declawing a cat
wendy
put through a tendonectomys.
I read this subject on another N/G which really isn't a cat group but I am
just curious what cat loving people here think about it..
wendy
Larry Jeselon
<wend...@rodentrescue.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
>Hi, can anybody tell me what you think about declawing or having your cat
>put through a tendonectomys.
Personally I find the practice revolting. Why would you want to
mutilate an animal in this way.
I have 10 cats and not one of them is de-clawed. They don't scratch
the furniture and all it takes is about 30 min every four days to keep
their claws trimmed.
I make sure they have a lot of places where they can scratch (4
scratching Posts and a Straw mat) and if they show any interest in
scratching somewhere else, a quick little squirt of water from a spray
bottle quickly discourages them of the practice :)
Victor M. Martinez
>Hi, can anybody tell me what you think about declawing or having your cat
>put through a tendonectomys.
Here's the text I copy everytime somebody brings up this subject:
Please take a few minutes to read some of the following articles to learn
more about declawing:
http://www.maxshouse.com/Truth%20About%20Declawing.htm
http://www.declawing.com/
http://amby.com/cat_site/declaw.html (this site provides tons of links)
http://www.cfainc.org/health/declawing.html
http://www.stopdeclaw.com
Please don't declaw your cats! It's cruel and inhumane. Most industrialized
countries ban this procedure as part of their animal protection laws.
Here's a description of how the declawing procedure is done. Judge by
yourlself:
"The claw is extended by pushing up under the footpad or by grasping it with
Allis tissue forceps. A scalpel blade is used to sharply dissect between the
second and third phalanx over the top of the ungual crest . The distal
interphalangeal joint is disarticulated (disjointed), and the deep digital
flexor tendon is incised (severed). The digital footpad, is not incised. If
a nail trimmer is used, the ring of the instrument is placed in the
groove between the second phalanx and the ungual crest. The blade is
positioned just in front of the footpad. The blade is pushed through the
soft tissues over the flexor process. With the ring of the nail trimmer
in position behind the ungual crest, the blade is released just slightly
so that traction applied to the claw causes the flexor process to slip
out and above the blade. At this point, the flexor tendon can be incised
and disarticulation of the joint (disjointing) completed. Both techniques
effectively remove the entire third phalanx. If a larger segment of the
third phalanx is left, it should be dissected out with a scalpel blade. A
surgeon's knot of absorbable suture material is sometimes used to
decrease hemorrhage and to act as a "guiding suture" for second intention
wound healing in large cats. " Slatter D; Textbook of Small Animal
Surgery 2nd ed vol I, p.352 W.B. Saunders Company Philadelphia.
The following is a clinical report published in the journal of Veterinary
Surgery:
Vet Surg 1994 Jul-Aug;23(4):274-80
Feline Onychectomy at a Teaching Institution: A
Retrospective Study of 163 Cases.
Tobias KS
Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences,
Washington State University, College of Veterinary Medicine,
Pullman 99164-6610.
"One hundred sixty-three cats underwent onychectomy from January 1985 to
November 1992. Fifty percent of the cats had one or more complications
immediately after surgery. Early postoperative complications included
pain (38.1%), hemorrhage (31.9%), lameness (26.9%), swelling (6.3%), or
non-weight-bearing( 5.6%).
Follow-up was available in 121 cats;
19.8% developed complications after release. Late postoperative
complications included infection (11.6%), regrowth (7.4%), P2 protrusion
(1.7%), palmagrade stance (1.7%), and prolonged, intermittent lameness
(0.8%)".
The following clinical report was published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association:
J Am Vet Med Assoc 1998 Aug 1;213(3):370-3
Comparison of Effects of Elective Tenectomy or Onychectomy in Cats.
Jankowski AJ, Brown DC, Duval J, Gregor TP, Strine LE, Ksiazek LM, Ott AH
Department of Clinical Studies, Veterinary Teaching Hospital,
School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia 19104, USA.
