Claws Power

By Anna Muggiati

Juju, always proud of her claws!

One more force joined the claw power movement. The American Veterinary Medical Association recently advised that declawing is a major surgery and that other alternatives should be considered before that major surgery.

I call my cats to "think" about this. If they were on a " talking cats" movie they would probably say: "I don't need that", would answer my white noble Turkish Angora cat, who is able to hide his claws and sleep handling paws with me. Juju, my black Egyptian goddess would be more straightforward: "Hissssssssss! No cats are cats without claws", she would probably say. 

The American Veterinary Medical Association release  goes further:  "The revised policy describes onychectomy (declawing) as an “amputation” and stresses the importance of client education about normal feline scratching behaviors, what the procedure involves, and alternatives to declawing."

As a kid I understood that dealing and living with cats included a "goes without saying" item of being scratched. There was Picolino, a feral cat given to me, at the late 70's. He was a wild creature and not being nurtured didn't help on his behavior. Yet, I didn't care being scratched or attacked by him. He was playful and very alive - I still have a scar on my leg, which makes me remember of my furry and wild cat. 

Declawing is illegal in most European Union countries, in Brazil and Israel. Some Californian cities (yay!!) had ruled  that declawing a cat is illegal, thanks to the Paws Project. I tell this to may cats. They love it. After all, their claws are useful for many other things such as cleaning their litter box and kneading my husbands belly when they feel like it. Keeping cats as whole cats is so fashionable in Hollywood. So why not in everybody's home?

Some alternatives: 

Those will help your cat to have fun somewhere else other than on your furniture or your legs. My favorite is the scratch board sold for  U$ 6.99 at Trader Joe's. But I will soon review Amazon's best seller PetFusion. Fashionable indeed!

Some people are lucky to be able to trim  the tips of their cats's nails when they are still a baby, and that keeps like something they know about it. Some use a rubber coats like Soft Paws, and some (like me) just accept that claw power belongs to them and live with it. My bed wood frame can tell the story...

If you really need to share some advice with someone who is considering declawing, just send them this link, a little movie by Jackson Galaxy. And there you will find good information. And please tell us if any strategy you had to avoid destructive clawing at home.