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My name is Cassandra Haskins and I have been a veterinary technician for 6 years.
Even before I assumed this posistion I would never have dreamed of declawing any of my cat's(I don't even joke about it with them).Now that I see on a daily basis the horror of declawing, I try in ernest to talk clients out of declawing. I give them every alternitive there is and I make sure that they fully understand the pain they will put thier beloved pet through. I explain to them every detail of the surgery and make sure they understand the behavior problems that may arise from having this procedure preformed. I am pretty sucessful most of the time (much to the dismay of the doctor I work for). Unfortunately I sometimes fail and have to participate in the grotesque mutilation of a cat.
I have to do all I can to fight back the tears everytime I bandage up the poor little feet. Then (lucky me) I get to watch these poor animals wake up from anesthesia howling and crying, flailing around their cage trying thier hardest not to touch anything with thier feet,and biting at the bandages. The declaw cats stay with us for three days before going home, so then I get to watch their sad faces as I try hard to get them to take a bite of food or a drink of water. I have to deal with this on a daily basis and it is one of the hardest things I have to do.
So please,please try evry method to help your cat scratch in an appropriate place, make sure the scratching post is covered with catnip at all times, have a squirt gun ready to shoot the bad kitty for scratching in an inappropriate place, cats can be trained I have two cats and an untouched sofa and remember if your sofa means that much to you...get rid of the sofa before you mutilate your cat.
