Declawing a cat for medical reasons
Discussion
Firstly I know declawing is illegal in the UK and I totally agree with that but I have a cat which is around 10/11 years old and came to me approx. 2 years ago via a Rescue. I guess this questions is aimed at Thevet or Bex,
He was picked up off the streets having spent his entire life as an unwanted pet that we fed by a few kindly people but no one owned him or really looked after him. He ended up in rescue when he had a fight and had a massive infect wound on his face and one of the people took him to a vet to have him pts as they didn't wish to pay the vet bill to put him back together as he wasn't their cat. Vet refused and he went to a rescue. Whilst in rescue and being patched up he had one of his paws amputated as he is a bit deformed. All his (remaining) paws are badly deformed, claws pointing in all directions and the reason he had his paw amputated was that one claw was digging back into his paw pad and in itself become very infected and nasty, so now he has 3 paws but 4 legs. He walks really slowly and is not at all stable on his legs. He claws are very difficult to trim and it is obviously sore for him when we do try to trim them.
So my question is would a vet remove the offending claws, and I'm not talking about all the claws just the ones causing a problem to make him a happier cat? He is already a spoilt happy cat now but to make him more comfortable.
He was picked up off the streets having spent his entire life as an unwanted pet that we fed by a few kindly people but no one owned him or really looked after him. He ended up in rescue when he had a fight and had a massive infect wound on his face and one of the people took him to a vet to have him pts as they didn't wish to pay the vet bill to put him back together as he wasn't their cat. Vet refused and he went to a rescue. Whilst in rescue and being patched up he had one of his paws amputated as he is a bit deformed. All his (remaining) paws are badly deformed, claws pointing in all directions and the reason he had his paw amputated was that one claw was digging back into his paw pad and in itself become very infected and nasty, so now he has 3 paws but 4 legs. He walks really slowly and is not at all stable on his legs. He claws are very difficult to trim and it is obviously sore for him when we do try to trim them.
So my question is would a vet remove the offending claws, and I'm not talking about all the claws just the ones causing a problem to make him a happier cat? He is already a spoilt happy cat now but to make him more comfortable.
Removing a toe for a medical reason is an acceptable procedure. We often have to remove chronically infected toes or toes with tumours in them.
If it is to reduce incidences of trauma (ie infected nails etc) then I think a vet would definitely consider it. This is different to the barbaric procedure known as de clawing where young cats have the ends of all their healthy non deformed front toes chopped off.
Have a chat to your vet discuss your concerns and reasons for wanting to do the surgery.
I meant to ask, how do you know it is sore for him to have them clipped? Some cats generally dislike habu g their feet messed with which is slightly different to them being in pain when having it done.
If it is to reduce incidences of trauma (ie infected nails etc) then I think a vet would definitely consider it. This is different to the barbaric procedure known as de clawing where young cats have the ends of all their healthy non deformed front toes chopped off.
Have a chat to your vet discuss your concerns and reasons for wanting to do the surgery.
I meant to ask, how do you know it is sore for him to have them clipped? Some cats generally dislike habu g their feet messed with which is slightly different to them being in pain when having it done.
Edited by bexVN on Friday 15th June 10:25
Edited by bexVN on Friday 15th June 11:18
Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff