Declawing a cat is tantamount to torture. Every time I hear anything about declawing a cat I get chills. I think of tortures I’ve heard about describing how a human victim’s fingernails were yanked out of their fingertips. I don’t know if this type of torture is still in practice today in the human world, but I do know many humans don’t think it’s the same thing when it comes to declawing their cats. Well, it is!

Seems this torture has been acceptable in our society far too long. It should never have started in the first place. Even pet owners who love their pets will have their cats declawed because the procedure is promoted by veterinarians, especially the new laser surgery techniques. Not that this technique has proven any better for the cat.

I’ve seen cats who were recently declawed trying to walk as gingerly as possible on painful, gauze-wrapped feet. They are in obvious distress. They hiss when approached. They may never get over the trauma of it.

The procedure to declaw a cat is called an onychectomy, where a vet literally amputates the last portion (phalanx) of the cat’s paw bone at the site of each toe. Like any medical procedure, there are definite drawbacks. Botched operations cause major, permanent damage to the cat’s paws and can deform the cat’s feet for life. Do a Google search and you’ll find regretful owners relating horror stories about having the procedure performed on their poor, unsuspecting pets. Not to defend the owners, but many of them didn’t suspect how traumatic the procedure could be for their beloved pet.

All too many of these owners remorsefully admit that their cats are psychologically scarred from the operation. Where once they were happy kitties, running around playing and interacting with their owners and other household pets, they now reject affection, lay around lifelessly, and don’t want their owners’ attention like they once did.

And I don’t blame them. Where once they felt secure in the knowledge that they had a comfortable, secure, and safe home, they now distrust their owners and are aware that they cannot defend themselves if need be. They often become listless and unfriendly. They remember the pain long after the wounds have healed. And they remember the cause of the pain - their owners and their vets.

How would owners who have their animals declawed or the vets who perform these barbaric surgeries feel if someone decided to amputate every one of their fingers from the first knuckle to the tip? Picture that. If there were any scenario where this might actually happen, at least the human would have an understanding of why it happened and understand that the pain will subside eventually -- if there is no raw nerve damage in the process.

And why do people declaw their cats? For their own selfish reasons. To keep their cats from scratching the furniture, rugs, and curtains. Well, if you liken this to human baby behavior, you would find kinder methods to deal with the problem. Kittens are babies and, to me, just as precious. Too precious to torture for any reason!

You have to train them when their young - you do not have to declaw them.Get a water pistol as a training tool and squirt the kitten whenever you catch them clawing something you don’t want them to scratch. Get a scratching post and literally show them how to use it when they decide to claw the furniture. Get them toys that have built-in scratching pads as well. If you want to tell me that you tried all this and they still claw things you don’t want them to, I say tough noogies. Let the cat be.

My cats have learned that clawing furniture is not behavior I accept and they do claw things other than the scratching post or pad sometimes. I can tell them to stop when I’m right there and catch them in the act but they’re likely to do it when I’m not. As a cat owner who loves her animals and would never deliberately cause them pain -- emotional, psychological, or physical -- I just don’t care as much about my furniture as I do my pets. The furniture will wear out eventually anyway from human wear and tear so I just view my cats as the people they are to me -- like family members who contribute to a well lived-in home. One where they do feel safe enough to be themselves without the threat of declawing as retaliation for unwanted behavior.