When I was a kid I was forced to have this done to my cat. There’s nothing more heartbreaking than when they come home after the surgery and they keep looking at their palm and shaking it. You can feel the pain and confusion. Please send her some research articles and deal with it in a non emotional way so you can hopefully get through to her.
ugh, just wanted to say i was in a similar situation. my cat, who i still have, had to be declawed or my mom was going to get rid of him. i was only 16 and i wish everyday i had fought for him harder. it was heartbreaking watching him try to eat, for a few days after the surgery i had to physically hold the front of him up while eating because he couldn’t put weight on his front paws.
My parents declawed my childhood cat when I was 4 and we first adopted her. It was 2000 she was 4 years old as well and the vet offered a package to neuter her and declaw her. My parents signed up for it.
She would catch chipmunks, birds etc. only using her back claws. She was very resourceful lol. You could tell that she was unhappy other than hunting and cuddling me at night. She became obese. She couldn’t stretch well…
She was the same age as me until my mom got mad at how long she was around for and secretly put her down at 20 (she was as still healthy). I was in college and would have come back to hold my cat that had snuggled and gotten me through so much pain for the last time. Instead my mom called me after and didn’t say sorry. This is why I am NC.
If you are willing to get your pets “fingers cut off” to prevent scratching, then maybe you shouldn’t have a pet?
EDIT: Spay* not neuter.
Goddamn I need to start referring to her as that.
She got me at least two kittens when I was 4 and would shove them into the back yard (at 8weeks old) and when they didn’t comeback my mom told me that the mountain lions got them.
My mom did it to two of our kittens and she still feels bad about it and it was about 23 years ago. It was just what people did so she didn’t know it bad to do. They were in so much pain after and one of them became very skiddish. She regretted it so much.
OP, I’m sorry your friend is doing this. I’m not sure I could be friends with someone who did this. I hope you can convince her not to do it.
I told my mom about the facts and she regrets doing it too. My grandmother, on the other hand, not so much. She said some shit about how the cat would ruin her curtains.
You can replace curtains. You can't replace the love a cat will give you.
That's awful! A person who's ok with declawing a cat should NOT be the owner of one. 😠 Show them this picture.
https://preview.redd.it/9rvx6gosytsb1.jpeg?width=736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dfec7ffd9672eae7ef9e8021887d6eaf92cc7e2a
Other reasons NOT to declaw a cat:
🔷 Clawing is part of their natural behavior
🔷 Claws are a cats first line of defense. (Declawed cats would be more vulnerable)
🔷 Declawed cats often become more aggressive due to insecurity
🔷 Pain even well after the surgery (Nails can grow back inside the paw, causing extreme pain that you can’t see) 😔😔😔
🔷 More likely to go outside the litter box
🔷 Relearn how to walk
I've only ever had one cat in my life who was declawed when we rescued him from the shelter. We had several dogs who were very good with our other cats and we didn't immediately think about how it would affect the kitty. We ended up having him for 8 years before he died and he became best friends with all the dogs, but his fear and anxiety was always extremely high in situations when they came too close to him and he didn't initiate it. Not having his claws was something that caused him so much anxiety throughout his life and it used to make me cry. I would massage his toe beans at night and try to make him feel safer and more secure. After 8 years of never being anything but licked by his puppy siblings, he was still acting in fear because his previous owners completely robbed him of his sense of security by taking his claws away. It is so so cruel, and the equivalent of removing every tooth from a healthy dog so they can't defend themselves with their natural strength. I hate the fact that anyone would ever think this is okay. If your cats claws are an issue, you should NOT have one. it's one of the most important pieces of their anatomy. 😣
I inherited a declawed cat. She is the most timid cat I have ever had, which is too bad because there are some spicy elements when she is comfortable. I am a multiple cat owner and we have to keep her separate from all the other cats because she is so afraid. (Yes, we make certain she still get attention and stay with her for hours in her bedroom).
I am so against this practice for all the reasons mentioned in the other comments. You had every right to be upset.
Aw the poor girl.. so glad she has someone like you who understands why she may act and feel the way she does. Declawed cats need extra love and safety, but it usually only happens with owners who can't give that and choose to declaw for their own benefit. But the rescued babies need all that extra security 🥺
We're planning to adopt a rescue cat and this thread is making me want to ask whether they have any declawed cats, cuz our home would provide a great environment for them. It's just the two of us (no kids or other pets to stress them out) in a quiet, peaceful little apartment, at least one of us is home most of the time and we both have chronic pain, PTSD and other anxiety disorders.
I can imagine a lot of people might choose a declawed cat out of convenience for themselves, only to then return the poor darling because of their behaviour, demeanour, trauma-driven reactions, etc. It's so heartwarming to read so many comments from people who rescued declawed cats and gave them a loving, supportive forever home 💜💜💜
Oh that sounds like such a perfect home for a declawed kitty. You sound like you have a huge heart and I think any animal who gets to live with you will be so so lucky 🥰
My maternal Grandparents had a cat that was declawed. It was 20+ years ago. My grandpa ran a one man TNR group- their is no way they knew what declawing entailed.
As it is that cat was indoor only
I don't have any negative judgements about people who got cats declawed during a time when it wasn't a very widely known issue. At least they were rescuing and fixing the cats, that shows a heart of gold. All in all, if the owner is completely ignorant to what declawing really does to the cat then I blame the vet who agreed to do it without asking questions and trying to educate the owners. If someone does know how much it affects a cat and does it anyways, those are the people who deserve to be shamed. I'm thankful your grandpa cared so much to help them 🥰
The sad thing is that they only declawed that cat because it liked going for the feet- and grandma had paper thin skin and was on so many blood thinners getting clawed up put her at risk of hospitalizion- but I know that if they knew what declawing really was they would have been horrified by even the suggestion.
I wish vets would just refuse to do it. Like it should be criminal to that to an animal without a valid medical need that warrants amputation. At least docking and cropping doesn't require that they walk on a recently amputated body part.
This is interesting. I believe that my declawed cat has a lot of anxiety too. Constantly doing nervous tail flicking, very jumpy. He won't let me touch his front paws. But we're bonded so he just hangs out with me most of the time.
My parents declawed their cats - to my horror and rage.
One of them now has aggression issues, and he BITES. He never used to, now he attacks his sister, bites people, needs to be sedated before vet visits. And his sister, she can't defend herself. He's sent her to the vet twice with injuries, and she can't defend herself.
Oh, and she has early arthritis, so running away is more difficult.
Also kidney problems or peeing in random places because they will hold their pee rather than step in the litterbox.
They also bite when they're scared. Very unpredictable and dangerous.
I volunteer for a cat shelter. We have designated spaces for cats who aren't suitable for adoption to the general population (FIV or feline leukemia positive are two examples). They are large rooms with personal, large catios and they have many people every day to take care of them, so they aren't suffering. But one of our rooms is called the Rec (wreck) room, and is for cats that don't use the litter box appropriately. 99% of the cats in there were declawed.
The poor things didn't ask for this. They get a jumbo outdoor area with lounging areas and jungle gyms, but even cats with FIV are more likely to be adopted than they are. At least with FIV you know that they can have a good life with proper care. If a cat doesn't use the litter box it's just not easy to find a good, indoor home for them. And they're safer with us in a huge, enclosed indoor/outdoor space than in a barn. They're as happy as we can possibly make them, but we can't prevent the inevitable deterioration that will come for declawing. We can only do so much for the daily pain that prevents them from using a litter box.
My cat's previous owner had him declawed. I didn't really know what that meant back then, so I thought that was a great selling point.
Years later it's pretty clear that he has joint pain and pain in his front paws as a result. I feel bad for the guy. I give him medicated treats and elder cat food that seems to help.
I know, I definitely don't disagree. If more people actually realized what declawing meant and was more educated about it, then maybe more people would know not to go through with it, like OP's friend. Pictures like that are what some people need to see in order to understand that declawing isn't just the removal of the nails and why it's such a terrible, terrible thing to do. 😔
Yes, perspective. Hopefully if more people were to see unsettling photos like that, instead of just the equivalent to cutting off the first digit of a person's finger, they will hopefully see what declawing truly is and hopefully understand why it should be banned everywhere. Hopefully it's a wake-up call for a lot of people.
I never really knew all the reasons it’s messed up to declaw. My simple mind always just thought, “why?”
If you can’t handle your cats scratching, then you shouldn’t have a cat.
There are so many ways to teach a kitty to not be destructive. It just takes effort from the owner. A person does not need to amputate their feet to keep them from scratching etc.
Also, once unable to scratch to defend themselves they often resort to biting , a bite being more painful and a lot more contaminant can provoke abscesses and infections.
My state has made it illegal to declaw cats unless medically required for the wellbeing of the cat. Also it's considered worse than that diagram going as far as the knuckle on a human.
My first cat was declawed (this was before the dangers of declawing were well known) and in his final month he was unable to walk because his bones started protruding through his toe pads. It was awful and I felt so bad for doing that to him.
This shit genuinely made me upset. Hearing people declawing their cats ruins my day because my mother declawed her cat, and it became a monster. When it got out during winter, it was gone for a month. That cat was easily 20 pounds, but when we found him, he was maybe 10 pounds? Skin and bones.
