By Anna Holton-Dean
This past December, Animal Rescue Foundation of Tulsa (ARF) received an urgent message regarding a female
“feral” cat named Phoebe, whose owner was moving to a long-term care facility.
ARF’s Cat Foster Coordinator Laura May Chapman, who has fostered hundreds of cats and dogs, arrived to find the situation was quite different from what was described. “The original message I received was along the lines of, ‘We have this female cat who is feral, living completely separated from everyone and all the pets in the owner’s house who needs some place to go.’ Thinking she was truly feral, I have options
outside of ARF to place shop and barn cats with folks looking for working cats who do not want to be touched or handled,” Chapman says.
Phoebe wasn’t feral at all. She was undersocialized from lack of interaction, locked in a room alone—but not feral.
“Then I was told she was declawed,” Chapman says. “She definitely cannot be a shop or barn cat at that point with access to the outdoors.”
Phoebe refused to use the litter box, wouldn’t climb and couldn’t play. She seemed to be a “jerk of a foster cat,” but there was more to her story.
Chapman reached out to several vets regarding Phoebe’s declaw. Assessments and X-rays revealed astounding results.
Chapman explained the truth behind Phoebe’s behavioral problems in a Facebook post: “After being surrendered for being a ‘feral cat only meant for an outdoor barn home away from people’ because she was so awful to her previous owner, I quickly came to realize that something was amiss with my newly rescued foster cat.
“This poor girl was declawed at an early age, and now after living with a botched declawed surgery for almost 10 YEARS, we can clearly see advanced arthritis and trauma in her paws and wrists from a quick X-ray. Her constantly nimble ‘high heel’ shuffle is due to potential bone fragments left in the tips of her toes from being declawed and the advanced wrist arthritis from not walking properly for years. “Well, no wonder my jerk foster cat wants to bite everyone sporadically!”
All Chapman can do is help Phoebe manage as best as possible with a daily regime of medication.
“Because of her long-term ‘condition,’ she is not a candidate for corrective surgery as she is advanced in her age, her arthritis is horrible and her muscles have atrophied,” Chapman says. “She simply would not recover from surgery, and it could make things worse.
“I truly believe she would have been a much happier cat and lived a more fulfilled life if she had not been declawed. She is most likely a permanent foster of mine at this point.”
Discontinuing the Practice of Declawing
Unfortunately, Phoebe’s story is not unique. As many cats suffer complications from declawing procedures, more and more veterinary practitioners are choosing not to perform the surgery.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, declawing is already outlawed in dozens of countries and seven of the 10 Canadian provinces, and the U.S. is starting to catch up. Ten U.S. cities now prohibit the procedure, and in 2019, New York became the first state in the nation to ban elective declawing.
In February of this year, VCA United States animal hospitals, owned by Mars Veterinary Health, announced they were discontinuing elective declawing at all 2,000 practices.
Elective declawing procedures have also been banned at designated Cat Friendly Practices (CFPs). The American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) enacted the policy change on January 1, aligning with its 2017 Position Statement that strongly opposed declawing of cats as an elective procedure.
But is there a time the procedure is needed? “In my experience, I have yet to see a patient that needs all 10 toes declawed for a medical reason,” says Dr. Caren Lawrence, medical director at VCA Woodland South Animal Hospital (a registered gold certified Cat Friendly Practice). Lawrence is also a member of the American Association of Feline Practitioners.
“I find that many cat owners assume an indoor cat needs to be declawed after talking to other people that have declawed cats or because they have owned declawed cats in the past. Another common assumption is that if another cat in the household is declawed, the other cats should be declawed so they don’t use their claws on the other cat. This is just not the case,” Lawrence continues.
“Cats tend to not use their claws in an aggressive manner when playing with other animals in the house. Actually, we find aggression in cats increases with declawed cats. They may not have their claws to scratch anymore, but they do still have the ability to bite, which can be more painful and tends to cause more serious injury.”
Dr. Suzanne Hurst, owner of Kindness Animal Hospital in Tulsa, is another local vet who chose to eliminate the procedure. She also serves as the Oklahoma director for the national organization, The Paw Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the practice of declawing.
About eight years ago, Hurst discovered the long-term damage the procedure was causing in cats.
“Now I try to educate others about the dangers of declawing and help cats who have painful feet from previous declaw procedures,” Hurst says. “Declawing is never necessary. It is never a good idea.”
The Declawing Procedure
There are two ways to perform a declaw procedure, Hurst explains. One is to cut through the last segment of bone on each toe. Because the claw grows from cells contained within the bone, if some cells are left behind, the nail can regrow. It will grow abnormally and underneath the skin. The segments of bone left behind are also problematic because the cat is now walking on these fragments under the skin.
The second way to declaw is to remove the entire last segment of bone on each toe with either a scalpel blade or a laser. This prevents nail regrowth but can still cause issues.
Potential problems include infections of the tissues and in the bone, permanent nerve pain, contracture of the toes, calluses on the toe pads, burns from lasers and even death of the tissue, requiring amputation of the feet and part of the leg.
“With either procedure, we see arthritis developing much earlier, even in the lower back,” Hurst says. “This is because we are fundamentally changing the way they are now forced to walk. Along with the physical issues, we see many behavioral issues, including aggression, withdrawal, increased biting behavior, and litter box avoidance. “So many declaws go wrong because it is an amputation of 10 (or 18 if both front
and back nails are done) weight-bearing appendages. That is 10-18 chances of infection, nerve pain and myriad other postoperative problems to occur.
“When we change the anatomy, it affects the entire musculoskeletal system; the patient has to bear weight on amputated toes immediately after surgery. Things go wrong due to poor technique, inadequate pain control and inadequate infection control.”
Scratching Is Natural Behavior
If someone wants a pet that will never scratch the furniture, Hurst says the best advice is don’t get a cat.
“It is a natural, normal and essential behavior for cats. To expect them not to engage in this behavior would be like asking a human to never stretch or a dog to never bark.
“Cats scratch to display happiness, mark territory, stretch their muscles and pull off the outer sheath of the claw. Sometimes they will scratch if they are anxious or stressed.”
However, cats can be trained to use provided scratching devices instead of furniture. Hurst suggests finding which surface your cat prefers, from unadorned wood to cardboard to sisal rope.
“I recommend having several different types in areas that are easily accessible,” she says. “They can be made more appealing with catnip, pheromones and treats. Place the scratching device in areas that they like to scratch.”
Also, she advises never punish a cat who scratches furniture. “They will not understand why they are being punished and may just become anxious and fearful (which may lead to more scratching). Instead, redirect their behavior and reward them for scratching where you want them to scratch.
“You can protect your furniture with double-sided sticky tape or other devices made to deter them from a specific area. I do recommend trimming their claws every few weeks. If you start when they are young and reward them, they will be much more accepting of this procedure.”
Ultimately, cat owners need to understand that scratching behavior is normal and natural. Owners working with their cats will help ensure fewer “mistakes,” Hurst adds.
“And if you do get a few snags here and there, that is part of living with these amazing and magnificent creatures.”
