Author: Eric Troncy | Douleur animale, bien-être animal, Université de Montréal
When I first heard some countries did this it was like 20 years ago. I thought at the time it was news because they’d stopped - clearly I was wrong :/
Declawing cats should be called “cutting the fingers off of cats so they can’t scratch anymore”.
proud to never have mutilated my cat’s fingers or balls. and he was still really chill anyway.
I thought they banned this like 20 years ago
It’s illegal in Québec.
It’s illegal in a lot of regions. Maybe list the ones where it’s not.
USA! USA! USA!
There ya go
Oh, didn’t realise this was a Canada sub.
Ontario still allows it apparently. Get your shit together Ontario!
Good!
Why even have a cat if you’re going to mutilate their hands?
Like, just get a dog if you can’t handle the claws.
Like, just get a dog if you can’t handle the claws.
Cats can retract theirs; dogs can’t. I’m not sure this would work out. Not to mention you gotta clip the dog’s every once in a while and if you do it wrong, you can hurt them.
Cat’s claws are for hunting, fighting and climbing. They are extremely sharp, and can rip your skin and make you bleed without even trying.
Dog’s claws are for traction and digging. Usually dogs claws are dull, they might still cause a big of damage to the top most layer of your skin, but they have to make an effort to draw blood. Dogs hunt and fight with their teeth instead of their claws.
Sure, but their nails aren’t typically as sharp as cats’ claws, so there is that.
I mean historically people didn’t necessarily think of it as mutilation, even if now most people understand it to be extreme. Many cats have bad scratching habits and people don’t know to train their cats not to do so. Some will definitely trash your furniture and people looked at de-clawing as a way to stop it vs giving up the cat for adoptuon. Are all cats even trainable to not scratch? I don’t know personally.
I’m kind of curious how banning declawing of cats influences rates of abandonment and euthanization. I had many cats when I was younger, some which were bad scratchers and got de-clawed and others which weren’t prone to it so didn’t get de-clawed. I’d like to get one now but know my wife (and I probably) won’t be able to tolerate our furniture and drapes getting tore up if I can’t train it not to, and I hate the idea of adopting one only to give it up later, so I’ll likely not get one at all. I wonder if and how many get put down simply because fewer adopt them when de-clawing is banned.
I wonder if and how many get put down simply because fewer adopt them when de-clawing is banned.
I wonder about this, but in regards to the housing crisis. It’s hell trying to find a new place to live, but trying to find an affordable place that ALSO allows pets? As someone looking for a home myself, it seems like almost everywhere has “No pets, no smoking” as a rule.
I don’t have a pet so it doesn’t apply to me now, but I know people stuck in a shitty apartment that’s falling apart, just because they adopted a puppy (of unknown breed origins) a few years ago. That puppy grew, and now even places that allow pets say that he’s too large to be permitted.
I would love to adopt a pet. But this human housing situation spells bad news for strays and shelter pets everywhere.
Renting and pets have always been a problem, and the higher the occupancy rate the less likely landlord’s allow pets. I certainly understand from a landlords perspective pets damage things and replacing all the carpet because cats pissed all over and the tenant didn’t care is expensive. But as you said, with housing what it is now there are even more people restricted from pet ownership than ever.
Scratching is part claw maintenance and part territorial marking / decorating. And it feels good for them! If you catch a cat scratching the furniture, scolding them will usually get them to stop. Most cats will quit scratching the furniture entirely if you give them more appealing things to scratch. It has to be a good height, very stable, and have a texture they like.
Simply clipping the tips of the claws goes a long way to prevent furniture destruction, when combined with a scratching/climbing tree. Some cats like sisal but others prefer carpet on the posts. I have a routine with my present cat where she knows if she jumps to a certain place she’ll get a couple Dental Treats, but before she jumps I briefly check her front paws. If there’s a longer, sharper nail, I clip it, just the tip. Then I put up the treat. That way she never has to put up with more than one or two snips. I use a regular toenail clipper, but a big sharp quality one. And turn it because claws are taller than they are wide.
I started buying the paste tubes. Our cats go nuts for them. I started giving them one after I clip their nails. Now, they complain and still try to pull away, but they don’t run away anymore when I grab the clippers.
Cat nail caps are not a perfect answer to this problem, but still an infinitely better one than amputation (please don’t use the term declawing as it’s extremely misleading).
There’s also ways to encourage your cat to use scratch pads and the like instead of your furniture (cats hate citrus for example, so a bit of that where they want to scratch and they’ll find a new spot immediately).
The simple fact that we still call it “declawing” is so infuriating… I’ve had to tell a lot of people around me that it actually is an amputation.
Agree. My younger self thought it was just a nail removal instead of severing the ends of their fingers and toes.
Because that’s what the people doing it told us it was and kids don’t know better.
TIL 😱 Poor little kitties, why are humans so thoughtlessly monstrous?
Because the sole reason for having animals is the emotional fulfillment of humans, however much it is dressed up as “for the animals.” So whatever is annoying about these little fur balls is just removed as it serves no purpose.