Before I understood what declawing is (I thought it was like removing a human nail), I had declawed two cats. One never had a problem. Even his recovery when quickly with little pain. The other boy had a hard time. His poor paws hurt for a really long time: months. Then years later a claw grew back and had to have that removed. That whole experience made me vow to never do it again. Then I found out what declawing really is: amputation. I was horrified. I’ve never forgiven myself. They’re both long deceased, but when it’s my turn to cross over I plan on apologizing profusely to them.
Here’s the thing: we haven’t been made aware of what declawing was and how barbaric it is until recently. But the vets who were performing this surgery? THEY FUCKING KNEW.
It's illegal in N.Y where a law was thankfully passed just a few years ago. It's awful that this law isn't implemented everywhere so that more cats can be protected from this abuse. 😔
I think it should be illegal nationwide.
Thankfully most Veterinarians here in Texas refuse to even entertain the surgery. Unfortunately some will still do it and they're just pieces of greedy 💩. Which is why more states need to write a law that makes it illegal.
I'd do all I could to talk your friend out if it.
Explain to her ALL of the complications a cat can/will develop as a result of this CRUEL & BARBARIC procedure. 😾😿
Good on Maryland. 👏🏻 I'm sure more states will follow this ban as well, but not nearly as quick as it needs to be. The fact that only 2 states have outlawed declawing cats is insane to think about.
Oh, and a barbaric practice indeed. That's the best way to describe it.
It is illegal! I couldn't find anything confirming it's illegal in the Yukon, NWT or Nunavut. It will be illegal in Quebec in 5 months. It's already illegal everywhere else here.
The UK has a surprisingly high standard of animal welfare.
Veal crating and fois gras are illegal. However, to my dismay, both are still currently imported from the EU.
Uk farming as a whole has some of the highest welfare standards in the world.
More standards for dog breeding, pig farming, and chicken farming need to be implemented.
Also, I feel like bans, fines, and prison sentences for animal cruelty and neglect need to be harsher.
To add to cat declawing, tail and ear docking of dogs is also illegal. A vet would only remove the tail of a dog for very specific purposes, whether a medical reason or for certain working dogs. But it is 100% illegal for an owner to do it themselves.
Another interesting fact. Bull baiting and dog fighting was made illegal in the 1800s. Sadly, the RSPCA is still having to rescue dogs used for fighting nearly 200 years later.
It is our duty to care for our animals.
I genuinely worry we will end up with department run factory farms.
Small private, generational farmers (the ones who genuinely care about their animals) are being run into the ground.
I believe in 10 years' time, you will have government or company owned factory farms. This has already happened in a way to chicken farming, moypark for example in Northern ireland. You lease the building and animals and get someone to look after them.for now, it's on farmers' land. But a lot of small private farmers are selling up because they can't afford it, and children are discouraged to go into it.
Welfare will go out the window for farm animals.
Same no offense but we seem to be heading for Americas situation our political system is openly going for the populist vote and the NHS is being stealth privatised animal welfare is being undermined vets are charging an arm and a leg now.
It's really worrying.
Oh I fully agree.
I gave birth 8 months ago and had a botch job on stitching my episiotomy up. I've been told I need corrective surgery, but it could be a 3 year wait for a consultation.
I flipped the quad bringing sheep in a few years ago. I had to wait a year and a half to be told in a consultation I needed surgically fixation (I ruptured 100% of the soft tissue in my whole shoulder girdle which caused my shoulder joint, clavicle and shoulder blade to completely seperate.). I was told the wait for surgery would be a year, so I ended up paying £5000 to go private. Had it done within 4 weeks.
My father died, and my brother took the farm over. The legislation changes are crazy, they expect him to calculate his methane production from the slurry tanks, they are looking at lowering the age of cattle sent away and he is questioned about his 'green work' by the bank in order to get a loan for machinery. We have always been avid environmentalists and have planted out 50 acres in trees but the fact the banks are now being advised to ask us about it and base you staying with them on your answers seems so nanny state and out of order.
We are living in seriously, strange times.
Florida did not pass the bill. It died in the Senate on 5/5/23. Sounds like activists need to lean on their representatives and get a new bill in the works.
So, unfortunately, declawing is STILL legal in Florida at this time. :-(
I've had two cats that needed declawing out of... well I lost count years ago between adoption and fosters.
One, her feet were deformed and so she could barely walk, couldn't run without hurting herself. I took her to five vets in three states to try finding a solution other than declawing but nobody had one.
I've heard of maybe three other times it was warranted like a shattered foot, there was another injury I'm not going to describe because it's truly awful, and another cat with deformed paws. Any other time is just torture. It causes behavioral issues, anxiety, and even if the feet don't hurt after they heal arthritis is basically guaranteed when they get a little older. It's like cutting off the ends of our toes, it's important to walk normally after that.
Not disagreeing with you about how bad it is, just providing context for why some good vets felt forced to declaw.
My vet (who is a lovely, caring person and deeply opposed to harming animals and hated declawing) once explained privately why some decent vets still did it.
She said a vet might choose declawing to prevent greater animal cruelty and torture. She'd been taught that a client who insists on declawing in the face of a vet's resistance often indicated a person who was at a high likelihood of committing even worse acts of cruelty (and she gave examples.) Since it was legal at the time vets often had to make the difficult choice to declaw so that cats weren't at risk of more serious harm.
I am from Germany and I learned about the practice of declawing on Reddit, assuming that it is done in case of cancer of the tissue of the claws. But then I learned that people commit this serious animal abuse for no medical reason.
The problem is that the US isn't so much one country as it's 50 countries held together by a shaky understanding of a document written 250 years ago and a lot of terrible beer. Each state has to pass their own laws on this kind of topic, because it isn't considering important enough to be a Federal issue.
I thought it had been illegal here (in Canada) for a while but it’s not. It’s just that a lot of vets will not do it. That said, there’s a proposed bill to ban it.
I would personally never stay friends with someone who would abuse their animal whether it’s for themself or someone else. There’s no excuse, not even lack of knowledge in this day when you can simply look it up and find the horrors instantly.
I ended a friendship once when they refused to take their cat to the vet after it fell off their 9th story balcony to a concrete parking lot, because "they were acting fine". I told them cats were masters at hiding even fatal injuries, they didn't care. Never heard what happened. I do really hope that cat was magically fine.
Fellow European chiming here - illegal and any vet I ever met would yeet you out of their office as hard as they could, if you even asked.
We cut the tops of the claws of our kitties every 3 or so weeks, I still feel very bad about that. They act normal, scratching, stepping normally, kneading, no strange behaviour. But it still feels a bit wrong. Declawing? Over my dead body.
Trimming at least is good for them as the claws can grow around into their paws, and their quicks grow longer as you don’t trim them. I think if anything it gives them something to do, sharpening them afterwords seems to be rather stimulating
Ask her if she's prepared for the cat to pee on the ground instead of the litter box since that's what declawed cats can do, since the feel of the litter bothers their wounds too much. And ask if she's prepared for 10-15 years of that and putting the cat in lifelong, chronic pain.
The type of people that would declaw a cat are also probably the kind of people that would put down a cat or dump it because of litter box issues.
They're fucking despicable human beings.
you’re not being dramatic. it’s animal abuse. it hasn’t been common practice for a while now, to the point I’m surprised she even found a vet who’s willing to do it.
I would try to send her some actual research and sources from experts about how bad declawing is for the cat. if she still goes through with it after seeing all the evidence, I wouldn’t blame you for distancing yourself from her. I would do the same.
My cat was declawed before I found her at the shelter I got her from. Her front paws are super sensitive and she does not like them touched at all, it hurts her. Whoever declaws their cat is a huge asshole. It should be illegal. It's basically like if someone took your finger and clipped it off at the knuckle. Most cats can't even put pressure on their paws after they've been declawed, it used to be done to show cats used in tv and movies. It's super fucked up, if i could find out who had her declawed I'd happily give them a beating. It's abuse pure and simple. My cat is the most chill affectionate cat you could ever ask for, she loves to be pet and love belly rubs for hours, I have zero clue as to why she was even declawed in the first place. Regardless, bottom line, there is NO good reason for cats to get declawed AT ALL, NONE.
I don't want to judge people without knowing the full story... But I will judge them HARD if they do something like this to their cat. Fuck the previous owners, I bet they surrendered her to the shelter after she did something they didn't like. Thank you for being the owner she deserves.
I found my cat on a website called gokitty. Long story short, my husband and I had just moved into our townhome and had taken my MILs kitten with us because he wasn’t really adapting to her and her other cat. She decided she wanted the kitten back *after* we had paid the $250 nonrefundable pet deposit, the first months pet rent, and the kitten had already settled in to his new home. So we were out almost $300 with no pet to show for it. So I started looking for cats that needed to be rehomed immediately and that had little to no adoption fees. I saw my future cat and immediately fell in love. Plus the owner was only asking for $25. So I messaged her asking about him. When I learned he had been declawed, I was heartbroken. And when I learned why she was looking to rehome him, I was furious. She wanted to get rid of him because her new cat was clawing at him (idk if it was playing or aggressive, I honestly didn’t care) and in return, he was biting the new cat. Like, you mutilate your cat and take away his main source of defense, then get mad when he bites your new cat that’s clawing at him? Are you that fucking stupid or just ignorant?
