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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

My Izzy is a very sweet cat, she has never scratched me. Her style is to cuddle to death.

My cat is a sweet bastard but doesn’t like being touched most of the time.

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).

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.

It’s legal in Russia too, but it’s accepted as unethical and a few ostracized clinics can do the “soft paws” surgery

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.

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.

Sure, but their nails aren’t typically as sharp as cats’ claws, so there is that.

TIL Poor little kitties, why are humans so thoughtlessly monstrous?

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.