Why Is Declawing Cats Controversial?

New York state recently banned cat declawing. Learn what the process entails and why veterinary groups recommend against it in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain
Stuff Lauren Boglebom Here does it look as if Jack
the Ripper went dog day afternoon on your couch? Does
it seem as if Edward scissor hands continually carves abstract
figures into your door jams? If you answer yes to
these questions, chances are you have a cat. Cats are

(00:25):
notorious for scratching. Some scratch furniture, some pick it carpets,
a few slice human flesh. They use chair legs as
scratching posts, and have been known to shred drapes and
tablecloths into rags. Cats scratch, That's what they do. The
American Veterinary Medical Association the a v m A says
that this is both perfectly normal, but conversely that up

(00:48):
to half of people's complaints about feline behavior regards destructive scratching.
Cats don't do it for malevolent reasons, but mainly to
mark their territory, sharpen their nails, stripe their tiny cat muscles,
or remove dead husks from their claws. All of this
is natural and instinctive, but because such activities can have

(01:09):
unwanted consequences, many cat owners resort to declawing their feelines.
But what exactly does this process entail and why is
it controversial. In July twenty nineteen, New York became the
first state to outlaw cat declawing. Pet Owners who declaw
their cats for anything other than medically necessary therapeutic purposes

(01:30):
alike in the case of feline cancer, can face a
stiff thousand dollar fine. That's because declawing isn't a benign practice.
The most common procedures involve a veterinarian amputating the last
bone of each cat toe with a blade or laser.
It's the equivalent of cutting off each of a human's
fingers at the last knuckle. Other procedures involve severing the

(01:51):
tendon in each toe that controls the toe's claw. That
option allows the claw to remain the cat just won't
be able to use it. The claw will continue to grow, though,
meaning that the owner will likely have to trim the
cat's nails. Any kind of surgery like this done to
a creature with a central nervous system is of course
going to be painful. But how painful pain in animals

(02:15):
is tricky to measure. They can't talk us through it,
and we know that in humans, when we experience pain,
it's not just that we've taken damage and it hurts,
but further that that damage and hurt is upsetting. We
can't know whether animals have a similar response, but there
are some cues we can take from animals to suss
it out. The m v A says clinical signs of

(02:37):
pain following declining include a guarding posture, reluctance to bear
weight on the de claude limbs, and reluctance to move.
After reviewing one study, the a v m A says
that sixty one of a hundred and sixty three cats
exhibited signs of pain for between one to forty two
days after declining, and twenty of cats went lame for
between one and fifty four days. Longer surgery times and

(03:00):
use of scalpels versus other instruments increased risk for lameness
after surgery. With the passage of the measure in New York,
the Empire State joined several US cities, including Los Angeles
and Denver, in banning decline, while similar bills are being
considered elsewhere. Kitty Block, president of the Humane Society of
the United States, hopes more communities will make declawing illegal.

(03:24):
In an email, Block said that the procedure is an
unnecessary convenience surgery. Quote. Complications from declawing include an increase
in biting and litter box avoidance, which often results in
the cat being surrendered to an animal shelter. Block says
the Humane Society is partnering with the Paw Project and
veterinarians to educate lawmakers around the country about the issue

(03:46):
in hopes of expanding the ban. So if declawing is
so painful for cats, why do people choose this option.
The reasons vary. Some do it because they love their furniture.
A declaw may protect cat owners, especially those with compromised
immune systems, who could experience life threatening complications from cat scratches,

(04:07):
but let's be real, instances of cats killing people through
infection are rare. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that
each year, twelve thousand people in the United States are
diagnosed with cat scratch fever, resulting in five hospitalizations. For
most people, though, the disease is mild with low grade fever, fatigue,
and headaches, and there are ways to change a cat

(04:30):
scratching behavior. Here are a few from our friends at
pet m D. You can invest in a scratching post
or several and place them strategically around the house. When
your cat starts to scratch, don't yellow scold, just pick
her up and put her near the post. Try sprinkling
catnip on your cat scratching post to make it more inviting.
You can also tack a toy to the post, or

(04:51):
by scratching post with one. When the cat swipes at it,
she might scratch the post and realize it's pretty great.
Cover your cat's favorite scratching sites with double sided sticky
tape to deter future scratching, or try spraying furniture with
herbal sprays that cats will avoid. Finally, you can always
trim your cat's nails to a blunt edge, or if

(05:13):
your cat isn't a fan of nail trims, consider buying
plastic colored caps to place over the claws. Not only
will the caps save your furniture, but your cat will
be pretty style in. Today's episode was written by John
Paritano and produced by Tyler clayg. Brain Stuff is a
production of I Heart Radios. How Stuff Works. For Ruin

(05:34):
this and lots of other humane topics, visit our home planet,
how Stuff works dot com, and for more podcast from
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