{"id":3599,"date":"2013-12-04T20:25:12","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T20:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/pets\/cat-or-couch-reaching-a-compromise-with-claws\/"},"modified":"2013-12-04T20:25:12","modified_gmt":"2013-12-04T20:25:12","slug":"cat-or-couch-reaching-a-compromise-with-claws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/pets\/cat-or-couch-reaching-a-compromise-with-claws","title":{"rendered":"Cat or Couch? Reaching a Compromise with Claws"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"ONychectomy\"<\/p>\n

Back in September, I previewed a screening at the Art Theatre of The Paw Project, <\/i>a documentary that laid out the painful project of feline declawing, its effects on cats both large and small, and rehabilitation efforts. The film was part of Long Beach\u2019s Kindness to Animals Weekend and also had a recent showing in Los Angeles; it was developed and produced by the Dr. Jennifer Conrad, DVM and founder of The Paw Project. The organization\u2019s mission, as stated on the website<\/a>, is \u201cto educate the public about the painful and crippling effects of feline declawing, to promote animal welfare through the abolition of the practice of declaw surgery, and to rehabilitate cats that have been declawed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The showing was a success in that many of us had our eyes opened to what amounts to mutilation of cats. The painful process was laid out in verbal and visual detail to a wide-eyed, openmouthed audience. It\u2019s notable, too, that one of the sponsors is Primary Animal Care Hospital<\/a> on Lakewood Boulevard and Stearns Street. Declawing isn\u2019t cheap and the project alluded to the source of revenue it provides for vets, but this veterinary in particular is morally opposed to the procedure as a method for the preservation of endangered upholstery.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe strongly think that declawing should be prohibited as an elective procedure,\u201d said Dr. Jacobo Bailaron, one of the clinic\u2019s veterinarians. \u201cWe don\u2019t do declawing for ethical reasons unless there is trauma involved, such as an accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

First line of defense<\/h3>\n

Claws are a cat\u2019s first line of defense and escape from predators. Declawing, we learned, is not just the removal of the claws (which is no doubt bad enough\u2014think of the same procedure done on your fingernails) but the actual amputation of a third of a cat\u2019s paw. Here\u2019s a partial description of declawing as written by veterinarian Jean Hofve, DVM, in an article on Jackson \u201cCat Daddy\u201d Galaxy\u2019s website<\/a>: \u201cDeclawing, which is rightly described as \u201cde-toeing\u201d when the same procedure is done to chickens, is the amputation of each front toe at the first joint\u2026.This is necessary because, unlike a fingernail, the claw actually grows from the first toe bone\u2026.For the surgery itself, the cat is put under general anesthesia and the toes are prepared with antiseptic soap. A tourniquet is placed on the cat\u2019s leg and tightened to prevent excessive bleeding. Using a scalpel, the surgeon grips the tip of the claw\u2026and uses [a]scalpel to carve around the third phalanx, cutting through the skin and severing tendons, nerves, and blood vessels\u2026.In cats, the claws grow directly from the bone. If even the tiniest piece of the bone is left in the socket, it can become infected and\/or regrow, both of which are very painful.\u201d If you really want to talk yourself out of the procedure or feel extra-guilty about having once done it, watch this graphic video, which has a disturbingly merry music track.<\/p>\n