how much does it cost to declaw a kitten?

Answer 1

The Facts about Declawing
http://www.de-clawing.com/
http://www.declawing.com/
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/apr03/030415c.asp
http://www.cfainc.org/health/declawing.html
http://www.aafponline.org/resources/statements/declawing.htm
http://straypetadvocacy.org/html/declaw_detoe.html
http://declaw.lisaviolet.com/
http://STOPDECLAW.COM

Forwarded message...originally sent to Declaw Hall of Shame

To:
Subject: Horror Stories
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 14:36:31 -0400

I have two horror stories to share with you. The only two experiences I have had with declaw have both led to pain and misery for the cat.

Snowy was my 4th birthday present. Because my sister and I were so young, my mother had her declawed to protect us from scratches. After the casts finally came off, Snowy seemed fine for a while. Then she began chewing her feet. She almost always had bloody feet from chewing them open. My mother went back to the vet many times and was constantly told it was "just a nervous habit" and nothing could be done other than spraying the feet with things to keep Snowy from chewing them. As the years went by Snowy became more and more agressive with her own feet, until finally, she would chew even through the vet recommended hot sauce that made her vomit. We moved away and my mother found a new vet in the new town. He took one look at poor Snowy's feet and told my mother what was REALLY happening. Regrowth. Snowy had walked for 8 years on agonizingly painful feet in which new, mutated claws had grown INSIDE her foot. She had to be declawed again. We watched tears fall from the vets eyes as he soothed her and carried her back for surgery. My mother has never forgiven herself, or the vet who hurt her, and then refused to help her afterwards by lying to my mother about what was happening. I was in my twenties when we had to have Snowy put to sleep. She had severe arthritis and in a matter of just days, her feet had become completely unusable. She had vanished and when we found her huddled in the basement at last, she was crippled and in agonizing pain. I do not believe she would have suffered that way if she had never been declawed.

The next cat is a foster rescue that I have while she is recovering. She is a beautiful dusky orange medium hair with the most vibrantly gold/orange eyes I have ever seen. Punkin was brought to us when our landlord found her nearly starved to death. Punkin is the victim of a four paw declaw. The people that put her through this trauma did NOT have her spayed. What they DID do was toss her out when she showed typical behavior problems of the majority of declawed cats. She cannot use a regular litter box as "normal" litters very ovbiously cause her feet pain to scratch in. She can only use Feline Pine litter. She also bites. Abandoned outside with no claws, Punkin very nearly starved to death. Even when she found a place with stray cat feeding stations, the other strays would not allow her near the food and she could not stand up for herself. She was found laying 20 feet from a feeding station, mewing weekly as though begging for just one bite. Punkin is doing much better with a Feline Pine filled litter box and is learning not to bite. While Punkin is slowly recovering and gaining weight, she is still in pain. The butcher who declawed her took a bit more than he should have. More than half of the bone structure in her front paws is missing. Punkin walks on stubs and flaps of paws. She can not run or jump or climb. If she hits something the wrong way with her foot she screeches and collapses. Punkin is a wonderfully sweet cat. Our vet is researching any method available to repair her feet as much as possible to reduce her pain. If no option can be found, Punkin will face a life of pain or being put to sleep to free her from that.

This is the price of declaw. The money an owner pays is nothing next to the life of pain and unhappiness paid by the cat. No loving owner, educated in the truth of declaw, would ever do this to an animal. This should be outlawed in our country as it is in so many others. I will slash my furniture with a knife myself before I will EVER have a cat declawed!

S. K.
Phone Counselor
Animal Allies

Answer 2

I am going to get it done along with the neutering. The vet said 6lbs or 6 months and it is a good idea to have it done at the same time. To get it all done for me it's about $200-300. There are some options that go along that you can either accept or not(in my case anyway)

Yes, yes I know it is cruel or whatever but I must say that I know 3 cats(that is 3/3) that had this done and turned out fine.

My vet didn't even try to talk me out of it.

And I'm sorry to everyone else but I do not have a choice and trust me that my cat is much better off in a home that will love it and declawed than it would be with all claws intact and out on the street.

Answer 3

completely or just remove front claws? I paid around $75 for front declaw I'd say thats about average, some may be as low as 60 and some as much as 100 and up. Only way to get a real figure is to call a veterinarian. I dont think it can be done until the cat is 4-6 months and its best to do before 2 years old.

Answer 4

DECLAWING IS NOT PAINFUL! everyone shut up please! cats have far fewer cutaneous nerves than humans and they process pain in much different ways. first, declawing takes place UNDER ANESTHESIA, therefore will not hurt and they wake up with their paws bandaged and plenty of analgesics on board to prevent any "pain" and slow bleeding. all of my monsters are declawed and every one of them made it through just fine and were running around like normal the next day. cost should be between $100-$150 for a quality job. a lot of vets use a laser now, but there really is no difference, just cost (the vets who use a laser are going to charge you A LOT more to pay for that stupid thing).

remember, after your cat is declawed, DO NOT LET HIM OUTSIDE!!!

don't worry, declawing is not painful or cruel. i have been a vet tech for 5 years and have declawed thousands of cats. if it were cruel i wouldn't be in this business.

talk about cruel - look up ear cropping.at least declawing serves a freakin purpose

Answer 5

It varies from clinic to clinic. Call around and find a clinic that uses a laser rather than a scalpel. The recovery time is less than three days under most circumstances with a laser. I would like to respond to everyone who is berating you for having this done...
Methods to declaw cats are much better than they use to be. Instead of the cat taking several days or even weeks they can be walking around the next day. I used to work at a vet clinic and one of my cats is declawed. He was jumping around the next day. It is much worse to dock ears and tails on dogs and I bet some of you have done that.

Answer 6

Depends on where you go.Remember the term declaw is misleading.It is actually amputating the tip of each toe.

Answer 7

Please don't. You are mutilating an animal instead of making the effort to teach it to perform a completely natural behavior in the appropriate places. There are many aids to train cats to scratch on a post or scratch pad and not to scratch other things. Most kitties will use a scratching post without any training at all.

Answer 8

declawing is the cruelest thing in the world. They tear the claws out. It is a horrible thing to do. It is cruel and unusual.

Answer 9

Please don't declaw a kitten!!!!! It's extremely painful to the poor animal and It leaves him/her deffensless to any accidents that may happen!

Answer 10

Don't declaw! cats lose their self defense without their claws.