Why Get the Pet Then?

Declawing Is a Form of Animal Abuse

Photo by Daria Datipina on Unsplash

When choosing to adopt a pet, it is important to love all parts of them, even their claws. Unfortunately, some owners pay for a declawing procedure to help reduce scratching, but this practice is regarded as animal abuse because it prevents the animal from having a form of protection, involves a harmful procedure and can cause many behavioral issues. Some may argue that the animals are still happy or completely unharmed after the procedure, but the many animals’ behaviors demonstrate that they are not. For these reasons, declawing should be considered a form of animal abuse.

Declawing is a surgical procedure that involves the removal of all toe bones in a cat or dog. To compare this in a human aspect, it is equivalent to amputating the toes and all the bone up until the knuckle. Once an animal has been declawed, it has no form of protection. If the cat or dog were to get into a fight with another animal, the declawed animal would be at a huge disadvantage, potentially leading to major injuries.

In addition, a declawing surgery has been known to be extremely invasive and painful for the animal. The healing process typically takes two to six weeks, meaning that the animal is in pain for almost a month after. Declawing has also been prone to causing infections in the animal, leading to bigger surgeries and death in some cases. This surgery also causes major nerve damage, leading to chronic pain. Many vet offices refuse to do the surgery for this reason, but some still practice declawing.

Along with the physical destruction of declawing, the surgery can also lead to behavioral issues. After declawing, it is not uncommon for the pet to become more aggressive. This may be a form of protection cats and dogs use instead of their claws. Another thing that is prominent in an animal’s behavior after declawing is stress. Many pets face a large sum of stress afterwards; some signs may be excessive licking, hiddining or aggressive outburst.

A common argument in support of declawing is that it can save furniture and protect humans from getting hurt. Although these are fair points, it is better to not get the pet to begin with than to make the animal pay for a person not taking the full responsibility. The surgery causes trauma to an animal that can never be cured, concluding the point that declawing is a form of abuse.

Declawing is a form of animal abuse due to the lack of protection it leaves animals with after the surgery. It causes extreme physical pain that either takes a long time to heal or will never fully heal. This surgery also causes mental issues for the cat or dog leading to even bigger problems. All these factors are why people should not get their animal declawed and why it is abuse to do it.