Response from Dr Jennifer Conrad:
I am sure that you love your cat, and would never do anything to harm her, but I believe that your veterinarian and his patients might benefit from his rethinking his position on declawing.

Here are the plain facts that show that laser declawing is not less painful to cats:

A study reported in the September 1, 2002 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Association by Mison, et al., found that lasers offered no benefit over the more conventional methods of declawing, stating "differences in discomfort and complications between groups treated via scalpel versus CO2 laser were not clinically relevant."

Levy J, Lapham B, Hardie E, et al. (Evaluation of laser onychectomy in the cat (abstr), in Proceedings. 19th Annu Meet Soc Laser Med 1999;73) compared laser and blade onychectomy (declawing). Forty cats were randomly assigned (n = 10/group) to the following groups: no anesthesia (control), bandaged and anesthetized (control), blade onychectomy, or laser onychectomy. Complications, behavioral changes, plasma cortisol concentration, and urine cortisol-to-creatinine ratios were evaluated up to 48 hours after surgery. Complications (bleeding, limping, swelling, infection) were generally worse in the laser onychectomy group in the first 2 days after surgery but were equivalent thereafter. Negative behavioral changes were more pronounced in the blade onychectomy group for 2 days, with less play and willingness to use the paws. Blood and urine cortisol concentrations were increased to a greater degree in the blade onychectomy group for 24 hours, compared with the other groups.

In regard to the other parts of your question, while I am sure your veterinarian loves your cat, there are some veterinarians who might call an animal "Baby" not only out of love, but, also, because they don't remember the animal's gender or name.

Ask your veterinarian if he has read this article:
Dr. James Gaynor, North American Veterinary Clinics (April 2005). It describes a Chronic Pain Syndrome of Feline Onychectomy (Declawing) and discusses the behavioral problems, such as aggression, that are typical of cats suffering from this complication of declawing. The article can be downloaded at
http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/ivapm/professionals/members/newsletters/IVAPM%20May%202005.pdf.

Maybe, your veterinarian and you can do some simple tests and place your cat on pain-relief medications as is suggested in the article. This might curb some of the behavior changes you have noticed.

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Posted on SHARE Yahoo group Nov.2, 2005