During declawing, cats suffer greatly
As with most medical procedures, declawing is not free of pain. The procedure supposes not only removing the claw, but also the bone in which it grows, so that it may become impossible for the claw to grow again. As you can imagine, cats are in pain not only during the procedure but after it also. Unfortunately, we cannot keep them in bed while their little paws are healing from the trauma and thus, the cats will be in pain while walking or trying to scratch in the litter box, for example.
What people have also come to understand is that, during declawing and later, in the recovery period, cats suffer for our own benefit, not theirs, thus making the entire situation immoral and even cruel. It is unnatural and unnecessary to deprive cats of their most important weapons and tools. Also, being left outside after having been declawed is pure cruelty, since the cat in discussion has no means to defend itself anymore. The last resort for exasperated owners
Even though declawing is not seen with good eyes by veterinarians and animal lovers, this procedure is considered preferable to the alternative option - which is owners giving up their cats or leaving them on the street because they had enough of cats scratching their furniture. This means that, even if declawing cats is not a veterinarians favorite activity, they will undertake this procedure in order to prevent the abandonment of the cats by their owners.
While in America this procedure has become usual and Americans do not seem eager to give up the habit of removing the claws of their cats, others consider it unacceptable and made it illegal: England, Australia and New Zealand are only three of the countries where declawing cats is no longer acceptable.
Practical alternatives to declawing
There are many less controversial alternatives that an owner may try before recurring to such a drastic measure; nail trimming is one of them. Far less invasive, nail trimming is practiced by cat owners around the world with satisfying results: cats are not able to cause destructive scratching to furniture but are nevertheless able to use their claws - an important part of their body. Also, scratching posts are loved by cats which will most probably prefer scratching on the sisal rope rather than on the couch. Soft paws are colorful vinyl nail caps which can be glued over the cats claws. They are stylish, they are useful and they do not hurt the cat at all.
All these methods and many others alike prove owners that they do have alternatives and that declawing cats is not truly necessary.
