The recovery time is much quicker when cats are young. There also are fewer potential complications. If you want to discuss cat declawing and you live around Castle Rock or Denver, call our cat vets at or:. We want to make sure the bandages stay on, and your cat has a confined and quiet space to begin healing. Cats are very good at hiding discomfort.
Be sure to give your cat the pain medication , even if he or she is acting normal. If you live in or around Castle Rock, Colorado, we welcome your call. Please call us at or:. Book your appointment here —————. Specializing in the care of cats and dogs, our goal is to help you and your pet feel more comfortable, keeping your stress to a minimum.
This article is intended to provide general guidance about declawing a cat. If you have specific questions or concerns, please contact your local veterinarian. If you live in or around Castle Rock, we welcome your call. They don't realize that declawing can make a cat less likely to use the litter box or more likely to bite.
Declawing also can cause lasting physical problems for your cat. Many countries have banned declawing. The Humane Society of the United States opposes declawing except for the rare cases when it is necessary for medical purposes, such as the removal of cancerous nail bed tumors.
People who are worried about being scratched, especially those with immunodeficiencies or bleeding disorders, may be told incorrectly that their health will be protected by declawing their cats. However, infectious disease specialists don't recommend declawing. The risk from scratches for these people is less than those from bites, cat litter, or fleas carried by their cats.
Scratching is normal cat behavior. It isn't done to destroy a favorite chair or to get even. Cats scratch to remove the dead husks from their claws, mark territory, and stretch their muscles. Cats are usually about 8 weeks old when they begin scratching.
That's the ideal time to train kittens to use a scratching post and allow nail trims. Pet caregivers should not consider declawing a routine prevention for unwanted scratching. Declawing can actually lead to an entirely different set of behavior problems that may be worse than shredding the couch. Too often, people think that declawing is a simple surgery that removes a cat's nails—the equivalent of having your fingernails trimmed. Sadly, this is far from the truth.
Declawing traditionally involves the amputation of the last bone of each toe. If performed on a human being, it would be like cutting off each finger at the last knuckle. We think declawing a cat should be a last choice after all the other options have been exhausted. The other options include:. Young, immature cats declawed at less than 6 months of age heal fastest, experience the least pain, and have the lowest risk of complications. The older they get, the more painful the procedure is, the slower the recovery, and the more likely complications become.
Generally, we remove all ten of the claws on the front paws. No matter how you spin it, it is hard to get away from the fact that it amounts to the amputation of the last joint of each digit. There are several surgical techniques in use. We use a technique at Sunnyside Veterinary Clinic that involves surgically removing the claws with a CO 2 laser.
We generally only remove the front claws. Occasionally we will consider removing the claws on all four feet, but there needs to be some compelling reason to do so. I find medical issues on the owner's part to be quite compelling.
The laser is widely accepted by most veterinarians as the best way to perform this procedure. There are practitioners out there who are able to do the procedure well without the laser, but in my hands laser declaws are dramatically less painful than the older methods.
That means that pain management is vital.
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