Almost Home Foundation, a Chicago suburban based non-profit animal rescue has taken a bold stance against declawing cats. AHF is one of very few rescues in the Chicago area that have added this to an adoption agreement.
Claire Sleigh is one of the original founding members of Almost Home Foundation.
“Declawing a cat is painful and changes their personality, I have been against declawing all my life perhaps if you saw the surgery you would change your mind.” Claire Sleigh
The scenario- It is the winter season in Northern Illinois. It is ten degrees below zero. Your cat slips out the door and gets lost. Of course the cat will get hungry and even need to defend himself. But how will he catch mice or climb trash cans to find food in the extreme cold if he is missing his claws? How will he climb between crevices to find a warm place to survive?
The claws of a cat serve a purpose. A cat's claws are versatile, multi-purpose tools. Cats use their retractable claws every day, for climbing, scratching, pouncing, turning, balancing, or defending themselves against other cats, dogs, other predators, even humans who might try to harm them. The removal of a feline's claws is a cruel practice that is outlawed in nearly every civilized country except the United States.
During the cold weather, Chicago animal rescues and local shelters see an epidemic of cats with severe health problems such as emaciation when they are picked up by animal control. The reason behind this is that these felines are not capable of long term survival without what Mother Nature gave them for a reason: Claws
Mother Nature provided claws for the cat species for a reason. They are a direct descendant of a predatory animal and instinctively climb high to see the activity on the ground. Cats also use their claws for defense purposes when they need to get away from an over-zealous dog or other type of animal.
Cats are amongst the World's most clean and tidy animals. For instance, they use their claws after eliminating to cover up their excrement with dirt in nature and of course cat litter in captivity.
Cats use their claws as a means to mark their territory. When they scratch a surface, the glands that sit right behind the claws excrete a liquid and transfer onto that particular object; which in turn lets other cats know that he was there. It's a message to other felines letting them know that they are dominating and in charge of the area. It's simply a natural instinct for cats to perform this ritualistic characteristic. Without their claws, it's simply impossible to do.
The interestingly sad observation of declawing a cat is the fact that even without their claws; they will still instinctively go through the motions of sharpening their claws. The process of declawing a cat goes completely against nature and is detrimental to your cat when they slip out of your household.
Why is declawing legal in the United States? As stated earlier, here in the U.S. we are one of the only civilized countries in the World that allows this animal cruelty.
Sleigh says, “In Europe most countries would never consider declawing a cat. I have heard people say 'We do it by laser now (and) it is not that painful. (However;) the only thing it changes is less bleeding. I have had to watch little kittens and older cats tear off their bandages and start to bleed so bad that I could not sleep at night.”
Looking at the countries where this process is illegal may help Americans understand that our society as a whole needs a proper education.
The following is a list of countries in which declawing cats is either illegal or considered extremely inhumane and only performed under extreme circumstances. England, Scotland, Wales, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Slovenia, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. The United States is found nowhere on this list.
“Now you may say I have beautiful furniture what do I do? Find an alternative way, scratching posts, (and to) trim their nails so easy to do." Says Sleigh
She added, "I have been doing animal rescue for 35 years I am so proud to say for me it is all about the animals.”
Comments
We will not adopt cats to people who will declaw them, and our contract specifically prohibits adopters from declawing. If someone is adamant that they want a declawed cat, we will help them find one that it already declawed.
@Katzenwoofers Pet Rescue, that is great to hear! Keep up the good work!
Our contract prohibits declawing as well. We educate the public on what declawing really is (the very term itself is highly misleading), we offer to come to peoples homes to trim nails for life, as well as go over the necessary items that must be in a home in order for a cat to be happy - #1 a scratching post! We demonstrate how to apply soft paws. We almost always have declawed cats needing homes in our rescue or another local organization and we are happy to assist people who can't be convinced not to declaw in finding an already declawed cat. Frankly, we will do anything it takes to ensure none of our rescues, and fewer and fewer cats in general, are declawed. We look forward to the day declawing is illegal in the US.
I'm part of Broad Shoulders Animal Rescue in Chicago, and it's part of our adoption contract that our cats not be declawed.
I would like to point out that declawing doesn't "just" cut off the claw. Declawing involves cutting through bone, tendons & ligaments of at least 10 separate toes (if you're only doing the front). A human equivalent would be cutting off your finger to the first joint, but even more so than that- it'd be almost like cutting off all your toes.
Cat's don't balance on their feet, they balance on their toes. Declawing completely changes how they walk for the rest of their life, eventually leading to arthritis. In turn, a side effect of arthritis often is pooping/peeing outside the litterbox- a common reason why cats are relinquished to shelters.
Additionally, without use of claws to warn people, some cats become biters after the surgery.
So: get some stratching posts and invest time into training your cat or possibly end up with a cat that bites and "does their business" on your bed. What do you prefer?
I did foster care for a sweet senior cat, Buddy, who was given up because his "owner" was tired of him going outside the litter box & didn't want to keep going back to the vet to get his anal glands expressed.
We figured out the problem pretty easily. While he could pee quite quickly & would do so in the litter box, he often pooped out of it. After observing his obvious pain while in the litterbox (& how it took him much longer to poop than pee), we figured the litter was hurting him (& we use the litter that is recommended for declawed cats). So, we lined another litterbox newspaper & put it out. He was such a sweet boy, he'd still pee in the box with litter like he had been taught as a baby but would poop in the box with newspaper because it didn't hurt as much.
There was never a problem with his anal glands & our vet diagnosed Buddy with arthritis at his first visit.
Until the day he died, he would scream & try to bite me if I touched his front paws. Buddy was a cat that would let other cats bully him, let me cradle him like a baby- he'd only make a peep if you accidentally stepped on his tail. But his gentle soul could only take so much. I had never heard an adult cat scream like that before him & I hope never to again. Over a decade after the surgery, his feet were still red & raw-looking. Even now, I tear up, thinking about how much pain my sweet boy was in, just because someone- who eventually dumped him in his old, needy age- prized their furniture over him.
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