Should you declaw your cat? 

It happens all too often... you take your cat in to be spayed or neutered, and the vet asks you if you would like to have your cat declawed at the same time  “What does this involve?” you ask. The vet informs you that the procedure is the removal of the nail and the nail bed and the vet makes it sound basically routine. Don’t be fooled.  This is not a procedure,  it is surgery.   And as so many articles point out this is not a manicure.  It is surgical amputation.  And cat guardians learn all too quickly that what was just done to their pet was not a simple procedure involving the cat’s claws – they just had their pet’s toes amputated.

Your cats claws play an important role in their life.  

1. Claws help your cat groom itself, and grooming is the way a cat helps to control its body temperature, its scent signals, skin irritations, and more.
   
   
2. The cat requires its claws for balance, to jump, to climb, and that “declawing” your cat then makes your cat susceptible to back problems, arthritis, joint problems and other foot problems that he would not otherwise face – because declawing results in a gradual weakening of the back, shoulder and leg muscles.
   
   
3. Cats walk on their toes, not the pads of their feet, and declawing forces them to walk in an unnatural way.
   
   
4. Declawed cats resort to biting as an alternative method of defense.  Some declawed cats become very aggressive because their primary defense is taken away.  Many declawed cats stop using the litterbox because it is so painful.