De-clawing cats... what's with the finger refference?

Question

People keep saying declawing a cat is equivilant to removing the first diget of your fingers. Last checked, cats don't use their paws as hands,but more as feet. many people have has entire toes amputated and they do just fine.

I do agree, though, that the procedure should not be done on any cat. Claws are the first form of deffence for a cat, and without them they're damn near helpless. That and I detest altering animals for stupid reasons, this goes along with cropping and docking *though there have been good reasons, such as long and powerful tails that could be broken if the dog got too happy.* If your furniture is more important than your cat, then buy yourself a furry automan and give the cat to someone who cares.

By altering I meant cosmetic and other things that are for the ower's benifit. Spaying and neutering are different, though. Those are good alters.

Answer 1

A cat's front paw is similar in bone structure to our fingers, the top part of the cat's toe is amputated in declawing. They do use them somewhat as hands, such as for climbing, eating and playing and scratching. It is likened to removing the fingernail but to do so you would have to cut off the top of the finger to the first joint.

Declawing is for people who don't understand cats and lazy people.

Altering, if you mean neutering, has health benefits, they're not stupid reasons. Female cats get pyometra, often by the time symptoms appear, it's too late and the condition is fatal. I have known many cats who have called once and that was enough. In some cases the owner hasn't even known the cat has been on heat at all. It happens in young and old cats. Another condition is ovarian cysts, and that can also be fatal to a cat. It also eliminates reproductive cancers in both sexes and prostate cancer in males. You don't have to worry about them mating and contracting a fatal sexually transmitted disease, many other viruses and abcesses from fighting.

Declawing, tail docking and ear cropping are illegal here too and are considered animal cruelty.

Where I live, cats are not native, they, like most things which have become pests, were imported. Cats and dogs are destroying native wildlife nearly to the point of extinction so laws have been passed that all cats and dogs have to be lifetime registered, microchipped and if you don't want to pay a huge registration fee, neutered. Cats must be confined to the owner's property of a day and indoors between dawn and dusk. There are wheels in motion to make neutering of companion animals (especially cats since they're prolific breeders) mandatory. Cats in public places are a threat to human health and safety, as too are dogs and there are heavy restrictions and fines. As a rescuer and foster carer and responsible owner, I fully support these measures.

Some people complain about these things but if they did the right thing, we wouldn't have the laws in the first place.

Answer 2

I'm anti-declaw but I never use the finger reference, I agree with you it's not a correct comparison. While it changes their posture more than the loss of our toes would change ours, since cats walk more on their toes than we do, cats don't need to pick anything up, they don't need to type, to do any of the things we humans do with our hands. The changed posture can cause arthritis later on in life, but they aren't left near as disabled as we would be without our fingers.

The major problems of declawing are the initial pain, the fact that the pain and discomfort from their paws can often cause them to stop using the litterbox, some turn into biters -especially if aggressiveness was the reason for declawing them, you don't make a cat less aggressive by taking away their claws, they'll just find another way to be aggressive! Also some cats get painful regrowths, sometimes years after being declawed.

The worst about declawing is that it is totally unnecessary. I live in Europe, declawing is illegal here. We have lots of cats (with claws, obviously), lots of nice furniture, lots of babies... yet our furniture doesn't look like crap, our kids aren't scratched up... Even SoftPaws aren't sold much, I'd never even heard of those before I started posting on Yahoo Answers. I know many cat people and I don't know anyone who hasn't been able to train his cat(s) to use a scratching post. If we can train our cats, why should Americans not be able to?

Answer 3

I agree with you that declawing is a horrible practise. Actually, declawing is only allowed in the US. Other countries consider it pet torture and isnt allowed.
As for furniture, my cat will only scratch at cardboard! I trim his nails once in a while, when he gets to too happy to see me and jumps on my legs and the claws go through my jeans...but hey! thats who he is!
Actually, in the US too, I know there are claw protectors you can find in pet shops to cap up the claw. Last about 3 weeks. Dont know how comfortable it can be though.
In Hong Kong, a lot of ppl will cut wild cat tails as they believe that cutting the tail will make the cat "nicer". Dont ask...I cannot stand those old "have no clue on which science this is based" kind of stories!!!
I will catch the wild cats and have them sterilized though (special program here in HK. its free). The female cat behind my home had had 4 litters, but all kittens died due to lack of food until I move there and the last litter she had survived.

Answer 4

I have always made reference to a toe amputation when making a comparison to humans. And just because people have toes amputated sometimes by necessity, doesn't mean its pleasant or anybody's signing up to have it done voluntarily. If you could ask the cat, they certainly wouldn't be saying sure, OK, let's go for it. Keep in mind too, on the human side, losing a toe can cause problems like loss of balance. Likewise, as you said, cats lose some natural functions when they are declawed.

Answer 5

I don't know if you need help on this subject, but you if have a cat that needs to be safer, you could trim its claws. Buy some special clippers at a pet store (yes, you have to) grab a brave buddy to hold your cat's arms (and sharp claws) still while you squeeze a toe, and trim the clear part off the end. For about two minutes of discomfort, a person can enjoy about four weeks of duller claws. Much preffered to declawing, in my opinion. It seems cruel to do that to a cat.

Answer 6

It is a way to let people know how painful it can be too. And the long term affects of it...such as permanent limping. As far as not declawing any cats...some have to be declawed and not just to save furniture. I have a VERY VERY aggressive cat that was attacking my other cats. To save them being hurt and to keep from me having to give him up, I did get him declawed. As far as furniture, I agree with you...if you are more worried about furniture...cats aren't the animal for you...get a hamster

Answer 7

I agree the last cat I had my dad declawed it and was totally helpless this new cat i got I refuse to declaw since it is totally inhumain I think to do so.
Yes she tears stuff up but I really wouldn't like it if she happened to get out one time and not beable to defend herself.
Thats why declawing a cat should never be done.

Answer 8

Because cats basically walk on their "toes" the digit where their claws come out is referred to as the first digit. That is why so many people get mad when people talk about declawing their cats. I have 10 cats of my own and have none of them declawed. I have no problems with my cats clawing my furniture because I have two cat trees as well as plenty of cat scratchers because I agree with you that there is no real reason to have them declawed.

Answer 9

I didn't get my cat de-clawed and he is FINE. We just take him to get his claws trimmed by the vet when needed. He is a totally indoor cat, but he could escape, we are not going to eliminate that possibility. He is also very busy digging in the litterbox and wouldn't have the ability without the claws, in my opinion. The vet mentioned another procedure with the tendons, so they cannot extend in the clawing motion... but things are just fine with my cat the natural way.

Answer 10

The finger reference comes in because the nail is attached to a bone and declawing is actually an amputation of the first joint.