How can I help prevent future pain for my declawed cat ?
Question: How can I help prevent future pain for my declawed cat ?I read your article on About.com regarding the cruel practice of declawing cats, and I totally agree with you and aways have agreed with you.
The problem comes in because I just adopted a beautiful cat (Iggy) who, sadly, has already been declawed. He doesn't show any obvious signs of pain, and his gait appears to be fine, but I know that this could change down the line as he gets older (he is probably 2-3 years old, but I can't be sure).
Do you know of any way I can help prevent pain in Iggy's future? Perhaps a stretching exercise or toy? Is there anyway to make him more comfortable that you know of? He is a lap cat and enjoys being held.
Answer: Thank you for adopting this declawed cat, and for your concern about possible future pain and/or crippling because of his declawing.
The best to encourage stretching exercise for Iggy would be to provide him with one or more scratching posts , a nice tall vertical one and. . .read my complete response.
Photo of Iggy, Photo Credit: © Mel
Important Information About Declawing
Declawing Cats and Humane Alternatives
10 Reasons Not to Declaw a Cat
Declawing As Seen by a Shelter Volunteer
Comments
First off, let me say that I can understand if people choose not to declaw their pets. When I adopted my Remy from the humane society, they told me I could not declaw him or they would take him away from me. Despite having declawed cats up to that point, I decided not to take any chances of losing him and did not declaw him. My second baby, Logan, was adopted from another shelter which allowed me to declaw however I have not done it. I’ve found the clawing issues to be managable and therefore don’t regret the current choice.
However, having lived with a total of 7 other cats previously that were all declawed, some in youth and some not until years later, I think the idea of “future pain” from declawing that has already been done a bit much. There is a risk of a botched job from the beginning that would cause pain for the rest of the cat’s life, yes, but how is pain just suddenly going to appear?
I also think buying a scratching post is a waste of time. All our declawed cats would “scratch” and stretch wherever they pleased.. the sofa, the edge of the bed, on the carpet.. the nice part of having them declawed is that you don’t have to discourage them from doing so as it will not bring any harm to your items.
I wanted to comment on kitty litter. I read your review of the various brands but saw no way to leave a comment directly on that post.
I want to mention Cedarific. It’s made of cedar so it smells good. Our cats love it. My only complaint is that it’s a litter that is highly trackable so we put the boxes in the basement on top of a sisel outdoor mat.
Thank you, Angie, for your comment. I love my cats more than anything in the world. When I adopted them, the idea of declawing was something that my vets (I had more than one) encouraged especially since they are completely indoor cats. Now I know there is so much controversy over it but I do have to say that my cats are loved and have had a very wonderful spoiled lives. They have not been affected by the surgery. I’m not sure if I would do it again today now that there is so much more information available to cat owners. However, I would take offense if anyone told me that I was being cruel to these animals that mean the world to me.