Mar 23 2009
Declawing: What is it, and What are the Alternatives?
Declawing is never an easy decision, and it is a very heated subject. Only you can make the decision, but I hope I can shed some information on the situation to help you with that decision.
First, if one is to declaw, it is most commonly done at the time of spay/neuter, which is most commonly done at 6 months of age. Once they get to a year old and beyond, healing from declawing becomes more dramatic, as the younger cats have a better healing time and learn to adjust without their claws quicker.
While it is more painful the older they get, it is still a painful procedure. I would speak to the vet or a licensed technician about sufficient pain medications that will be used during and after surgery in order to help combat this.
As for whether to do it or not, that is the main question here. I will post you some links so you can read about exactly what a declaw is, for it does involve not just removing claws but removing an entire joint, like if we were to have the last segment of our fingers removed. There are complications which can occur. They are not common, and tend to occur more in older or overweight cats, but they do exist.
My suggestion to anyone would be to try “soft paws” before considering declawing. If you place a call to your vet today, you can find out if they carry these, and if not, you can pick some up at any pet supply store and bring them with you for your vet to apply them. At a young age, most cats easily adjust to these ‘caps’ on their nails and cannot destroy furniture nor hurt you with their nails. They can stay on for a few weeks, then as the nail grows, they pop off and new ones get reapplied. Generally the technician or vet staff can help you apply new ones if you have difficulty doing this at home, though it is quite simple to learn. Getting your kitties used to having their feet handled will be important in this step.
Declawing, while it’s nice to get it done young and while under anesthesia for their spay/neuters, can be done at a later stage, though as stated earlier, the younger, the better in healing. Going through the severity of the declaw would be much more of a behavioral problem to deal with once older for most cats, and if not necessary, would be great to avoid this amputation.
Here is some information (objective) on declawing:
http://www.acvs.org/AnimalOwners/HealthConditions/SmallAnimalTopics/DeclawinginCats/
http://www.thepetcenter.com/sur/catdc.html
http://petcare.suite101.com/article.cfm/cat_declaw_procedure
Christine, LVT
