Hands and feets

A special reminder about declawing cats

Hello, my sapien fam,

This special issue is for those of you who are considering getting your cat declawed. I'll be covering behavioral issues that stem from declawing for Rise Again Animal Rescue** — and I think it's worth sending out a quickie on declawing in general.

Don't declaw your cat.

Just don't do it. Full stop.

If you don't understand why I would so definitively say this, read on. If you want a template for explaining to others why they should never consider declawing a cat, you are 100% welcome to steal any or all of the below. If you already know any or all of this and want to read on, you have my confused blessing. Or. if you are a fan of body horror, this would be your jam.

Here we go.

What is declawing?

Declawing, or onychectomy, is a surgical procedure where the last bone in each toe of a cat's paw is amputated. To put it bluntly, it's the equivalent of chopping off each of your fingers and toes at the last knuckle (phalange).

When I say "chop," I mean chop. There are vets who perform the surgery using lasers, but still, primarily, the amputation is done by scalpel or a "guillotine clipper" (which is exactly what it sounds like).

The reason so much of the toe is amputated is to ensure that the whole claw is removed. Remember, cat claws retract, and when they retract, they are aligned with the length of that whole third phalange. To get the claw, they have to get the entire bone.

This is bad sh!t.

It's a painful procedure that carries not-so-insignificant risks of infection and complication. It changes the entire way that your cat can put weight on their paws. It affects the way they walk. It can cause the formation of bone spurs. It removes a cat's primary defense mechanism. It stunts their hard-wired need to scratch and stretch.

New York state and quite a few counties throughout the US have actually banned declawing, and pretty much every organization that supports animal welfare (for example, the Animal Legal Defense Fund) has took a solid stand on opposing declawing (The Humane Society of the United States makes a small exception when the procedure is medically necessary to remove, say, cancerous tumors in the nail bed).

We will cover some related topics in the future, such as how to cut your kitty's nails, trauma free. But in the meantime, I recommend checking out this site, run and maintained by Veterinarian Dr. Christianne Schelling, which covers all kinds of great information about how to happily co-exist with your cat's perfect, natural hand/foot murder knives.

Thanks for reading, as always, and we'll catch you next week for our next full issue.

** I encourage you all to go check out the good work this brand-spanking-new rescue is doing in the New Jersey area. And do your teeshirt collection a solid, and pick up a cool new shirt at the Bonfire fundraiser, which is going on through the end of the month.

Love,

Your CR crew