Declawing a cat is a form of surgical mutilation that is unethical, unnecessary and inhumane. There is no type of declawing that is better or less painful because no amount of pain management or surgical technique (including vaporizing lasers) can negate the fact that healthy tissue is being amputated and the cat will spend the rest of their lives walking without toes. 

Scratching is a normal behavior for cats for marking territory, maintaining claws and stretching the muscles of their shoulders and back. Declawing is known to lead to acute and chronic pain and is listed in veterinary pain management textbooks as causing severe pain. Declawed cats are also more likely to suffer chronic back pain due to how they must stand and move as well as behavioral changes including increased biting, inappropriate litter box use, aggression, and over-grooming. Declawed cats have higher levels of cortisol in their tissues and increased cortisol is the measurement to denote chronic stress.

Declawing is NEVER a benefit to a cat. It does not keep them from being re-homed and in fact caused many to be re-homed when their behaviors are affected by the consequences of declawing. Our most recent foster is"Millie." She was only nine months old when her owners decided to get her declawed. Three months later they dumped her at a shelter. Luckily she was pulled CAWS rescue who will be seeking surgical evaluation to see if anything can be done to reduce her pain. She may have bone spurs or inappropriate bone/nail growth inside the surgical sites. She sat like a prairie dog with her from paws off the floor from all the pain in the shelter. Currently she is walking on micro foam padding and being treated for chronic pain and arthritis in her foster home. 

There are alternatives to declawing. The tips of cats claws can be trimmed. Alternative scratching materials can be provided. Cats can be trained and re-directed to scratch allowed material instead of furniture. There are nail caps that can be purchased and applied.  Or, don't get a cat if you do not want to deal with claws. The answer should not and cannot continue to be removing all or part of the last phalanx in cats’ toes to prevent a cats’ natural scratching behavior.

Please join me in taking a stand against declawing in Utah. On behalf of cats like "Millie" who will now have to spend her entire life dealing with the consequences of this horrific surgical torture. It didn't end when the surgery was over. Or after hr bloody paws healed. It will never end for her. All we can do is try to make her comfortable and try to reduce the pain.  If "Millie" could speak, I believe that she would have hope and ask us to stop these surgeries to prevent other cats from enduring what she has and will continue to endure. 

These surgically tortured cats need our voices to stand up for them.  I have included state and local politicians as well as animal rights groups and the Utah Humane Societies in this petition.