I'm a vet student at a UK uni and we were discussing declawing cats in class yesterday and I was told by a classmate it's a common occurrence in America. I was surprised it was such a regular procedure as it's illegal across most of Europe and Australia. I was just wondering how common it actually is? and if people are aware of what the procedure actually involves/ what the alternatives are before they get it done?
It's a fairly serious procedure with no benefits to the animal, amputating the end bone from each toe runs a high risk of tissue or nerve damage not to mention infection, and leaves your pet in discomfort. It's similar to wearing an ill fitting pair of shoes 24h a day for the rest of your life, making them unable to climb, run and exhibit normal feline behaviours as easily as before. Cats are notoriously good at hiding their pain but they'll begin to go lame, older cats especially develop back pain and arthritis. It can also cause some cats to bite as they no longer have claws to defend themselves with.
If you're concerned about your cat scratching then you can trim their claws every few weeks or take them to the vet and get soft, plastic caps glued to their nails to prevent them damaging your furniture. In my opinion if you can't spare the time or money to look after your cat then you shouldn't have one. It's not fair to compromise the animals wellbeing for your convenience. Scratching is a normal behaviour for cats, if you don't like it, don't get one.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/bpbr48/how_common_is_declawing_cats_in_the_us_why_is_it/
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