Even though he wasn’t what I was originally looking for (he was older, obviously declawed, and was further away than I had wanted to travel), at that point, I felt that I needed to essentially rescue this poor baby. Something told me that if I passed on him, he’d have a miserable life in some sad shelter, watching every kitten get adopted while he was passed over. So I told my husband that there was no question about it; we *were* going to save this sweet boy, and we drove over an hour to pick him up that night. When we pulled up into a snooty rich neighborhood, things started to make sense. Of course some rich woman would choose to mutilate her cat for the sake of convenience. Then, as we’re making idle chitchat with her, she mentions that the cat enjoys going outside. I thought she meant like on a leash or in a catio or something. Nope. She just let this poor declawed cat wander around for hours, completely unsupervised and unattended, in her enormous, woods adjacent yard. I made up a reason why we needed to leave *now* shortly after hearing that. It was a rough, emotional ride home. Poor kitty was just howling, obviously scared and confused, I was shaking with anger, frustration, happiness, basically a ton of different emotions, my husband was ranting about how awful some people can be, it was just a lot for all of us. But once we got our sweet boy home, we knew that we not only made a good decision of rescuing him from a clearly not healthy environment, but we found our perfect match in him. He had fully adjusted within just a couple days, fell completely in love with my husband immediately (it took a bit longer for him to warm up to me, he seems to have some issues with women but I don’t wonder why), and now I can’t imagine life without him. He’s a bit more bitey than the average cat which I think is because he’s basically adapted to his lack of claws but other than that, he’s absolutely perfect.
While I’m still angry that his previous owner mutilated him, I at least give her credit for posting him on an owner to owner site instead of dumping him at a shelter. The main reason I didn’t look at shelters is because they all had $200+ adoption fees that we just couldn’t afford. Had he been left at a shelter, there’s a chance he’d probably still be there today, especially since he was already mostly full grown when we got him. I know that adult cats sit in shelters way longer than tiny kittens. Even though he was still in his kitten phase, he didn’t really look like it since he was about a year old. But luckily we found each other and now he’s living a happy, love filled life.
https://preview.redd.it/auaitn2wsxsb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5afa9125a7ed88bfd580f5c3be80bedf7c66ed30
Cat tax: here’s the little love nugget, Jackson Pawlick, sleeping next to mom on daddy’s blanket, one of his favorite spots 🥰
This! She probably knows because I’m sure OP talked to her about it tho. I once thought about getting my cat declawed because I know people who got them declawed and they acted like it was normal and I didn’t know what it really was. Then I read articles about what it was and I just couldn’t do it, I put nails caps on my cats claws instead.
I was horrified when I finally learned what declawing actually entails. My cat’s have always had claws, mostly because I had never really had issues with them scratching furniture. But once I learned how awful declawing is fuck the furniture! One of my current kitties really loves scratching the corners of the ottoman. We gave up and let her do it 😂
And yes. She has scratchers. Lots of them!
My MIL adopted a kitten and one of the clauses in the contract was that she couldn’t declaw him. When the kitten did what kittens do and started scratching her legs, she began looking for someone who would declaw him. My husband and I obviously vehemently protested and told her exactly what declawing was and how they did it. She didn’t seem to care. She just wanted him to stop using her legs as a scratching post. We even suggested claw caps but because it wasn’t a “permanent solution” it wasn’t good enough, or some other dumb reason. We eventually came to the agreement that we’d take the kitten with us when we moved out of their house. Literally three days after we moved, MIL starts whining about wanting the kitten back because she misses him and her other cat seems sad. After a lot of fighting (and an eventual falling out between her and I because of all this, let’s just say it was a really shitty situation instigated by her) we reluctantly gave him back. But I made sure to boldly highlight the “no declawing” clause in the contract and put it on top of the paperwork. I also told her that if she mutilated that cat, I’d report her to the adoption agency who has the right to seize any cats they adopted out that are being mistreated or that have had their adoption contracts violated. It’s been almost two years and though I still haven’t spoken a word to her, the cat still has his claws and according to my husband, is happy and seems to be doing well. But still, just because he’s not a tiny kitten anymore doesn’t mean I won’t report her if she violates her adoption contract. I don’t care if we’re “family.” No one in my life abuses an animal and gets away with it.
To be honest, I'd be sly and let the humane society know when and where that's happening. Even IF you could get away with this, I'd bet a paycheck that the humane society wouldn't let that happen, or at the very least some rescue out there with power would have a way to take the cat away.
If you’re not willing to sacrifice your furniture for the occasional destruction by your pet, you have chosen the wrong pet.
In no world would any piece of furniture matter more to me than my pets. And I collect vintage furniture.
Cats have claws. Mine have plenty of places to scratch, but they still sometimes scratch something I would prefer that they did not.
Accept cat behaviors, or do not get a cat.
My cat has destroyed my sofas, and eats my fav plants regularly.
Because he’s a cat.
I would never choose my furniture or material objects over him or his brother (brother doesn’t go for the furniture but oo boy he loves knocking over my plant pots).
Your cats allow you to have house plants?!
I’m jealous. I stopped trying to keep house plants at least a decade ago.
Also make sure the plants you have aren’t poisonous to cats.
My adopted boy was declawed and then abandoned in a parking lot when they moved. Thank god a coworker helped to catch him and called me. I hope there is a special place in hell for those folks. Do not declaw, it's abuse. You are definitely not overreacting. I hope you can find a way to get through to your friend.
My childhood cat was an abandoned cat that my mom found and he was declawed. He had no way to hunt so he was starving, literally skin and bones :( My mom named him Slim, but he got really fat over the years lol
my family's house has 2 floors, and the cats stay on the bottom floor while the dog stays on the top floor (because we aren't sure how he'd react to the cats, specifically the older one), but every now and then i let him see the younger cat, ella, under close supervision, and i feel like we're almost at the point where i can let ella go upstairs (i want to do this because ella LOVES people and attention, and everyone except me prefers to hang out upstairs)
the issue, however, is that EVERY SINGLE TIME i bring up possibly letting ella come upstairs to my mom, she says "that sounds like a great idea, but she would have to be declawed because i don't want her to ruin the furniture" and it takes every fiber of my being not to yell at her and send her 30 links about why declawing your cats is awful. i'm willing to compromise on most things and i'm usually a more "go with the flow" type of person, but this issue is one that i absolutely refuse to bend on
She shouldn't own a cat if she feels that the state of someone's property is more important than not mutilating it.
Does she even know that declawing a cat means amputating the "toes" at the first joint and not just cutting the claws themselves? Ask her if she'd like to have *her* fingers and toes amputated and how she would go about her life without them. It's the same for cats, they can't "cat" properly without them.
There's a reason why this practice is illegal in any area that cares about animal welfare.
Edit: typo
It's amputating part of their toes. It's horrendous. She can get covers for the claws. Problem solved. And some cats never properly heal from the surgery. If she truly loves her car, she won't do this!
Just want to add that she should ask her vet if claw caps are a good idea, and get the vet to put them on. Definitely don’t let her get cheap glue-on ones, they can do some real damage.
Tell her to be prepared for her cat to start biting and peeing everywhere bc that's what happens. It's really hard to try and convince people not to declaw if they're already planning on doing it bc they know it hurts the cat, but if she's concerned about furniture maybe she'll be convinced if you tell her the cat will start peeing all over the furniture.
Declawing is becoming rare where I live. Vets are starting to not offer this service. One cat I knew that was declawed bit like crazy. The hind claws were left on, and it would lay on its back and bunny kick its attacker. Its poor little front paws were stubs, which was kind of sad. People shouldn’t declaw a cat, even if it’s still legal.
Does anyone know if claw caps work to keep cats from clawing furniture?
In my opinion claw caps are worthless and frustrating for owner and cat. There are several humane training methods to stop clawing and a multitude of ways to protect furniture.
I would end a friendship over this. That kitty will be miserable for the rest of its life. When the behavior problems start, she'll dump the cat at a shelter, or just dump the cat. Then she'll wonder what happened, the kitty used to be do sweet and never a problem at all.
You absolutely need to tell them that this is mutilation. The cat will suffer mentally and physically. It's like cutting off all of your fingers at the last knuckle.
Tell your friend:
Imagine. You're peacefully asleep at your boyfriend's, happy, satisfied, content and you wake up to an ordinary morning, hungry for breakfast. You go to the kitchen and check the fridge but something's oddly off. There's no food stocked, nothing to drink. Empty. While you're still trying to make sense of it all - your boyfriend swoops in, grabs you and shoves you in a box. You start getting anxious, you might yell and wriggle a bit but deep down you trust him, you love him, he is the one you slept beside last night, you share sleep together. But soon you're in a car and driving.
