure, you forever remove from it the ability to engage in all of it’s natural behaviors. The simplest natural behavior is just walking on it’s feet correctly. Evolution creates certain physical structures for their specific efficacy and when you lop off your cat’s toes for your own convenience you forever force it to walk in a way that is unnatural for it. You also remove it’s ability to scratch, climb and stretch.
I do not believe that people should be allowed to have pets if they are not prepared to handle what comes with them. Scratching and using their claws for communication are natural behavior for a cat and therefore should be assumed as part of the price to pay for the luxury of cohabitating with one. If you’ve accidentially encouraged claws-out aggressive play or if you’re pushing your cat so far past it’s comfort zone that it keeps scratching you, that problem is entirely on you. If you’re declawing your cat because you prioritize the state of your furniture over the cat then you don’t deserve the luxury of getting to own a cat. If you need to mutilate an animal to make it fit into your life, don’t get the goddamn animal.
I have said this a million times and I will say it again: If you want a pet whose welfare you are willing to sacrifice for your own ease of care, you are not responsible enough to own any living creature. As sentient beings who make the conscious choice to take on the care and welfare of a living creature (or six), it’s an ethical imperative that we provide the highest quality of welfare possible even no matter what the expense or time investment required.
It’s entirely possible, as we’ve shown numerous times on this blog, to use planning and appropriate management to eliminate the irritations that come with a cat having and using claws. Cats can be trained to play without hurting, humans can learn to read cat body language, claws can be clipped or dremeled as an entirely positive experience, and soft-caps can be applied. All it takes is time, dedication and forethought.
So, @fat-and-nerdygirl, it is for all of the above that I am appalled that you are actively advocating for unnecessary declawing procedures. This girl does not appear to have any of the severe medical conditions that would make it vaguely acceptable to consider declawing for her safety. It’s simply that her cats are being cats - that’s the only problem. You’re advocating she put her pet through an unnecessary surgery for basically no reason when she’s already found a much more appropriate solution and is implementing it correctly.
More importantly, I am pissed that you are spreading misinformation while advocating for accurate research. Many of your ‘facts’ are flat out wrong. Nail-clipper declaws are still incredibly common, awfully enough. Declaws do not always heal fast - most studies report lameness still present after 8 days and sometimes even up until two weeks after surgery. Just because a voluntary procedure is common does not mean it is good for the animals or ethically okay.
Now, look, I understand. You have four cats who have been declawed and at the moment they don’t appear to be having any issues. It sounds like you did do your research to find someone to do the surgery whose skills and techniques would provide the highest rate of success for your cats. I’m not going to attack your choice to declaw them because at this point it would be moot and I don’t know what your reasons were for making the choice at the time you did. I understand how, after putting four animals through that procedure, it can be incredibly hard to hear newer research come out that indicates that declawing isn’t great for them and questions the ethics of doing so. That’s rough on any pet owner, wondering if you made the right choice for the animals whose care you’re entrusted with. That’s enough to cause anyone to defend their choices more heavily - it’s a pretty common type of cognitive dissonance. But please, please stop spreading misinformation and backing it up with phony requests for ‘better research’ and misleading diagrams. I’m glad your cats are doing well post-surgery, and I sincerely hope they reach the ends of their lives without any complications surfacing.
Not all cats will be as lucky as your four cats.
Some cats will be declawed and forever live walking on bones that were never meant to be in contact with the ground or support weight that way. Some cats will develop claw shards or infections or arthritis. Some cat owners will be devastated to find out that they caused their babies to suffer by choosing what has been touted by peers as a ‘simple, safe, elective surgery’.
Help me stop that from happening to more animals and their humans. Stop spreading misinformation and defending an archaeic solution to the problems that arise when humans are lazy about caring for the animals they take into their homes.
