Waking up to the cruelty of declawing

In 1998, Animal Planet started airing one of my favorite shows, Emergency Vets, which followed the everyday happenings at Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver, Colo. My favorite vet was Kevin Fitzgerald. From him I learned about the practice of declawing cats to protect furniture and humans from scratching.

On one episode, a woman brought in her cat to be declawed, and insisted that otherwise it would be put down. Dr. Fitzgerald agreed to the surgery, but stated that he would perform it only in cases like this, where the only alternative for the animal was death.

I filed that information away until I moved to New Mexico and found several apartment complexes that allowed cats only if they were declawed. Stunned, I went online and discovered it was a nationwide practice. Many veterinarians and cat groups opposed it, but landlords and some vets were fighting back. Just as smoking was recommended by some doctors in the 1950s, vets were loath to admit or accept that declawing is an amputation of the last bone of each toe, like cutting off the last joint of every finger— not the equivalent of a nail trim.

Over the last 10 years, some progress has been made against declawing and keeping landlords from requiring it. In 2010, a California state law allowed cities and counties to ban the practice, which had already been banned in more than a half dozen cities. In 2012, California passed a law that prohibited a landlord from requiring tenants to declaw or devocalize their pet(s). Rhode Island adopted a similar law in 2013.

The California laws are largely the work of Hollywood veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Conrad. Focusing on exotic cats used in films, shows, or living in animal sanctuaries, she became convinced that declawing did serious damage.

The Paw Project, a film documenting her efforts, came out in 2013. The film graphically demonstrates what led her to crusade against the practice. Many veterinarians who saw a preview screening were left emotionally drained by what they saw, and gained new perspective on the procedure, which can cause chronic pain, infection, tissue death, lameness, and back problems.

On the Animal Planet show My Cat From Hell, cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy has several episodes on the painful consequences of declawing. Cats are stoic animals who tend to hide any signs of pain. Simply refusing to use a litter box can be a sign of pain in the paws from infection, and nails so ingrown that the litter cannot be tolerated. Good cat parents will check their cats’ paws periodically for growths or abnormalities. Too often, they just give up and dump the problem cat at a shelter.

Such was the case with Kitty, whom I read about on Facebook. Kitty had been brought in to the Shelter Island Veterinary Hospital in San Diego by her new owner for a checkup. She had been declawed 10 years before and had not seen a vet for many years. The attending vet wrote: “Kitty would not let me touch her feet and several had swelling, and were abscessed. This cat was in so much pain. The surgery to remove the fragments took over 2 hours.”

When I sent a message to the contact at the clinic, I was told: “Kitty is coming in for her follow up on Friday. She was a ‘new’ cat, literally by the time she went home. We kept her in the hospital for 4 days. She went from being cranky, hissy to asking for head butts.”

Kitty is lucky. She got relief from her pain and a new home with love and hopefully many years of contentment. Many cats are not so lucky. And there are still vets who put declawing in the same category as spaying, neutering, and vaccination. There are many ways to deal with cat claws, but mutilating their paws is not humane.

Kat Brown of Albuquerque is a lifelong animallover, especially of cats. Share your cat stories or comments at katskorner88@gmail.com.

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