The vet and declawing?

[NoahsMommy]

Thanks for the link, Aly. I was shocked there was only one vet in CA listed.

It is not illegal in CA...only in West Hollywood and San Francisco. I wish it were everywhere though. Poor kitties.

When I worked at the vet, it was encouraged...spay/declaw or neuter/declaw was a better deal and encouraged to be done at the same time. Ugh...that was horrible.

[QueenScoopalot]

It's a quick buck (BIG bucks) for vets that do this mutilation. Easy for them to do, and excruciating for the cats that go through it. Cats are very stoic by nature, and hide pain very well. I've heard too many horror stories about what the cats wake up to. And declawing does not assure that a cat will always be kept inside. I've rescued several cats ( one badly injured from no defense except teeth) and the others near death from starvation. Plus too many people feel a cat should go outside regardless of if they're declawed, or not.
This lovely cat (below) was living behind a nursing home/hospital for many months. He was petrified at any noise, and nurses would feed him, but he'd wait until nobody was around before he'd come and eat. His tail got ripped off by a car, or animal, and when I trapped him (after 4 trips totaling an hour each trip), I found out when I got him home that he was declawed. I set him up in a cage, and checked his red 7" stump that was very painful looking. I gently wrapped his stump in aloe soaked gauze, and gave him lots of love and antibiotics. He went into the vets on the following Monday for amputation, and eventually went to live with his sponsors Jan & Doug, and their cats after a six month quarantine. If it was Summer, Woody probbly would have died from maggots infesting his stump. Wonderful gentle cat thrown out like trash. I did contact area animal control, and shelters to see if anyone had reported him missing...nope. Woody lives a life of luxury now where he's adored and I see him all the time.

I'd find a new vet also.

[Logan]

My vet does it. He does not recommend it. He and I had a long talk about it a while back. He says he does every bit of education possible with people before doing it, but he knows what the alternative is and that is that either the cat is forced to live outdoors for the rest of it's life or it is turned into the animal shelter, where there is little or no chance of it surviving. After having that talk with him, I understood why he will perform the surgery and I appreciated the fact that he opposes it very much. He does insist on keeping them in his office for a longer than normal period of time because he wants to make sure that they do not experience pain and he can keep them sedated and administer pain meds and also keep them in a sterile environment while the healing takes place.

It is still very sad that people will do this, though. I admire the European countries and the counties in CA that have outlawed this practice. Even my own sister has had all of her cats declawed.

[Randi]

Declawing is not legal in Denmark either, thank heavens! What I don't understand is, that a vet would recommend it - it's contradictory? conflicting? in my opinion. Anything to earn a buck. Rather like the medicinal industri!

[catmandu]

ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO,I THINK,THAT A LOT,OF VETS DID RECOMMEND DECLAWING,AS THE VET,THAT I TOOK POUNCER,AND SCRAPPY TO,DID RECOMMEND THAT,AS A NATURAL OPTION,THAT THAT WAS THE THING,TO DO,WITH YOUR CATS.SO,I DID,AND WHEN THEY BROUGHT SCRAPPY OUT,HE WAS CRYING,AS THE STITCHES,HAD COME,OUT OF HIS PAW.I NEVER EVER,HAD ANY,OF MY CATS DECLAWED,AFTER THAT,AS THE MEMORY,OF MY MR SCARPPY,WITH BLOOD COMING,OUT OF HIS PAW,AND CRYING,WILL ALWAYS BE WITH ME.

[moosmom]

Mina's Mom,

The only reason our vet recommended Mina be declawed was because of her paw condition. Her claws were growing back into her front paws causing her a lot of pain and suffering.

I've never heard of the condition where claws grow back into paws. That IS unless they are left untrimmed for long periods of time. No disrespect intended. Can you enlighten me?? Is there a name for this condition?

[wolfsoul]

My vet does not recommend declawing -- she does recommend a tendonectomy (I think that's the word?) for those cats who just won't stop scratching things. It's painless and it's humane.

