is it true that declawing a cat is actually amputating something off their toes???

Question

i've heard it is but i didn't know if it was true

Answer 1

yes.the toe is cut off at the first joint.
lots of vets wont even do the procedure,cause after the surgery,the paws are bandaged,and just like people the bandages need to be kept clean and dry,hard for a cat when they use a litter box.
scratch posts are best.
and if kitty scratches on something they are not supposed to,just give kitty a squirt of water in the tush,say no then show them the post and gently rub their paw on it,they will get the point

Answer 2

It would be like cutting off your finger at the first knuckle. right behind your fingernail. We just trim our cats nails. I didn't have the heart to declaw them.

now there are lazer treatments to kill the nail that seem a lot less mean. If you're going to do it, i'd definitely go with this. We might look into it, but our cats are getting out of their scratching the furniture stage now that we gave them a clawing post.

Answer 3

Yes, they amputate a part of the cat's toes to do declawing.

Answer 4

Yes. If we declawed humans we would have to take the whole first knuckle to insure that the nail bed goes too. That's what we do to cats to declaw them and it really throws off their ability to jump and land and walk.

Peace!

Answer 5

If you are having your cat declawed, leave the back claws on, just in case they get out they can still climb a tree and defend themselves

Answer 6

Yes, its true - that's why so many people regard it has inhumane. To completely remove the claw so that it won't grow back (as opposed to simply having the claws trimmed or similar) the vet has to remove the human-equivilent of the first knuckle on the cat's paw.

Answer 7

It is the knuckles that are removed. I refrained from having my 2 cats "declawed."

Answer 8

It's something like that. What you would be doing is taking away the only defence mechanism it has. It can't climb a tree to save it's life for a dog, coyote or any thing that may harm it. Why would you need to do this. It's stupid and I think that people that do this should go bear hunting without a gun.

Answer 9

Hi Katey...the procedure removes not only the claw but part of the toe's tendons (front of the toes). Here are a couple websites that explains this in better detail: http://www.declawing.com/htmls/declawing.htm
Declawing surgery photos (WARNING graphic surgical photos)
http://community-2.webtv.net/stopdeclaw/declawpics/

Answer 10

Now that drs are starting to use lazors I don't think it is that bad, but there are still a lot of drs that are still old fashion and I think the part that moves the nail out is actually a knuckle and I believe this is removed.