"OBJECTIVE: To compare short- and long-term complications after Tenectomy of
the deep digital flexor tendons or onychectomy.
ANIMALS: 20 cats undergoing Tenectomy and 18 cats undergoing onychectomy.
PROCEDURE: Cats undergoing Tenectomy or onychectomy were monitored for a
minimum of 5 months to enable comparison of type and frequency of
complications. Type and frequency of complications did not differ between
procedures.
CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Owners should be aware of the high complication rate
for both procedures."
The Cat Fanciers' Association unanimously approved this guidance statement
on the declawing of cats:
"CFA perceives the declawing of cats (onychectomy ) and the severing of
digital tendons (tendonectomy) to be elective surgical procedures which are
without benefit to the cat. Because of post operative discomfort or pain,
and potential future behavioral or physical effects, CFA disapproves of
declawing or tendonectomy surgery."
Dr. Nicholas Dodman, Professor of Behavioral Pharmacology and Director of
the Behavior Clinic at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine and
internationally known specialist in domestic animal behavioral research,
explains declawing:
"The inhumanity of the procedure is clearly demonstrated by the nature of
cats' recovery from anesthesia following the surgery. Unlike routine
recoveries, including recovery from neutering surgeries, which are fairly
peaceful, declawing surgery results in cats bouncing off the walls of the
recovery cage because of excruciating pain. Cats that are more stoic
huddle in the corner of the recovery cage, immobilized in a state of
helplessness, presumably by overwhelming pain.
Declawing fits the dictionary definition of mutilation to a tee. Words such
as deform, disfigure, disjoint, and dismember all apply to this surgery.
Partial digital amputation is so horrible that it has been employed for
torture of prisoners of war, and in veterinary medicine, the clinical
procedure serves as model of severe pain for testing the efficacy of
analgesic drugs. Even though analgesic drugs can be used postoperatively,
they rarely are, and their effects are incomplete and transient anyway, so
sooner or later the pain will emerge."
--
Victor M. Martinez, Jr. | The University of Texas at Austin
mar...@che.utexas.edu | Department of Chemical Engineering
http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv | Austin, TX 78712
If we knew what we were doing it would not be called research, would it?
zcardriver
Sigh.
wendy <wend...@rodentrescue.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:9atfi6$c4j$2...@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
Patch
"zcardriver" <zcard...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:td528tj...@corp.supernews.com...
> Oh, lord, here we go again.
>
> Sigh.
>
>
Not confronting the subject will not make it stop. Silence is condonence.
Why is this practise an offence in UK which would lead to any vet performing
this mutilation here being struck off ? Think about it. No amount of money
would persuade a UK vet to do it, because it is cruel, and unnecessary. As
long as it goes on, it will rightly be fought against. I have 13 cats at
present, and there have been many in my home before them. They don't damage
my furniture because I provide them with suitable and fun alternatives. Its
part of owning a cat. Any one not prepared to give them what they need, and
deserve, should not have one.
Patch.
NiTe
1. Don't be lazy, learn how to trim your cats clews
2. it's crule!
3. The cat will have no defence against an attacker.
If you mention this to any cat breeder or vet in New Zealand, you'll only
get one responce. No one that I know of would even think about this sorta
thing.
Aaron
"wendy" <wend...@rodentrescue.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:9atfi6$c4j$2...@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
Alley Cat
>
> I am just curious what cat loving people here think about it..
It's animal abuse.
Search for "declawing" at http://groups.google.com and thousands and
thousands of posts from the cat NGs will come up. You'll soon see what
the majority people here think of it.
Alley Cat
zcardriver
"Lord of the Flies" nasty every which way from Sunday. I was just getting
ready to crawl under my computer table!
I am staunchly against declawing. Its not like trimming your bangs. It
hurts. Cats are creatures with feelings, not pieces of furniture or curtains
that can be snipped and sawed on at whim.
I guess the best we can do is provide links to educate and hope the people
that inquire can make up their minds from reasoned information given.
J
Mogie
fingernails pulled out?