[PJ's Mom]

Barclay is back from the vet's office. He has his hot pink Soft Paws on and is still feeling the mild sedative they gave him. He's had all his shots and we picked up som Revolution for him and Pumpkin. I'm $206 poorer, but at least he's healthy.

The vet told me that if these Soft Paws don't work, he would strongly recommend getting Barclay declawed and says he recommends that to everyone. I didn't walk in with a huge complaint. I merely said that he was scratching the couch and that hubby was pushing to have him declawed. I told him that that was NOT an option and that we would try the Soft Paws and trimming his nails. If this doesn't work, I don't know what to do. I bought a spray bottle today that I willstart to use when I catch him scratching.

Wish us luck. I'll try to post a couple of pics as soon as he wakes up.

[QueenScoopalot]

Originally posted by wolfsoul
My vet does not recommend declawing -- she does recommend a tendonectomy (I think that's the word?) for those cats who just won't stop scratching things. It's painless and it's humane.

I beg to differ on tendonectomies being 'painless and humane'. It's still mutilation no matter how you look at it. Type in the words 'feline tendonectomy' into a search engine to find out facts please.
http://www.straypetadvocacy.org/html/declaw_law.html
Most of the sites I quickly looked at view tendonectomies in the same light as a total declaw operation. If you've ever had a pulled tendon, or tendonitis it's excruciating!

[wolfsoul]

I have to disagree with what they are saying -- all they say is that tendonectomy causes discomfort. So does spaying and neutering -- should we disagree with spaying and neutering too, because it is also a discomforting surgery that prevents household damage? I don't think that tendonectomy should be placed up with declawing -- the cat is not getting his claws removed, and he can still use them. They cats don't need painkillers or other drugs. In my opinion, if a cat needs to have something done in order to keep it from going to a shelter, a tendonectomy is a valid option.

This is what my vet has to say:

My preferred technique is called a Tendonectomy. This also involves anesthesia, like declawing, but no joints are incised and only mild and temporary discomfort is the result. The small tendons running along the bottom of each toe that allow the claws to be pulled in or flexed are cut through a tiny incision over each one.

The vast majority are up and acting normal very soon after surgery, the opposite of declawing where most are cowering in the back of the kennel with their paws tucked underneath them, even with pain killers. Most cats with the tendon surgery can go home the same day, certainly by the following morning and they do not need pain killers, bandages, etc.

One thing to keep in mind with tendonectomies is that your cat must allow nail trimming as the nails are still there and still grow, but they won’t be able to wear off the old growth by scratching and sharpening them anymore. So this procedure is not for the cats who become Tasmanian devils when they are restrained for manicures!

[wolflady]

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!!

[PJ's Mom]

Barclay would like you all to know that's he's still very manly and that he's very comfortable with his masculinity even with little pink feet.

[catnapper]

Barclay, you look handsome in pink! Did you know that back in victorian era, that pink was for baby boys, girls wore blue... because pink is a soft red, which was seen as a strong forceful color. Blue was seen as light and airy, a nice soft color for girls. I don't know when the colors flip-flopped to be pink for girls... but there you have it Barclay - you are just fine in pink Softpaws, a fine old world gentleman!

As for the vet recommending declaw... sad but true. I can't remember if my vet did w ith Allen. I know I had sceduled declaw (long before I knew what it entailed) but I canceld it the day before the surgery (Allen thanks me!)

A few months ago, while at my mom's house in Philly, I was looking through those coupons books you get in the mail, and there was a vet hospital advertising a spring declaw special!!!! I was mortified that they'd offer a special and give a coupon for people to clip and hand in when they get their cats toes chopped off. Amazing.

[PJ's Mom]

Now that the sedative has started wearing off, he's started chewing his little thumbs. I don't think these things will last long.

[QueenScoopalot]

Don't worry..his claws have been cut short so he can't scratch till they grow back. I have a terrific pair of cat nail clippers that came from Germany many years ago, and they still work so well. I wonder if Kirsten's heard of them...I'd love another pair of them.