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DECLAW SURGERY – HEALTH PROBLEMS DUE TO DECLAWING

Big cats are declawed by their owners with the intention of making the animals less dangerous to handle. Typically, the owners are private collectors who are trying to make a household "pet" out of a feral feline that is, by nature, not a suitable pet. It is rare for public zoos to have declawed cats. Unfortunately, the tiger or cougar that was cute and playful as a cub can be dangerous as an adult, whether or not it has claws. A "pet" that weighs several hundred pounds and eats twenty pounds of meat a day may no longer seem like such a good idea. These cats, victims of human ignorance or arrogance, are sometimes killed. The luckier ones find themselves abandoned or confiscated by authorities and become residents of an animal refuge. There are over a hundred such sanctuaries in the U.S. alone, housing thousands of declawed big cats.

Declawing is a surgical procedure, also called onychectomy, in which the animal's toes are amputated at the last joint. Most people do not realize that a portion of the bone—not only the nail—is removed. Declaw surgery is usually performed when the animal is a cub. While some felines will have immediate complications from the procedure, it may be many months or years before the damaging effects of declawing become obvious. Declawing may result in permanent lameness, arthritis, and other long-term complications.

The following video clip illustrates why declaw surgery can cause debilitating injury in cats:

Cats normally walk with their toes bearing the weight of their bodies; each step is cushioned by the pad under the toe. Declawed cats experience extreme pain supporting their body weight when standing or walking, if the tendon attached to the retained segment of the third phalanx pulls that bit of bone under the foot. The displaced bone fragment produces a painful "pebble-in-the-shoe" sensation when they stand or try to walk.

To compensate for the pain in their tender paws, cats will attempt to shift their weight farther back on their feet, in effect walking on their "wrists," like Naala, an African lioness shown here (left). The stresses caused by the abnormal posture and movement, may produce arthritis in the legs, which, in turn, may cripple the cat further and cause it more suffering.

Also, bone fragments may contain remnants of nail-forming tissue that may continue to grow deep within the foot, causing infection. The pad is often displaced backwards, toward the rear of the foot, allowing the weight of the cat's body to push the end of the second toe bone (second phalanx, or p2), through the thinned tissue on the underside of the foot. These complications may occur in combination, invariably resulting in great pain for the animal to stand or walk.

In more severe and particularly heartbreaking cases, the mutilation from declaw surgery may cause so much tenderness or pain that the animal can move only by walking on its "elbows," like Kona, the mountain lion shown here (left).

 

In her former role as head veterinarian at a wildlife sanctuary, Dr. Jennifer Conrad founded The Paw Project, which rehabilitates big cats, such as lions, tigers, cougars, and jaguars, that have been maimed by declawing. She has been a proactive spokesperson advocating humane alternatives to declaw surgery and has been interviewed on numerous television and radio programs to educate the public about the mutilating effects of feline declawing. She has tirelessly supported legislative efforts in California to ban feline declawing, which is a practice banned in many industrialized countries throughout the world.

 

 

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Sunday, March 29, 2009, 8/7c on ABC

 

Almquist Family

Ty and the gang go to Phelan, California, to help a family dedicated to protecting the wildlife community build a stronger and safer home.

 

 

PAW PROJECT NEWSLETTER

Paw Project 2009 Winter Newsletter

S.M. MOHD IDRIS, President of Sahabat Alam Malaysia, an environmental advocacy organization, speaks out against declawing in a sharply worded article, "CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: Enough of this mutilation."

The animal advocate remarks, "Declawing big cats is illegal in many countries. For example, it has been prohibited in the United States since 2006."

"The American Veterinary Medical Association adopted a position opposing the declawing of wild cats in 2004 based on the fact that these cats commonly experienced adverse effects from the surgery resulting in chronic health problems. Some may suffer trauma and complications during surgery, eventually being left crippled."