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Nothing would ever convince me to declaw a cat. Not even our couch, which I tell people is upolstered in Shredded Wheat. (What WAS I thinking when I got corduroy?) I just wish people who are thinking of declawing could see the cat coming up from the anaesthesia.
A vet I used 10 or so years ago let me back into the hospital to see one of my cats after surgery and that's when I saw a declawed cat. He kept pulling the bandages off and licking the clotting gel off his paws and they kept bleeding. There was blood all over the cage and on the cat, who looked miserable. He couldn't stand up and moved around the cage on his elbows.
They finally had to cauterize the wounds and put an e-collar on him. Vets here usually keep declaws for 2 days after surgery, sometimes longer. They have to be sure they're healed enough so they won't bleed after the cat is home.
I hate e-collars. I tell them not to use them and if they do, I take them off the cat and hand them to the receptionist when I pick the cat up. We keep post-surgical cats on the couch with us when they get home, which is usually when they're "up" enough from the anaesthesia. I can care for them post-op and they're much calmer with human contact at home and aren't disoriented and scared like they'd be in the vet's cage.
However, e-collars do have a purpose. They help to keep bugs off the plants we put outside in the summer.
Best, Eileen
February 24, 2000