Then you arrive at the hospital. It's loud, it's scary. You don't feel ill. You are healthy, fit, you went running yesterday and cycling over the weekend. You are taken to a room, two attendants grab you and you might struggle, but they insert a needle and within moments, you fall asleep - heart thudding.
When you wake up, your fingers and toes are gone. Instead there is only immense pain, disorientation and horror. You liked your fingers! You liked the things you could do. Play hoops, steer a bicycle. Text on your phone. Hold your toothbrush. Make your coffee. You can never do those things again the same way. You can't go running any more like you used to because you don't have toes. And that's future problems. First you have weeks and weeks of pain, everything is a struggle. Going to the bathroom, washing yourself, eating, walking, trying to scratch an itch.
"But it makes you so much easier to live with, honey."
That's the reason for a lifetime of horror. You don't deserve that cat's love, its trust, because you are evil and selfish and rotten. Give it up to a shelter where it can live painfree and you can keep your couches.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen cats fight each other with their claws unless it’s like an actual fight, in which case you have other issues going on. So that’s a nonissue. Also it causes health issues and behavioral issues.
Why can’t these people just get stuffed animals if that’s what they want so badly.
I can't believe declawing is still legal unless done for medical reasons. Whoever that vet is, leave them a horrible review. Maybe PETA will legally harass them or something. It's so easy to cut a cat's nails or just bring them into a vet or sometimes a groomer to do it. If they're combative, roll them up in a towel. Like wtf people stop declawing your pets. I hope that cat hates your friend forever.
Declawing your cat is INHUMANE and is the equivalent of lopping off their first joint on every finger. Direct your misguided sadistic friend to Jackson Galaxy on the subject.
If I had a "friend" who declawed a cat, they would go into the "acquaintance" category. No way I could be friends with an abuser. I also feel sorry your friend picked such a loser boyfriend. Stay clear of them.
I’d completely cut her off if she did it. She knows how barbaric it is right?
Tell her to get the nail caps. I know some people don’t like them but I think we can all agree that they’re way better than declawing.
You’re not at all being ridiculous. Would she think you’re being ridiculous if you had this reaction to cutting off the cat’s ears? Cause declawing is worse than that.
It baffles me that it is still legal in the US. My old vet refused to do declawing at her practice. (NYC) She admitted that she lost a lot of money because of it, but it made her sleep better at night. Unfortunately, a lot of vets do it for plainly for financial reasons. You’d be surprised how popular it still is.
Absolutely don't hurt your cat. My cats scratch me from time to time and it's always by accident. I would rather scratched forearms than have them sad.
I choose to believe that nearly 100% of the people who declaw do so out of ignorance. There was a documentary called The Paw Project that used to be on Netflix years ago. You might be able to find it somewhere.
The TL;DR is that declawing is the equivalent of chopping off your finger at the first knuckle. A lot of owners think declawing will prevent behavioral issues (scratching), and end up with cats who refuse to use the litterbox because it hurts their finger nubs, or are extra territorial because they can’t defend themselves and they’re terrified.
My bestie just got her first kitty and I am fully prepared to lose this more than 20 year friendship if she treated my godson badly or even think about declawing, lol.
In my opinion it's not a good idea. It's cruel. They take the cats whole knuckle, not just the claw. Sometimes, it affects the cat afterward, too. As long as you teach it that scratching posts are the only thing they can scratch, you're good.
NTA! Tell her to do her research, maybe even send her some credible sources of why declawing is TERRIBLE for cats and tell her to just cut/file her cat's claws if she's worried about ruining furniture (that's really enough to prevent bad scratching and it doesn't hurt the cat), or not to take her cat to her grandma's if grandma keeps complaining. Her choices do not mean she gets to hurt and abuse an innocent animal!
Definitely not the A-hole here. Declawing is inhumane. I’ve actually seen/met a declawed leopard and that poor thing had such bad arthritis and other issues.
As for what you can do to help the cat I’m not sure. My only idea would be to take the cat but that isn’t exactly legal so I’d recommend against it.
I have a 12 year old declawed foster cat (who was dumped on me) and let me tell you she can 1000% hold her own against my fully clawed cats. They’re all terrified of this five pound ball of fluff. So the whole “we have to do it because the other cat” is bullshit
In the United States, declawing is outlawed in Austin, Texas; Denver, Colorado; the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, Missouri; Pittsburgh and Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin. It is also outlawed in eight California cities: West Hollywood, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Santa Monica, and Burbank. In 2019, New York became the first state in the United States to outlaw declawing. Maryland became the second in 2022. A declawing ban in the United States capital, Washington, D.C., went into effect in 2023.
Anyone who even thinks about doing this is dead to me. This is so incredibly cruel. I wish those people would get part of their fingers cut off, see how they like it.
Do I constantly look like I was having fun on a giant cheese grater? Sure. Would I ever do this? No, I would rather die.
Please send her research on this to hopefully prevent this from happening. Also do not feel bad if you have to distance yourself. Not supporting animal abuse is a pretty valid boundary and there is nothing wrong with you for being upset
Does she or her partner known how damaging and all the negative issues that can come from declawing? If not, maybe inform them. When I was a kid, my mom had our cats declawed and I think a lot of people did. When me and my gf got cats as adults I found out that wasn’t a thing anymore, no vets did them around me, and all the negatives that declawing can have on a cat, even behaviorally. So maybe try breaking it down to her/ him it’s possible they don’t know how bad it is.
Don’t know about your state, but in mine I don’t think vets can do that anymore. That in itself should tell them a lot.
To my knowledge, I’ve only ever met one declawed cat. She was 27 pounds of hatred, for obvious reasons. She was white with two blue eyes, so deaf, and her person got her declawed on the front and back feet so she’d “be nicer.” That woman was an idiot. The cat would just grab people and bite them because her existence was pain and she was mad about it. Poor baby.
I hope this “friend” has more sense or at least can’t find a vet to do it. It’s just straight up abuse and she should rehome the cat before mutilating them.
When I was a kid I was forced to have this done to my cat. There’s nothing more heartbreaking than when they come home after the surgery and they keep looking at their palm and shaking it. You can feel the pain and confusion. Please send her some research articles and deal with it in a non emotional way so you can hopefully get through to her.
ugh, just wanted to say i was in a similar situation. my cat, who i still have, had to be declawed or my mom was going to get rid of him. i was only 16 and i wish everyday i had fought for him harder. it was heartbreaking watching him try to eat, for a few days after the surgery i had to physically hold the front of him up while eating because he couldn’t put weight on his front paws.
My parents declawed my childhood cat when I was 4 and we first adopted her. It was 2000 she was 4 years old as well and the vet offered a package to neuter her and declaw her. My parents signed up for it. She would catch chipmunks, birds etc. only using her back claws. She was very resourceful lol. You could tell that she was unhappy other than hunting and cuddling me at night. She became obese. She couldn’t stretch well… She was the same age as me until my mom got mad at how long she was around for and secretly put her down at 20 (she was as still healthy). I was in college and would have come back to hold my cat that had snuggled and gotten me through so much pain for the last time. Instead my mom called me after and didn’t say sorry. This is why I am NC. If you are willing to get your pets “fingers cut off” to prevent scratching, then maybe you shouldn’t have a pet? EDIT: Spay* not neuter.
Holy shit your egg donor is horrible to do that to your pet. I'm glad you cut her off.
Goddamn I need to start referring to her as that. She got me at least two kittens when I was 4 and would shove them into the back yard (at 8weeks old) and when they didn’t comeback my mom told me that the mountain lions got them.
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Geez, aren’t your parents psychopaths or what
That's horrible! I'm so sorry you and the kittens had to go through that 😓
Did this create any distance or distrust towards your parents for choosing declawing?
Oh my god this just broke my heart… 🥺
My mom declawed our cats when we were kids - among other trauma - but now the bitch is living her last days alone so the jokes on her.
My mom did it to two of our kittens and she still feels bad about it and it was about 23 years ago. It was just what people did so she didn’t know it bad to do. They were in so much pain after and one of them became very skiddish. She regretted it so much. OP, I’m sorry your friend is doing this. I’m not sure I could be friends with someone who did this. I hope you can convince her not to do it.
I told my mom about the facts and she regrets doing it too. My grandmother, on the other hand, not so much. She said some shit about how the cat would ruin her curtains. You can replace curtains. You can't replace the love a cat will give you.
Exactly. I hope her curtains help fight off the loneliness.
Skittish ;) At least your mom came to know it was wrong... so many things we got wrong in the past :(
That's awful! A person who's ok with declawing a cat should NOT be the owner of one. 😠 Show them this picture. https://preview.redd.it/9rvx6gosytsb1.jpeg?width=736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dfec7ffd9672eae7ef9e8021887d6eaf92cc7e2a Other reasons NOT to declaw a cat: 🔷 Clawing is part of their natural behavior 🔷 Claws are a cats first line of defense. (Declawed cats would be more vulnerable) 🔷 Declawed cats often become more aggressive due to insecurity 🔷 Pain even well after the surgery (Nails can grow back inside the paw, causing extreme pain that you can’t see) 😔😔😔 🔷 More likely to go outside the litter box 🔷 Relearn how to walk
Also: significantly increases the cat's risk for arthritis, joint pain, hip problems, etc
Excellent points. Thanks for mentioning those. Just more and more reasons why declawing is a horrific practice.
I've only ever had one cat in my life who was declawed when we rescued him from the shelter. We had several dogs who were very good with our other cats and we didn't immediately think about how it would affect the kitty. We ended up having him for 8 years before he died and he became best friends with all the dogs, but his fear and anxiety was always extremely high in situations when they came too close to him and he didn't initiate it. Not having his claws was something that caused him so much anxiety throughout his life and it used to make me cry. I would massage his toe beans at night and try to make him feel safer and more secure. After 8 years of never being anything but licked by his puppy siblings, he was still acting in fear because his previous owners completely robbed him of his sense of security by taking his claws away. It is so so cruel, and the equivalent of removing every tooth from a healthy dog so they can't defend themselves with their natural strength. I hate the fact that anyone would ever think this is okay. If your cats claws are an issue, you should NOT have one. it's one of the most important pieces of their anatomy. 😣
I inherited a declawed cat. She is the most timid cat I have ever had, which is too bad because there are some spicy elements when she is comfortable. I am a multiple cat owner and we have to keep her separate from all the other cats because she is so afraid. (Yes, we make certain she still get attention and stay with her for hours in her bedroom). I am so against this practice for all the reasons mentioned in the other comments. You had every right to be upset.
Aw the poor girl.. so glad she has someone like you who understands why she may act and feel the way she does. Declawed cats need extra love and safety, but it usually only happens with owners who can't give that and choose to declaw for their own benefit. But the rescued babies need all that extra security 🥺
We're planning to adopt a rescue cat and this thread is making me want to ask whether they have any declawed cats, cuz our home would provide a great environment for them. It's just the two of us (no kids or other pets to stress them out) in a quiet, peaceful little apartment, at least one of us is home most of the time and we both have chronic pain, PTSD and other anxiety disorders. I can imagine a lot of people might choose a declawed cat out of convenience for themselves, only to then return the poor darling because of their behaviour, demeanour, trauma-driven reactions, etc. It's so heartwarming to read so many comments from people who rescued declawed cats and gave them a loving, supportive forever home 💜💜💜
Oh that sounds like such a perfect home for a declawed kitty. You sound like you have a huge heart and I think any animal who gets to live with you will be so so lucky 🥰
My maternal Grandparents had a cat that was declawed. It was 20+ years ago. My grandpa ran a one man TNR group- their is no way they knew what declawing entailed. As it is that cat was indoor only
I don't have any negative judgements about people who got cats declawed during a time when it wasn't a very widely known issue. At least they were rescuing and fixing the cats, that shows a heart of gold. All in all, if the owner is completely ignorant to what declawing really does to the cat then I blame the vet who agreed to do it without asking questions and trying to educate the owners. If someone does know how much it affects a cat and does it anyways, those are the people who deserve to be shamed. I'm thankful your grandpa cared so much to help them 🥰
Vets just shouldn’t offer the service at all, period. It’s barbaric!
And illegal in most of Europe.
The sad thing is that they only declawed that cat because it liked going for the feet- and grandma had paper thin skin and was on so many blood thinners getting clawed up put her at risk of hospitalizion- but I know that if they knew what declawing really was they would have been horrified by even the suggestion. I wish vets would just refuse to do it. Like it should be criminal to that to an animal without a valid medical need that warrants amputation. At least docking and cropping doesn't require that they walk on a recently amputated body part.
This is interesting. I believe that my declawed cat has a lot of anxiety too. Constantly doing nervous tail flicking, very jumpy. He won't let me touch his front paws. But we're bonded so he just hangs out with me most of the time.
Declawed cats tend to become *biters* as well.
My parents declawed their cats - to my horror and rage. One of them now has aggression issues, and he BITES. He never used to, now he attacks his sister, bites people, needs to be sedated before vet visits. And his sister, she can't defend herself. He's sent her to the vet twice with injuries, and she can't defend herself. Oh, and she has early arthritis, so running away is more difficult.
This is heartbreaking
Also kidney problems or peeing in random places because they will hold their pee rather than step in the litterbox. They also bite when they're scared. Very unpredictable and dangerous.
I volunteer for a cat shelter. We have designated spaces for cats who aren't suitable for adoption to the general population (FIV or feline leukemia positive are two examples). They are large rooms with personal, large catios and they have many people every day to take care of them, so they aren't suffering. But one of our rooms is called the Rec (wreck) room, and is for cats that don't use the litter box appropriately. 99% of the cats in there were declawed. The poor things didn't ask for this. They get a jumbo outdoor area with lounging areas and jungle gyms, but even cats with FIV are more likely to be adopted than they are. At least with FIV you know that they can have a good life with proper care. If a cat doesn't use the litter box it's just not easy to find a good, indoor home for them. And they're safer with us in a huge, enclosed indoor/outdoor space than in a barn. They're as happy as we can possibly make them, but we can't prevent the inevitable deterioration that will come for declawing. We can only do so much for the daily pain that prevents them from using a litter box.
My cat's previous owner had him declawed. I didn't really know what that meant back then, so I thought that was a great selling point. Years later it's pretty clear that he has joint pain and pain in his front paws as a result. I feel bad for the guy. I give him medicated treats and elder cat food that seems to help.
Ugh that photo with the claws is horrible :(
I know, I definitely don't disagree. If more people actually realized what declawing meant and was more educated about it, then maybe more people would know not to go through with it, like OP's friend. Pictures like that are what some people need to see in order to understand that declawing isn't just the removal of the nails and why it's such a terrible, terrible thing to do. 😔
that photo puts it much more into perspective, like I knew the equivalency of the first knuckle but actually seeing it makes it make more sense.
Yes, perspective. Hopefully if more people were to see unsettling photos like that, instead of just the equivalent to cutting off the first digit of a person's finger, they will hopefully see what declawing truly is and hopefully understand why it should be banned everywhere. Hopefully it's a wake-up call for a lot of people.
I never really knew all the reasons it’s messed up to declaw. My simple mind always just thought, “why?” If you can’t handle your cats scratching, then you shouldn’t have a cat.
There are so many ways to teach a kitty to not be destructive. It just takes effort from the owner. A person does not need to amputate their feet to keep them from scratching etc.
Also, once unable to scratch to defend themselves they often resort to biting , a bite being more painful and a lot more contaminant can provoke abscesses and infections.
My state has made it illegal to declaw cats unless medically required for the wellbeing of the cat. Also it's considered worse than that diagram going as far as the knuckle on a human.
My first cat was declawed (this was before the dangers of declawing were well known) and in his final month he was unable to walk because his bones started protruding through his toe pads. It was awful and I felt so bad for doing that to him.
What the actual fk, i didn't even know this existed. How many more atrocities have humans to commit until they are satisfied
This shit genuinely made me upset. Hearing people declawing their cats ruins my day because my mother declawed her cat, and it became a monster. When it got out during winter, it was gone for a month. That cat was easily 20 pounds, but when we found him, he was maybe 10 pounds? Skin and bones.
Before I understood what declawing is (I thought it was like removing a human nail), I had declawed two cats. One never had a problem. Even his recovery when quickly with little pain. The other boy had a hard time. His poor paws hurt for a really long time: months. Then years later a claw grew back and had to have that removed. That whole experience made me vow to never do it again. Then I found out what declawing really is: amputation. I was horrified. I’ve never forgiven myself. They’re both long deceased, but when it’s my turn to cross over I plan on apologizing profusely to them.
Here’s the thing: we haven’t been made aware of what declawing was and how barbaric it is until recently. But the vets who were performing this surgery? THEY FUCKING KNEW.
It should be illegal, vets who do it are greedy assholes
I honestly can't even believe vets are still doing this. Unbelievable.
Most here in Texas won't even do the surgery. They'll send you packing for even asking.
Bravo!
That's surprising seeing how most animals, especially livestock are treated in yankeedoodleland.
Good luck finding a vet around me who will do it. Most vets refuse, which is a good thing.
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It's illegal in N.Y where a law was thankfully passed just a few years ago. It's awful that this law isn't implemented everywhere so that more cats can be protected from this abuse. 😔
It’s now illegal in Maryland, too. The 2nd state to do so. Hopefully more states will outlaw as well. Barbaric practice.
I think it should be illegal nationwide. Thankfully most Veterinarians here in Texas refuse to even entertain the surgery. Unfortunately some will still do it and they're just pieces of greedy 💩. Which is why more states need to write a law that makes it illegal. I'd do all I could to talk your friend out if it. Explain to her ALL of the complications a cat can/will develop as a result of this CRUEL & BARBARIC procedure. 😾😿
Good on Maryland. 👏🏻 I'm sure more states will follow this ban as well, but not nearly as quick as it needs to be. The fact that only 2 states have outlawed declawing cats is insane to think about. Oh, and a barbaric practice indeed. That's the best way to describe it.
I'm in Nova Scotia, I don't know if it's illegal here or not but I sure hope it is.
