Last Monday I traveled to Collingwood to teach the resident veterinarian at the Georgian Triangle Humane Society how to surgically help declawed cats.

Cats that have been declawed can have nail regrowth under the skin, bone fragments left from the original surgery which they end walking around on (you know how irritating a pebble in your shoe can be, now imagine how painful and stressful a bone fragment must be for them - and they can do nothing about it), tendon contracture (like hammer toes in people), and a displaced toepad that no longer provides cushioning for walking.

The chronic discomfort from even one of these problems can lead to behavioural problems such as house-soiling and biting, which can subsequently lead to being surrendered to a shelter and difficult to rehome successfully.

This surgery is by no means perfect but currently it’s the best we can do for victims of declawing.