Saturday, March 3, 2012

Nature will come through the claws


Our kitty shows her mirth and ire in basically the same way . . . claws.  If she’s feeling happy, very especially happy, then she march march marches in a kitty parade . . . or makes muffins, as it were.  If she’s angry  . . . we’ll lets just say those cute little pink pads become evil jellybeans of death when those switch blades make an appearance.


In either case, it’s potentially painful.


When I was growing up, all of our kitty pets were declawed.  Never a claw induced ouchie or ripped up furniture to be had.  Admittedly, it was quite nice.


When I grew up and got my own fuzzy babies, it was a no brainer to get them declawed.  


Until I found out what the procedure entailed.  I don’t know what made me do it but I looked it up and I was shocked when I discovered how it the claws were removed.


It’s horrible and needless to say I did not subject my little fluffinutters to that . . . that mutilation!  I would never do such a thing to I creature I profess to love!


What I didn’t know was that the cat's claw is not a toenail. It’s actually connected to the bone.  And in order to remove the claw you have to remove the last bone of the cat's toe.  


That’s the equivalent of amputating your fingers at the first joint; effectively removing the tip of you finger . . . and the kitties, too.
It’s painful for the cat and it takes a long time to recover from.  Think about it.  What do cats do?  They walk on their paws and scratch in their litter box with their paws.  All while they are trying to recover from major surgery.  


Just something to keep in mind when you get a cat and think about lopping off the end of their toes.


By the way . . . apparently this is an American thing.  Europeans generally don’t condone torturing their pets.  I didn’t think we did either . . . but there it is.

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