AVMA Veterinarian Told Cat Owner That Laser Declaw Is “Virtually Painless.”

 Story published in 2017.

Here is a sad story about a cat owner that was deceived by her declawing AVMA veterinarian at a cat clinic in Central Michigan.

Their receptionist says that this vet uses the laser and says, “it is a lot safer and the healing time is a whole lot faster.” They say that this vet does declaws weekly and sometimes more than one a week and that she is very skilled at them.

When the researcher ask the employee if they just take out the claws or nails? “We take out the nails, yes.”

They say, “The larger the cat, the more sensitive their paws are that’s why we say if you are going to get them declawed, the earliest you can do it the better. When they are lighter, it doesn’t hurt their paws.”

They also say, “If they are over 8 lbs then we do send them home with some pain meds but not always. Under 8 lbs they don’t require any sort of pain medicine.” 

When asked about stories on the internet that say declawing is inhumane and harmful to a cat they say that they leave it up to the owner if they want to do a declaw. When the researcher asked if a declaw is ok for the long term health of a cat, they say that you can go  the route of Soft Paws to see if that would help or if you want to do the declaw you can do that too. They say there are different options rather than going for the declaw. They say, “It’s a controversial thing to do, we do it, and if you are going to do it the laser is the way to go.”

They say that a scalpel is what “normal veterinary offices” use and say the healing time is a lot slower and that’s why they use a laser because it seals up the nerve endings and makes the healing time go much faster.

That is all lies my friends. These vets purchase those lasers for around $35,000 and they need to do a lot of declaws to pay them back so they lie and deceive the public about how they burn off a cat’s toe bones and claws.

Here’s the story about this poor kitty that I received from a supporter about this laser declawing vet. .

 

In the summer of 1999 I adopted a kitten from a local veterinarian’s office.  I was interested in having her front declawed.  At the time, I didn’t think there was anything wrong about declawing.  Everyone I knew that owned a cat had them declawed.  What was the big deal?  I knew it was probably painful, but thought it was just for a little while until the paws healed and then the cat would return to normal.  That’s what pain killers are for, right?  I thought as long as a cat had its back claws, there was nothing wrong with having the front claws removed.

When I asked the vet about declawing, she mentioned she had a brand new laser machine that made it virtually painless because it burned off the claws rather than cutting them off.  I thought “Great!” and made an appointment.  That was a lie. It was anything but painless for her. 

Afterwards, she limped for weeks, especially favoring one of her paws.  I took her back to the same vet multiple times because she didn’t seem to be returning to her happy, playful self.  The vet took x-rays and told me nothing was wrong. Several visits later, the vet said she was experiencing “phantom pain” and prescribed a low dose pain reliever for her to take temporarily.  Her pain was not “phantom pain.”  She suffered silently for the rest of her life.

Watching my cat suffer, my opinion about declawing began to change.  Along the way, I did some research and learned about nail caps and scratching posts, and how to train your cat to use them.

 

Like me, most cat owners are naive about declawing. Declawing is socially acceptable in this country.  If one does not want a cat to scratch their new furniture, then the answer is most always to have the cat declawed.  None of the veterinary practices I have used ever recommended nail caps or other alternatives first before declawing.  The ugly truth is that declawing hurts!   It can alter a cat’s personality, change their behavior, and result in the loss of a stable home.  Every day, declawed cats with undiagnosed behavioral issues caused by the pain of declawing are dropped off at shelters across the country, or worse, thrown out like trash and forced to live outdoors with no means of defending themselves.

 

I have another cat now and she came equipped with all of her claws intact and will remain that way.  I will never again subject a cat to the barbaric process of declawing.

Thank you for all you do!

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Please go to my website  https://citythekitty.org and sign my petitions and sign up to be a City the Kitty Crusader. Please help me continue working on this cause. Let’s end declawing once and for all!