Monday, December 14, 2009
Declawing cats on the rise
This is sad news - one wonders why there is an increase of people declawing their cats. I did speak with a few vets about trying to get the Singapore Veterinary Authority to ask all vets to voluntarily refrain from carrying out the surgery a few years ago. I was told that it was unlikely all vets would agree but that the procedure was relatively rare.
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12 comments:
Declawing is more than removing the claws of cats; it is the amputation of the last joints of cat's 10 toes.
A cat was put up for adoption because of behavioral changes after declawing. Cat was no longer the loving cat and owner did not want to keep the cat as a result. Cat was put thru painful surgery and long recovery only to be "dumped" after all.
I wish vets in SG do not do declawing as cats cld still be abandoned by unrealistic owners. Personally i will not go to vets who do declawing of cats.
AVA's Dr Wong appears to think that declawing is cruel and unnecessary but doesn't seem to want to do anything about the increase in the number of cases.
These people shouldn't have pets in the first place. I think it's more the result of people who only think about getting what they want as number one priority - I want a cat/dog but I don't want scratched furniture or any barking noise. I WANT...I WANT...I WANT and I don't care if declawing/debarking cause pain or suffering to my cat/dog. To me it's tantamount to animal abuse. They are not guardians who think about the welfare of the animals but animal abusers. Selfish and sick people. I hope something will be done and declawing/debarking will be illegal soon.
ANonymous - exactly. That was one of the reasons given to me by one of the vets - that owners might otherwise give up their animals. However it seems to me that unless the cat is say extremely and unusually aggressive and scratching the owner badly all the time (and honestly if that's the case, it probably is a symptom of some other medical problem which the owner should check out), declawing is way too extreme. Most owners that I heard of declaw because they want to protect their furniture - and there are other options like Softclaw on the market. What you said is a good illustration that if an owner is more concerned about their furniture than the well-being of their cat, that they are likely to be bad owners. That's also Eslina's point I believe.
There may be some owners who believe it is just 'trimming' their claws - and it would be good to educate these owners. One person I heard from in the US said that they had always thought 'good' owners vaccinated, declawed and sterilised till they found out what that entailed.
yskat and Eslina - I believe in many countries, it has already been outlawed, including the European Union Countries.
Dawn & Eslina: it's interesting that you mentioned how cats are often declawed because they scratch furniture, which means that the human in question cares more for his furniture than his cat. I was reading a book on how humans relate to non-human entities, and the author argues that very often, society frowns upon a meaningful human-animal relationship (such as that between a caregiver and community cats), and celebrates a human-inanimate object relationship (like that between a man and his car).
Hi yskat, i do care for my furniture. They are functional (unlike cats). When new kitty first scratched on it, i screamed bloody murder. After a while, gave up lah. Sofa is still functional if you do not rest on cat's installation artwork.
Yeah...and got to come up with a witty answer when relatives visit this CNY ;)
yskat - that is an interesting take on it.
Anonymous - how about telling relatives it's installation art ? :)
yskat - it's really sad if many societies subscribe to the idea of human-inanimate object relationship as more important than a meaningful human-animal relationship :(
Anonymous - I always just defend my cat's artwork when relatives asks - I would say we bought a boring looking coffee table so my cat create new designs to make it look more interesting ;)
Good reply Eslina!
Dawn & Eslina: you are right in comparing scratched furniture with art. One of the key issues in contemporary art is the concept of "weathering": art should be allowed to change with its physical environment. For example, if rusts appears on a metal sculpture, the product of oxidation becomes part of the art, and should not be removed. We can probably extrapolate this to cat scratches on sofa.
People who amputate their cats's HEALTHY limps are of unsound mind.
AVA allows it, vets get paid for it, the poor cats could do nothing to defend itself.
Declawing is against the law of nature.
People who declaw their cats are of unsound mind. It's against the law of nature. AVA allows it and the vets get paid for it, poor cats could not understand the pain and loss of healthy limbs. Hope termites chew off the furniture in revenge of declawing done to the cats...bloody owners may some day learn what it's like to lose their own limbs.
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