"Alley Cat" <alle...@virgin.net> wrote in message
news:3AD3961A...@virgin.net...
Bo
I adopted an adult cat from a shelter several years ago and he was already
declawed by the previous owner. When I adopted my second cat (actually a
kitten), she had her nails and struck my dog quite a few times on the nose,
striking him once on the corner of his eye. It was my vet who suggested I
consider declawing the kitten since I had one cat declawed and a dog that
might lose an eye if the kitten gets him there one day. To make a long
story short, I had the kitten declawed, the procedure went fine and after
three days, my kitten was actively running around again.
I think while declawing may seem cruel to some, it probably has given alot
of cats the opportunity to have good homes as a lot of people declaw to save
furniture, scratching on skin, etc. in exchange for the cat to have a loving
home and not sit in a cage in the shelter, or worse, be put to death at a
young age. I don't judge people who do or don't agree with declawing....I
do agree it's not a comforting surgical procedure to have done on a cat, but
I don't agree that it is barbaric or cruel because of the reasons I
mentioned. I am curious if anti-declaw people would rather see a cat put to
death in a shelter because they couldn't be adopted, or would they rather
have the cat declawed and given a lifetime of happiness in a loving home?
There's a question to pose to an anti-declaw person.
"wendy" <wend...@rodentrescue.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:9atfi6$c4j$2...@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
Bo
Would you rather see a cat that is in a small cage in a shelter be put to
sleep because no one wanted to take the cat in because they feared the cats
nails might hurt their children or other pets or.....
Would you rather see a cat go through the declaw surgery with a three day
recovery and have a loving home for a lifetime?
Cats do recover fine from the declaw procedure...you'd be surprised.
"Mogie" <da...@pioneer-net.com> wrote in message
news:MQ5B6.19100$FS3.3...@sjc-read.news.verio.net...> I agree it's animal
Victor M. Martinez
>do agree it's not a comforting surgical procedure to have done on a cat, but
>I don't agree that it is barbaric or cruel because of the reasons I
>mentioned. I am curious if anti-declaw people would rather see a cat put to
Do you actually understand what declawing is?
Julie A
news:9b352a$bt0$1...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu...
>
> Please don't declaw your cats! It's cruel and inhumane. Most
industrialized
> countries ban this procedure as part of their animal protection laws.
As far as I know, declawing is just not done here in the UK. I don't know if
it's illegal, but I have never, ever heard of it being done.
Julie
--
http://www.dust-blue.co.uk
http://www.inside-art.co.uk
Barb Hiniker
declawed when I got her, but after reading this information..... well, I
won't put another cat through it. Consider me educated!
Barb
Victor M. Martinez <mar...@natasha.che.utexas.edu> wrote in message
news:9atp3t$jn2$1...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu...
Victor M. Martinez
>Thank you for the links. I am one of the ignorant ones. My cat was already
>declawed when I got her, but after reading this information..... well, I
>won't put another cat through it. Consider me educated!
Thank you! And I'm sure a future cat(s) will thank you too.
Rachel
illegal in the UK too.
Regards,
Rachel.
"Barb Hiniker" <gb...@frontiernet.net> wrote in message
news:9autch$cki$1...@node17.cwnet.frontiernet.net...
Simo Tuominen
"Mogie" <da...@pioneer-net.com> wrote in message
news:MQ5B6.19100$FS3.3...@sjc-read.news.verio.net...
> fingernails pulled out?
Having experienced losing all the nails in one foot in an incident
with an elevator door: "OW!" An alternative comparison would of course
be snipping the last bone in each finger.
Ken Santiago
others declawed because they are in pain for a few days and that's a few
days too many for me. My declawed ones are great though and are extremely
happy and loveable, but now I have the potential problem of the other guys
using their claws on the ones without, although I have not seen any problems
yet. The guys with claws are very good and don't scratch the furniture
because they've been trained and are highly intelligent, as are the others.
Ken
wendy wrote in message <9atfi6$c4j$2...@news8.svr.pol.co.uk>...