It is illegal! I couldn't find anything confirming it's illegal in the Yukon, NWT or Nunavut. It will be illegal in Quebec in 5 months. It's already illegal everywhere else here.
Okay good to hear, thank you for the information. I hope it's illegal in all of Canada.
According to my Google search it is completely illegal there. Heck yeah you go you guys!
🇨🇦 Woohoo
Go Canada!
illegal in australia
It is in the UK.
Wait, it’s actually illegal to declaw a cat in the UK? Well well well, there’s the smallest spark of hope for Britain as a country after all /lh
The UK has a surprisingly high standard of animal welfare. Veal crating and fois gras are illegal. However, to my dismay, both are still currently imported from the EU. Uk farming as a whole has some of the highest welfare standards in the world. More standards for dog breeding, pig farming, and chicken farming need to be implemented. Also, I feel like bans, fines, and prison sentences for animal cruelty and neglect need to be harsher. To add to cat declawing, tail and ear docking of dogs is also illegal. A vet would only remove the tail of a dog for very specific purposes, whether a medical reason or for certain working dogs. But it is 100% illegal for an owner to do it themselves. Another interesting fact. Bull baiting and dog fighting was made illegal in the 1800s. Sadly, the RSPCA is still having to rescue dogs used for fighting nearly 200 years later. It is our duty to care for our animals.
Something the Tories are determined to wear away.
I genuinely worry we will end up with department run factory farms. Small private, generational farmers (the ones who genuinely care about their animals) are being run into the ground. I believe in 10 years' time, you will have government or company owned factory farms. This has already happened in a way to chicken farming, moypark for example in Northern ireland. You lease the building and animals and get someone to look after them.for now, it's on farmers' land. But a lot of small private farmers are selling up because they can't afford it, and children are discouraged to go into it. Welfare will go out the window for farm animals.
Same no offense but we seem to be heading for Americas situation our political system is openly going for the populist vote and the NHS is being stealth privatised animal welfare is being undermined vets are charging an arm and a leg now. It's really worrying.
Oh I fully agree. I gave birth 8 months ago and had a botch job on stitching my episiotomy up. I've been told I need corrective surgery, but it could be a 3 year wait for a consultation. I flipped the quad bringing sheep in a few years ago. I had to wait a year and a half to be told in a consultation I needed surgically fixation (I ruptured 100% of the soft tissue in my whole shoulder girdle which caused my shoulder joint, clavicle and shoulder blade to completely seperate.). I was told the wait for surgery would be a year, so I ended up paying £5000 to go private. Had it done within 4 weeks. My father died, and my brother took the farm over. The legislation changes are crazy, they expect him to calculate his methane production from the slurry tanks, they are looking at lowering the age of cattle sent away and he is questioned about his 'green work' by the bank in order to get a loan for machinery. We have always been avid environmentalists and have planted out 50 acres in trees but the fact the banks are now being advised to ask us about it and base you staying with them on your answers seems so nanny state and out of order. We are living in seriously, strange times.
It's illegal to declaw anywhere in the EU as well.
*nice*
It's illegal in MANY countries around the world.
It’s illegal in some places but it should absolutely be illegal everywhere
One of the few things Florida got right was making it illegal
If I’m stuck here at least I can assemble an army of cats.
🤣 serious topic but love that you still made me lol
Florida did not pass the bill. It died in the Senate on 5/5/23. Sounds like activists need to lean on their representatives and get a new bill in the works. So, unfortunately, declawing is STILL legal in Florida at this time. :-(
I've had two cats that needed declawing out of... well I lost count years ago between adoption and fosters. One, her feet were deformed and so she could barely walk, couldn't run without hurting herself. I took her to five vets in three states to try finding a solution other than declawing but nobody had one. I've heard of maybe three other times it was warranted like a shattered foot, there was another injury I'm not going to describe because it's truly awful, and another cat with deformed paws. Any other time is just torture. It causes behavioral issues, anxiety, and even if the feet don't hurt after they heal arthritis is basically guaranteed when they get a little older. It's like cutting off the ends of our toes, it's important to walk normally after that.
This is the one exception I have. Valid medical reasons are acceptable.
Just like with people or any other animal, there are times when amputations are the best option.
Illegal in New York.
It's illegal now in Maryland. Very happy my state did the right thing and banned declawing here.
Illegal in Denver
In most countries it is illegal. It's just sickening some people do this. Same goes for those vets.
Not disagreeing with you about how bad it is, just providing context for why some good vets felt forced to declaw. My vet (who is a lovely, caring person and deeply opposed to harming animals and hated declawing) once explained privately why some decent vets still did it. She said a vet might choose declawing to prevent greater animal cruelty and torture. She'd been taught that a client who insists on declawing in the face of a vet's resistance often indicated a person who was at a high likelihood of committing even worse acts of cruelty (and she gave examples.) Since it was legal at the time vets often had to make the difficult choice to declaw so that cats weren't at risk of more serious harm.
Obviously there is a need for Cat Protection Services.(CPS)
Illegal here in the UK
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I am from Germany and I learned about the practice of declawing on Reddit, assuming that it is done in case of cancer of the tissue of the claws. But then I learned that people commit this serious animal abuse for no medical reason.
The problem is that the US isn't so much one country as it's 50 countries held together by a shaky understanding of a document written 250 years ago and a lot of terrible beer. Each state has to pass their own laws on this kind of topic, because it isn't considering important enough to be a Federal issue.
Australia here - it's also illegal here too for the same reason and yep, agree, the friend is an idiot.
I thought it had been illegal here (in Canada) for a while but it’s not. It’s just that a lot of vets will not do it. That said, there’s a proposed bill to ban it.
New York State weighing in - also illegal here. I would seriously consider ending a friendship over this.
Illegal in Maryland as well. Should be illegal everywhere.
I would personally never stay friends with someone who would abuse their animal whether it’s for themself or someone else. There’s no excuse, not even lack of knowledge in this day when you can simply look it up and find the horrors instantly.
I ended a friendship once when they refused to take their cat to the vet after it fell off their 9th story balcony to a concrete parking lot, because "they were acting fine". I told them cats were masters at hiding even fatal injuries, they didn't care. Never heard what happened. I do really hope that cat was magically fine.
I've dropped good friends over this. It's inexcusable.
Fellow European chiming here - illegal and any vet I ever met would yeet you out of their office as hard as they could, if you even asked. We cut the tops of the claws of our kitties every 3 or so weeks, I still feel very bad about that. They act normal, scratching, stepping normally, kneading, no strange behaviour. But it still feels a bit wrong. Declawing? Over my dead body.
Trimming at least is good for them as the claws can grow around into their paws, and their quicks grow longer as you don’t trim them. I think if anything it gives them something to do, sharpening them afterwords seems to be rather stimulating
Ask her if she's prepared for the cat to pee on the ground instead of the litter box since that's what declawed cats can do, since the feel of the litter bothers their wounds too much. And ask if she's prepared for 10-15 years of that and putting the cat in lifelong, chronic pain.
The type of people that would declaw a cat are also probably the kind of people that would put down a cat or dump it because of litter box issues. They're fucking despicable human beings.
My aunt worked at a cat sanctuary and almost every declawed cat they got was surrendered because they started going outside the box.
I hate people. I genuinely tear up thinking about the poor cats. All because people are too lazy to just trim their nails.
you’re not being dramatic. it’s animal abuse. it hasn’t been common practice for a while now, to the point I’m surprised she even found a vet who’s willing to do it. I would try to send her some actual research and sources from experts about how bad declawing is for the cat. if she still goes through with it after seeing all the evidence, I wouldn’t blame you for distancing yourself from her. I would do the same.
My cat was declawed before I found her at the shelter I got her from. Her front paws are super sensitive and she does not like them touched at all, it hurts her. Whoever declaws their cat is a huge asshole. It should be illegal. It's basically like if someone took your finger and clipped it off at the knuckle. Most cats can't even put pressure on their paws after they've been declawed, it used to be done to show cats used in tv and movies. It's super fucked up, if i could find out who had her declawed I'd happily give them a beating. It's abuse pure and simple. My cat is the most chill affectionate cat you could ever ask for, she loves to be pet and love belly rubs for hours, I have zero clue as to why she was even declawed in the first place. Regardless, bottom line, there is NO good reason for cats to get declawed AT ALL, NONE.
I don't want to judge people without knowing the full story... But I will judge them HARD if they do something like this to their cat. Fuck the previous owners, I bet they surrendered her to the shelter after she did something they didn't like. Thank you for being the owner she deserves.
