There are still drawbacks to the Tendonectomy. You still have to clip the claws, because they continue to grow and could possibly end up growing back into the pawpad. If someone is clipping the nails anyway, why get a Tendonectomy?

I've worked at a vet hospital and I've seen both procedures done. They are both painful, but the Tendonectomy is supposedly less painful.

As far as spay and neuter surgeries being painful...surprisingly the animals experience little to no discomfort. Especially neuter patients...they have no idea anything is missing! This isn't the same as chopping off the toes you walk on. Cats walk on their toes, and when the first digit of their toe is removed, it's painful, and the cat has to re-learn how to walk...on their heels!

The neuter/declaw spay/declaw deal was offered up in my hospital too. I think it's really sad that a majority of vets do this without trying to educate first.

Kudos for choosing soft paws! I really wish more vets would offer that up as an option. Gosh, I didn't realize that I save myself a lot of money by putting them on my kitties myself!!