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The Facts About Declawing Cats ~ Pls Read & Repost
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Moonwarriors

Please post this everywhere, thank you

THE FACTS ABOUT DECLAWING:

Feline Amputation – “Onychectomy”

What You Really Need To Know

The cat is born with claws as a means of defense. Large cats as well as small cats use their claws to hunt with, to burrow with, and to fight with. Taking a cat’s claws away from them will lead to death if the animal is left outside. If you are thinking about having your cat de-clawed, think of this first: How would you survive correctly if you had no fingers?

The Cats Claws

Unlike most mammals who walk on the soles of the paws or feet, cats are digitigrade, which means they walk on their toes. Their back, shoulder, paw and leg joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves are naturally designed to support and distribute the cat’s weight across its toes as it walks, runs and climbs. A cat’s claws are used for balance, for exercising, and for stretching the muscles in their legs, back, shoulders, and paws. They stretch these muscles by digging their claws into a surface and pulling back against their own clawhold – similar to isometric exercising for humans. This is the only way a cat can exercise, stretch and tone the muscles of its back and shoulders. The toes help the foot meet the ground at a precise angle to keep the leg, shoulder and back muscles and joints in proper alignment. Removal of the last digits of the toes drastically alters the conformation of their feet and causes the feet to meet the ground at an unnatural angle that can cause back pain similar to that in humans caused by wearing improper shoes.

Understanding Declawing (Onychectomy)

The anatomy of the feline claw must be understood before one can appreciate the severity of declawing. The cat’s claw is not a nail as is a human fingernail, it is part of the last bone (distal phalanx) in the cat’s toe. The cats claw arises from the unguicular crest and unguicular process in the distal phalanx of the paw (see above diagram). Most of the germinal cells that produce the claw are situated in the dorsal aspect of the ungual crest. This region must be removed completely, or regrowth of a vestigial claw and abcessation results. The only way to be sure all of the germinal cells are removed is to amputate the entire distal phalanx at the joint.

Complications

Declawing is not without complication. The rate of complication is relatively high compared with other so-called routine procedures. Complications of this amputation can be excruciating pain, damage to the radial nerve, hemorrhage, bone chips that prevent healing, painful regrowth of deformed claw inside of the paw which is not visible to the eye, and chronic back and joint pain as shoulder, leg and back muscles weaken.

Laser Declawing Cruelty

Burnt tissue from laser declaw

Just like a scalpel, the laser is used to amputate the last bone of each of the cats’s toes. Laser surgery has its own risks. This cat’s tissue was overheated by the laser, resulting in exposed bone and necrotic tissue. The cat needed four additional surgeries before the wounds healed.

This poor cat suffered for months with horrible infections and osteomyelitis. The second vet had to remove dead soft tissue and bone, including an entire toe from the paw on the right. The cat survived, but was permanently lame.

X-ray showing displaced bone fragments/

This is a x-ray image of a typical declawed domestic cat paw. The retained fragment of the toe bone in a relatively normal anatomic position is indicated by arrow “A”. “B” shows the fragment has been pulled under the paw by the tendon that is still attached. In this position, the fragment is situated between the remaining second toe bone and the pad, where it acts like a painful pebble-in-the-shoe.

There is a simple alternative available for you and your cat. Introduce a scratching post. You can make one yourself or it can be purchased. Your cat’s scratching post should be tall enough so your cat can stretch completely when scratching, and stable enough so it won’t wobble when being used. It should be covered with a strong, heavy, rough fiber like the back side of carpeting and lined with catnip.

Declawing Cats is actually illegal in:

France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Australia, Brazil, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and recently Los Angles.

Declawing: Open Your Eyes to the Truth

Blog link: The Facts About Declawing Cats:
http://www.myspace.com/moonwarriors2/blog/540844688

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Moonwarriors