 
  
|
|
|
 |
I have been a breeder of top Himalayan and Persian(Himalayans are a color variety of Persian) cats for twenty three years. I have always discouraged de-clawing of kittens and cats purchased from me. After living through the horror story which follows, de-clawing is now forbidden in my sales contract.Eighteen months ago Janet, bought a beautiful, cream, hybrid (color-point carrier) kitten from me. The kitten was checked by her vet and found to be in robust,good health. Unbeknownst to me, Janet declawed the kitten when she was under a year old. After having her front claws amputated, Janet never clipped the kitten's back claws again. The kitten scratched her face and put a hole(corneal sequestrum)in her eye. Janet's veterinarian didn't treat the eye properly and because the eye infected, eventually it had to be removed. Still the kitten's back nails are not clipped and, lo and behold, another corneal sequestrum appears in the remaining eye. Janet has a veterinary opthamologist insert a contact lens into the remaining eye. Thousands of dollars later the cat seems to be recovering when a massive infection becomes systemic and the cat dies. Janet is devastated, I am devastated and this beautiful cat is dead. All this because an unsuspecting owner de-clawed her cat.
De-clawing is a vicious and terrible mutilation. DON"T DO IT!
Our cat's nails are clipped every ten days. They are wrapped in a towel, back nails are clipped first, then front claws. In addition, we keep wicker baskets and barky logs in every room. Our cats prefer these scratching surfaces. We also use spray bottles, turned to "stream" and filled with water aimed at their faces to train our kittens away from scratching undesirable surfaces. Anyone who won't employ these training techniques should be discouraged from owning a cat. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR DE-CLAWING!!!
