Response from Dr Jennifer Conrad:
There are many scientific studies that show the rates of immediate and long-term complications from declawing may be as high as 50% and 20% respectively. This means one out of two and one out of five will have post-surgical complications. These complications include permanent lameness and death. One must only ask a concerned shelter worker to know that the chances of behavior changes are too large for declawing to be acceptable. When the complications will show up is also in question. Some cats will have immediate changes, some will have problems as they get older. What risk level is acceptable for your cat?
Not every pregnant woman who took thalidomide had a deformed baby, but the risk was great enough to get the drug banned in this country. In most of the world, veterinarians have concluded that the risks of declawing -- and the risks of ear-cropping and tail-docking -- are just too great. In a growing number of countries, these procedures are illegal; in many more, the procedure are considered unethical by the veterinary profession. In England, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons - http://www.rcvs.org.uk/Templates/PreviousNext.asp?NodeID=89772 -considers declawing to be "mutilation" and states, "It is not acceptable if carried out for the convenience of the owner.... The removal of claws, particularly those which are weight-bearing, to preclude damage to furnishings is not acceptable."
Remember, our animals do not benefit from any of these procedure, they are done because, in the case of ear-cropping and tail-docking, for a human's arbitrary esthetic preference, or, in the case of declawing, for the convenience of humans -- so they will not have to bother training their cats or providing them with alternative places to scratch.
Some people will tell me that their cats were declawed and have no problems. After I explain to them what the potential problems are, many will come back and say that now that they are educated, they can see the problems. One person saw a lecture I gave about the big cats. These wild animals have paws that are just magnified versions of the domestic cat's paws, and then that person noticed that indeed her domestic cat did have abnormalities subsequent to declawing.
Here is a list of the subtle problems I have seen in declawed domestic cats:
1. The cats have truncated paws and the digital pads, the four little gummy-drop pads on the bottom of the cat's paws, are not oval, supple and plump. Instead they are rounded, atrophied and dry. Compare the front, declawed paws, to the back, clawed paws if there is a question.
2. The cats do not walk up on their toes, instead, they walk back on their "wrists." This is very apparent in the big cats. You can see it if you log on to www.PawProject.org and watch Kona the mountain lion walk.
3. They miss the litterbox every so often or regularly. I have one patient who backs into the litterbox because his front paws are declawed and apparently, he doesn't like the feeling of the litter. I have another patient who without digging, urinates in the box, but when it comes to defecating, apparently she doesn't want to dig and so she does it right outside the box and buries it with the bathroom rug. The person who brought her in didn't even think that this might be related to declawing. He thought it was just sloppiness. Now, he gives her a litterbox with a rag in it and she is using it instead of the floor.
4. Declawed cats are often an extreme in shyness or aggressiveness. I find that often the tortoiseshell females become excessively shy when they are declawed and that big, white males often compensate by being more aggressive.
This being said, I am glad that your cats are not suffering from declawing. Some veterinarians seem to think that if cats are declawed before they are 16 weeks old, they can recover with fewer problems. I don't believe that is the answer either. Declawing a baby who hasn't had a chance to learn what is right and what is wrong is still unacceptable and also goes against AVMA guidelines which clearly state that declawing should be considered only after all other options, like routine nail trims and appropriate scratching posts, have been exhausted.
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Posted on SHARE Yahoo group Nov. 5, 2005