That argument can be applied to anything.
I want to make my wife happy, because her being happy makes me happy.
That’s all just human nature, and it’s okay as long as what we do doesn’t hurt others.
We would never consider it because we had kids and dogs and the cats needed their claws. But yes it should be banned. We don’t declaw dogs.
I wish we’d trained them to sit still to have them trimmed, as now the kids are grown and dogs not puppies either, but it’s no big deal. Just don’t get expensive furniture.
We don’t declaw dogs? Removing the dew claw is very common on dogs.
That one doesn’t help them, though. I just mean the dogs are all scratching up everyone’s floors, but then they declaw the cats? I can get a couch cheaper than getting the floors refinished. And puppies CHEW stuff too. Our dogs have done more damage than our cats.
That’s why so many cats end up with chronic pain, behavioral issues, or even stop using the litter box after the procedure. There are far better alternatives like regular trimming, scratching posts, or soft nail caps. It feels like one of those practices we’ll look back on and wonder how it was ever considered acceptable.
Wait, it’s like forbidden in almost all countries
While onychectomy is banned in at least 38 countries,
Should be, but wishful thinking that it is.
It’s legal in the US, and sometimes even recommended by vets.
I met someone who had it done because she trusted her vet’s advice. Her cat completely changed.
The US opinion doesn’t count, that country is an insane shithole
It’s legal in Russia too, but it’s accepted as unethical and a few ostracized clinics can do the “soft paws” surgery
As bad as declawing can be, there is something worse: cutting the tendons so they can’t flex their claws anymore.
I had a cat I adopted off the street that had that done, and because he couldn’t scratch things his claws had grown through the pads of his feet.
:(
They make these plastic caps that blunt kitty’s claws, if you need to take the scratch out of a cat. say, for human safety during socializing lessons.
I’m gonna lose a limb just trying to get those onto my cats murder mitts.
If the cat is that fierce I think it’s time to talk to a vet anyway.
If your cat hasn’t drawn your blood, is it even your cat?
My Izzy is a very sweet cat, she has never scratched me. Her style is to cuddle to death.
I have had two very loving darlings and one satanic shitbeast.
Guess which one has not drawn blood.
They have razors on their feet. It happens .
I have two cats, littermates. One will almost never scratch you, usually happens if play gets too vigorous and he forgets. The other will lightly scratch you just to get your attention, and will dig his claws into your lap if he’s enjoying petting too much. I love them both, even when they are being pains in the ass.
It’s also super easy to clip a cats nails every other week. I have two cats and have fostered others, and I’ve clipped them all to keep the nails short and dull.
I nip my cat’s back nails, not to shorten or blunt them but to encourage them to shed. She picks her post with her front claws and keeps them healthy, but she doesn’t really use her back nails for much so they don’t shed naturally and they get thick and crusty and dirty. Nipping just the tip of them encourages the outer layers to crack and shed. Izzy’s pretty sweet about it too, she’s okay with me handling her feet for a little bit but if she gets tired of it she’ll just try to put her feet in her pocket.
How much pain do you think most cats cause others, simply for existing?
We also need to ban non-vegan cat food
I hope you stick to pet rabbists and guinea pigs, my friend. It’s okay to be vegan, but if you’re vegan and are against the type of food cats and dogs need to survive, just don’t get a cat or a dog. It is very simple. They are not vegans. They never will be vegan and forcing them to be vegan is not very vegan if we still live by the idea that veganism is against animal abuse. Would you force a penguin to eat vegetables too?
My dude, others simply don’t see the beauty of this shitpost. Marvelous
Are vegans allowed to keep pets?
Cats who get declawed are generally indoor cats who wouldn’t hurt anything but their owner’s furniture regardless.
Also cats are obligate carnivores, and you’re an asshole.
Nope. You’re ignorant of biology. Enzymes have been on the market for a looong time
I know you might mean well because giving cats vegan diets with enzymes appears to reduce animal suffering, but consider for a moment that cats cannot speak to us. Cats are proficient at hiding their pain, and they cannot tell us if their vegan diet is making them ill.
The best thing you can do to reduce animal suffering as a vegan is not to have children. Creating fewer humans objectively decreases consumption, ethical and unethical. Have a cat, eat meat, do whatever you want, but nothing will have a greater impact on this planet than to help lower its population. Heck, even murder reduces animal suffering if you don’t consider humans an animal.
I’m just saying that vegan cat food is very far down on the list of effective vegan practices, and it is certainly not ethical because you cannot determine the magnitude of harm it can cause your cat.
Im sorry the world is uglier than you think it should be, but having that attitude and capping it off with an implication that it’s okay to cause another being lifelong pain simply because of their nature makes it pretty clear that you don’t so much want a more ethical world for other creatures as much as you don’t like cats.
You take up air others should be breathing, but we let you live.
My cat is a sweet bastard but doesn’t like being touched most of the time.