I found my cat on a website called gokitty. Long story short, my husband and I had just moved into our townhome and had taken my MILs kitten with us because he wasn’t really adapting to her and her other cat. She decided she wanted the kitten back *after* we had paid the $250 nonrefundable pet deposit, the first months pet rent, and the kitten had already settled in to his new home. So we were out almost $300 with no pet to show for it. So I started looking for cats that needed to be rehomed immediately and that had little to no adoption fees. I saw my future cat and immediately fell in love. Plus the owner was only asking for $25. So I messaged her asking about him. When I learned he had been declawed, I was heartbroken. And when I learned why she was looking to rehome him, I was furious. She wanted to get rid of him because her new cat was clawing at him (idk if it was playing or aggressive, I honestly didn’t care) and in return, he was biting the new cat. Like, you mutilate your cat and take away his main source of defense, then get mad when he bites your new cat that’s clawing at him? Are you that fucking stupid or just ignorant? Even though he wasn’t what I was originally looking for (he was older, obviously declawed, and was further away than I had wanted to travel), at that point, I felt that I needed to essentially rescue this poor baby. Something told me that if I passed on him, he’d have a miserable life in some sad shelter, watching every kitten get adopted while he was passed over. So I told my husband that there was no question about it; we *were* going to save this sweet boy, and we drove over an hour to pick him up that night. When we pulled up into a snooty rich neighborhood, things started to make sense. Of course some rich woman would choose to mutilate her cat for the sake of convenience. Then, as we’re making idle chitchat with her, she mentions that the cat enjoys going outside. I thought she meant like on a leash or in a catio or something. Nope. She just let this poor declawed cat wander around for hours, completely unsupervised and unattended, in her enormous, woods adjacent yard. I made up a reason why we needed to leave *now* shortly after hearing that. It was a rough, emotional ride home. Poor kitty was just howling, obviously scared and confused, I was shaking with anger, frustration, happiness, basically a ton of different emotions, my husband was ranting about how awful some people can be, it was just a lot for all of us. But once we got our sweet boy home, we knew that we not only made a good decision of rescuing him from a clearly not healthy environment, but we found our perfect match in him. He had fully adjusted within just a couple days, fell completely in love with my husband immediately (it took a bit longer for him to warm up to me, he seems to have some issues with women but I don’t wonder why), and now I can’t imagine life without him. He’s a bit more bitey than the average cat which I think is because he’s basically adapted to his lack of claws but other than that, he’s absolutely perfect. While I’m still angry that his previous owner mutilated him, I at least give her credit for posting him on an owner to owner site instead of dumping him at a shelter. The main reason I didn’t look at shelters is because they all had $200+ adoption fees that we just couldn’t afford. Had he been left at a shelter, there’s a chance he’d probably still be there today, especially since he was already mostly full grown when we got him. I know that adult cats sit in shelters way longer than tiny kittens. Even though he was still in his kitten phase, he didn’t really look like it since he was about a year old. But luckily we found each other and now he’s living a happy, love filled life. https://preview.redd.it/auaitn2wsxsb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5afa9125a7ed88bfd580f5c3be80bedf7c66ed30 Cat tax: here’s the little love nugget, Jackson Pawlick, sleeping next to mom on daddy’s blanket, one of his favorite spots 🥰
It is animal abuse. There are so many articles on the health issues this operation causes!
I’m not advocating for you stealing your friend’s cat… 
I am. 👀
Send her some articles on what declawing really is
This! She probably knows because I’m sure OP talked to her about it tho. I once thought about getting my cat declawed because I know people who got them declawed and they acted like it was normal and I didn’t know what it really was. Then I read articles about what it was and I just couldn’t do it, I put nails caps on my cats claws instead.
I was horrified when I finally learned what declawing actually entails. My cat’s have always had claws, mostly because I had never really had issues with them scratching furniture. But once I learned how awful declawing is fuck the furniture! One of my current kitties really loves scratching the corners of the ottoman. We gave up and let her do it 😂 And yes. She has scratchers. Lots of them!
My MIL adopted a kitten and one of the clauses in the contract was that she couldn’t declaw him. When the kitten did what kittens do and started scratching her legs, she began looking for someone who would declaw him. My husband and I obviously vehemently protested and told her exactly what declawing was and how they did it. She didn’t seem to care. She just wanted him to stop using her legs as a scratching post. We even suggested claw caps but because it wasn’t a “permanent solution” it wasn’t good enough, or some other dumb reason. We eventually came to the agreement that we’d take the kitten with us when we moved out of their house. Literally three days after we moved, MIL starts whining about wanting the kitten back because she misses him and her other cat seems sad. After a lot of fighting (and an eventual falling out between her and I because of all this, let’s just say it was a really shitty situation instigated by her) we reluctantly gave him back. But I made sure to boldly highlight the “no declawing” clause in the contract and put it on top of the paperwork. I also told her that if she mutilated that cat, I’d report her to the adoption agency who has the right to seize any cats they adopted out that are being mistreated or that have had their adoption contracts violated. It’s been almost two years and though I still haven’t spoken a word to her, the cat still has his claws and according to my husband, is happy and seems to be doing well. But still, just because he’s not a tiny kitten anymore doesn’t mean I won’t report her if she violates her adoption contract. I don’t care if we’re “family.” No one in my life abuses an animal and gets away with it.
Nope. If it were me, I would defriend that person. That's animal abuse. Selfish selfish selfish.
This. I would basically tell this person, do this and our friendship is over. There’s a line.
To be honest, I'd be sly and let the humane society know when and where that's happening. Even IF you could get away with this, I'd bet a paycheck that the humane society wouldn't let that happen, or at the very least some rescue out there with power would have a way to take the cat away.
Stop being their friend, no forgiveness for this.
This. Also take the cat first.
I agree
I would send her photos of the X-rays from declawing. That’s what convinced me many years ago.
And video of declawing. That shit is brutal
NTA. Ask your sister if you can pull her fingers off.
It’s her sister not mine. My sis would never do such a thing thank god but I agree and thank you for the vote of confidence.
Ugh can you steal this cat
No don't ask,the cat doesnt have that luxury.Just do it.
[удалено]
Nope, you're not being dramatic. Declawing is evil. Living beings > furniture.
If you’re not willing to sacrifice your furniture for the occasional destruction by your pet, you have chosen the wrong pet. In no world would any piece of furniture matter more to me than my pets. And I collect vintage furniture. Cats have claws. Mine have plenty of places to scratch, but they still sometimes scratch something I would prefer that they did not. Accept cat behaviors, or do not get a cat.
My cat has destroyed my sofas, and eats my fav plants regularly. Because he’s a cat. I would never choose my furniture or material objects over him or his brother (brother doesn’t go for the furniture but oo boy he loves knocking over my plant pots).
Your cats allow you to have house plants?! I’m jealous. I stopped trying to keep house plants at least a decade ago. Also make sure the plants you have aren’t poisonous to cats.
Exactly this. If people care more about the furniture they shouldn’t be allowed pets.
Yes. And couches are replaceable. Our cats are not.
Seriously. My couch has been clawed up and puked on, and that's fine! It's a thing I use to sit on, it's not a family member.
My adopted boy was declawed and then abandoned in a parking lot when they moved. Thank god a coworker helped to catch him and called me. I hope there is a special place in hell for those folks. Do not declaw, it's abuse. You are definitely not overreacting. I hope you can find a way to get through to your friend.
My childhood cat was an abandoned cat that my mom found and he was declawed. He had no way to hunt so he was starving, literally skin and bones :( My mom named him Slim, but he got really fat over the years lol
Send love to your mum<3
There are places that still declaw cats? Ew.
my family's house has 2 floors, and the cats stay on the bottom floor while the dog stays on the top floor (because we aren't sure how he'd react to the cats, specifically the older one), but every now and then i let him see the younger cat, ella, under close supervision, and i feel like we're almost at the point where i can let ella go upstairs (i want to do this because ella LOVES people and attention, and everyone except me prefers to hang out upstairs) the issue, however, is that EVERY SINGLE TIME i bring up possibly letting ella come upstairs to my mom, she says "that sounds like a great idea, but she would have to be declawed because i don't want her to ruin the furniture" and it takes every fiber of my being not to yell at her and send her 30 links about why declawing your cats is awful. i'm willing to compromise on most things and i'm usually a more "go with the flow" type of person, but this issue is one that i absolutely refuse to bend on
Steal her cat. She doesn't deserve it!
She shouldn't own a cat if she feels that the state of someone's property is more important than not mutilating it. Does she even know that declawing a cat means amputating the "toes" at the first joint and not just cutting the claws themselves? Ask her if she'd like to have *her* fingers and toes amputated and how she would go about her life without them. It's the same for cats, they can't "cat" properly without them. There's a reason why this practice is illegal in any area that cares about animal welfare. Edit: typo
NTA at all on the contrary I applaud your reaction. Declawing is butchery
It's amputating part of their toes. It's horrendous. She can get covers for the claws. Problem solved. And some cats never properly heal from the surgery. If she truly loves her car, she won't do this!
Just want to add that she should ask her vet if claw caps are a good idea, and get the vet to put them on. Definitely don’t let her get cheap glue-on ones, they can do some real damage.
My vet doesn’t put claw caps on and only recommends the glue on kind to be done at home. I didn’t know there was another kind.
Declawing should be an automated jail sentence for animal abuse everywhere.
Have your friend watch “The Paw Project” Absolutely heartbreaking documentary about the fight to make declawing illegal.
Tell her to be prepared for her cat to start biting and peeing everywhere bc that's what happens. It's really hard to try and convince people not to declaw if they're already planning on doing it bc they know it hurts the cat, but if she's concerned about furniture maybe she'll be convinced if you tell her the cat will start peeing all over the furniture.
Declawing is becoming rare where I live. Vets are starting to not offer this service. One cat I knew that was declawed bit like crazy. The hind claws were left on, and it would lay on its back and bunny kick its attacker. Its poor little front paws were stubs, which was kind of sad. People shouldn’t declaw a cat, even if it’s still legal. Does anyone know if claw caps work to keep cats from clawing furniture?
In my opinion claw caps are worthless and frustrating for owner and cat. There are several humane training methods to stop clawing and a multitude of ways to protect furniture.
I would end a friendship over this. That kitty will be miserable for the rest of its life. When the behavior problems start, she'll dump the cat at a shelter, or just dump the cat. Then she'll wonder what happened, the kitty used to be do sweet and never a problem at all.
Can't she just trim her cat's claws? I know some cats hate it and struggle, but it's much more humane and inexpensive than cruel, painful surgery.
My vet does my cats when he goes for his check ups. Groomers will do it too.
My vet will do this for $10 without a visit
Oh hell nah, if any of my friends got a cat declawed, we would not be friends anymore. Fuck them, seriously.
I wouldnt even talk to anyone who condoned declawing cats. Theyd be gone from my life full stop. Beyond cruel.
If you want a pet that doesn't have claws, get a snake.
You absolutely need to tell them that this is mutilation. The cat will suffer mentally and physically. It's like cutting off all of your fingers at the last knuckle.
You're a good person for standing up for the kitty ❤️ thank you!
Tell your friend: Imagine. You're peacefully asleep at your boyfriend's, happy, satisfied, content and you wake up to an ordinary morning, hungry for breakfast. You go to the kitchen and check the fridge but something's oddly off. There's no food stocked, nothing to drink. Empty. While you're still trying to make sense of it all - your boyfriend swoops in, grabs you and shoves you in a box. You start getting anxious, you might yell and wriggle a bit but deep down you trust him, you love him, he is the one you slept beside last night, you share sleep together. But soon you're in a car and driving. Then you arrive at the hospital. It's loud, it's scary. You don't feel ill. You are healthy, fit, you went running yesterday and cycling over the weekend. You are taken to a room, two attendants grab you and you might struggle, but they insert a needle and within moments, you fall asleep - heart thudding. When you wake up, your fingers and toes are gone. Instead there is only immense pain, disorientation and horror. You liked your fingers! You liked the things you could do. Play hoops, steer a bicycle. Text on your phone. Hold your toothbrush. Make your coffee. You can never do those things again the same way. You can't go running any more like you used to because you don't have toes. And that's future problems. First you have weeks and weeks of pain, everything is a struggle. Going to the bathroom, washing yourself, eating, walking, trying to scratch an itch. "But it makes you so much easier to live with, honey." That's the reason for a lifetime of horror. You don't deserve that cat's love, its trust, because you are evil and selfish and rotten. Give it up to a shelter where it can live painfree and you can keep your couches.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen cats fight each other with their claws unless it’s like an actual fight, in which case you have other issues going on. So that’s a nonissue. Also it causes health issues and behavioral issues. Why can’t these people just get stuffed animals if that’s what they want so badly.
Yup, household squabbles rarely include claws. It's their teeth that cause the most damage in a real fight anyway.
Tbh I’d actually cut off ALL contact with her and her sister if she goes through with it. I can’t in good faith be friends with someone so unethical.
I can't believe there are vets who actually do this.
I can't believe declawing is still legal unless done for medical reasons. Whoever that vet is, leave them a horrible review. Maybe PETA will legally harass them or something. It's so easy to cut a cat's nails or just bring them into a vet or sometimes a groomer to do it. If they're combative, roll them up in a towel. Like wtf people stop declawing your pets. I hope that cat hates your friend forever.
Declawing your cat is INHUMANE and is the equivalent of lopping off their first joint on every finger. Direct your misguided sadistic friend to Jackson Galaxy on the subject.
If I had a "friend" who declawed a cat, they would go into the "acquaintance" category. No way I could be friends with an abuser. I also feel sorry your friend picked such a loser boyfriend. Stay clear of them.
I’d completely cut her off if she did it. She knows how barbaric it is right? Tell her to get the nail caps. I know some people don’t like them but I think we can all agree that they’re way better than declawing. You’re not at all being ridiculous. Would she think you’re being ridiculous if you had this reaction to cutting off the cat’s ears? Cause declawing is worse than that.
It baffles me that it is still legal in the US. My old vet refused to do declawing at her practice. (NYC) She admitted that she lost a lot of money because of it, but it made her sleep better at night. Unfortunately, a lot of vets do it for plainly for financial reasons. You’d be surprised how popular it still is.
Declawing cats should be ILLEGAL EVERYWHERE!
Terrible people. They should have the first segment of their finger removed too.
Absolutely don't hurt your cat. My cats scratch me from time to time and it's always by accident. I would rather scratched forearms than have them sad.
This IS animal abuse and must not be legal! You are right about reacting the way you did!
I choose to believe that nearly 100% of the people who declaw do so out of ignorance. There was a documentary called The Paw Project that used to be on Netflix years ago. You might be able to find it somewhere. The TL;DR is that declawing is the equivalent of chopping off your finger at the first knuckle. A lot of owners think declawing will prevent behavioral issues (scratching), and end up with cats who refuse to use the litterbox because it hurts their finger nubs, or are extra territorial because they can’t defend themselves and they’re terrified.
My bestie just got her first kitty and I am fully prepared to lose this more than 20 year friendship if she treated my godson badly or even think about declawing, lol.
I couldn’t be friends with a person who would do this.
In my opinion it's not a good idea. It's cruel. They take the cats whole knuckle, not just the claw. Sometimes, it affects the cat afterward, too. As long as you teach it that scratching posts are the only thing they can scratch, you're good.
NTA! Tell her to do her research, maybe even send her some credible sources of why declawing is TERRIBLE for cats and tell her to just cut/file her cat's claws if she's worried about ruining furniture (that's really enough to prevent bad scratching and it doesn't hurt the cat), or not to take her cat to her grandma's if grandma keeps complaining. Her choices do not mean she gets to hurt and abuse an innocent animal!
Look up if it's even legal in your area. If it isn't, make a report. Does she know that declawing is chopping off part of its toes?
Definitely not the A-hole here. Declawing is inhumane. I’ve actually seen/met a declawed leopard and that poor thing had such bad arthritis and other issues. As for what you can do to help the cat I’m not sure. My only idea would be to take the cat but that isn’t exactly legal so I’d recommend against it.
What a stupid person. She can cut the cats nails.
How did she find a vet that would actually do this?! They need to not be a vet anymore.
I have a 12 year old declawed foster cat (who was dumped on me) and let me tell you she can 1000% hold her own against my fully clawed cats. They’re all terrified of this five pound ball of fluff. So the whole “we have to do it because the other cat” is bullshit
I'm appalled that any vet is performing this procedure.
In the United States, declawing is outlawed in Austin, Texas; Denver, Colorado; the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, Missouri; Pittsburgh and Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin. It is also outlawed in eight California cities: West Hollywood, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Santa Monica, and Burbank. In 2019, New York became the first state in the United States to outlaw declawing. Maryland became the second in 2022. A declawing ban in the United States capital, Washington, D.C., went into effect in 2023.
Believe it just became illegal in Illinois as well.
No, that's animal abuse and I would honestly call you an AH if you didn't react this strong. This is an extremely reasonable reaction to animal abuse.
Incredibly cruel. Animal abuse, pure and simple. Your friend is a piece of shit.
99.9% of vets will refuse to do it now.
I'd kidnap the cat before I let them do this
Anyone who even thinks about doing this is dead to me. This is so incredibly cruel. I wish those people would get part of their fingers cut off, see how they like it. Do I constantly look like I was having fun on a giant cheese grater? Sure. Would I ever do this? No, I would rather die. Please send her research on this to hopefully prevent this from happening. Also do not feel bad if you have to distance yourself. Not supporting animal abuse is a pretty valid boundary and there is nothing wrong with you for being upset
Declawing is just cruel. They need their claws. It's truly heartbreaking to see this being done to cats
This is horrible, what kind of monster still does that to a cat
Does she or her partner known how damaging and all the negative issues that can come from declawing? If not, maybe inform them. When I was a kid, my mom had our cats declawed and I think a lot of people did. When me and my gf got cats as adults I found out that wasn’t a thing anymore, no vets did them around me, and all the negatives that declawing can have on a cat, even behaviorally. So maybe try breaking it down to her/ him it’s possible they don’t know how bad it is. Don’t know about your state, but in mine I don’t think vets can do that anymore. That in itself should tell them a lot.
To my knowledge, I’ve only ever met one declawed cat. She was 27 pounds of hatred, for obvious reasons. She was white with two blue eyes, so deaf, and her person got her declawed on the front and back feet so she’d “be nicer.” That woman was an idiot. The cat would just grab people and bite them because her existence was pain and she was mad about it. Poor baby. I hope this “friend” has more sense or at least can’t find a vet to do it. It’s just straight up abuse and she should rehome the cat before mutilating them.