From: collene@unisql.UUCP (Collene Pearce)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Declawing older cats - long, of course ;-)
Date: 6 Oct 92 16:13:19 GMT
Article-I.D.: unisql.3883
Reply-To: collene@unisql.UUCP (Collene Pearce)
Organization: UniSQL, Inc., Austin, Texas, USA

In article <92279.181417KGBAT@ASUACAD.BITNET> KGBAT@ASUACAD.BITNET (Bruce Tachoir) writes:
>
>Has anyone ever had to have an older cat declawed? I have two cats, Apollo -
>a gray tabby going on 10 years of age and Opie - an orange tabby going on 8
>years old. Their scratching has gotten progressively worse and I'm afraid
>I must have their front claws removed. I'm interested in all experiences and
>points of view, specifically: What are the dangers of surgery for cats of
>this mature age? Can vets detect if a cat should not under go the declaw
>proceedure? Any adverse reactions after declawing? Thanks in advance. BT

I had my Scheherazade (a black smoke persian) declawed when she was 
almost 6yrs. old.  She also got to the point that she was destroying my 
furniture.  I talked to her regular vet about it and asked if the operation
was feasible for her (considering her age).  He said she was healthy and so
he didn't anticipate any surgery/anesthesia complications.

She went thru the operation quite well.   She moved rather slowly for a 
few days.  I gave her the pain pills the vet gave me for her, along with
lots of love and attention.  After a couple of weeks she seemed to be
completely healed.  She seemed to be rather  puzzled at first, when she 
went to the couch and was no longer able to scratch it.  She looked at me 
as if she knew I had had this done to her and I felt guilty.   However, she
appeared to forgive me after awhile.  :-)

I guess it wasn't as traumatic as it could have been, because Scheherazade
was never very active and had never used her claws a lot.  She was not a 
climber, so didn't miss that. She had never been allowed to go outside and 
so didn't miss that.  

The one thing that did make me cry though, was her foam rubber.  We used to
play with little pieces of foam padding.  I would toss one to her and she
would reach out her paw and catch it with her claws.  Then she would shake
her paw and it would fly off so I could "fetch" it.  This was repeated until
one of us was tired of the game.  A few weeks after the operation, she picked 
up one of her little pieces of foam padding (in her mouth, as usual) and 
brought it to me so I could throw it to her.  I did and of course, she
couldn't catch it.  She looked so puzzeled and I lost it.  However, we found 
other toys she could and would play with and she forgot about the foam
rubber (which I quickly collected from all over the house and threw away).

I guess the bottom line is -- I would do it again, given the same
circumstances. It turned out to be the best decision for both of us, but it
was not an easy decision and it did make me sad for a period of time.  That
sadness lifted as I watched Scheherazade adjust to life without claws and be
just as happy and content as she was before. :-)

After living a long and happy (read well loved, pampered, petted and spoiled
rotten) life, Scheherazade died in Oct. 1990, of old age.  Now, I have Tamora
(a red persian) who has a temperament almost identical to Scheherazade's
(except that she's not an attack cat).  If I didn't know that she was born a
month before Scheherazade died, I would swear that Tamora was the
reincarnation of Scheherazade.   

I believe it is better to have an animal declawed as a kitten, rather than
to wait.  However, once again, I am not following my own advice.  I wanted
to wait and see if I really "needed" to have Tamora declawed.  Tamora started
scratching furniture and I wondered if it would be necessary, but that seems
to be on hold, at least for now.  I sat down and talked with her (I'm not
kidding) and then I bought her a sisal (sp?) rope scratching post.  She uses
the post now, instead of the couch.  She just didn't like all those fancy 
carpeted things I bought her.  Hopefully, she will continue scratching the 
post, instead of the furniture.  If she reverts to that, it will be necessary
for us to visit the vet.

Now for an opinion, which may get me flamed  --  I really feel that it is 
less traumatic for highly inbred and genetically manipulated cats (such as 
persians) to be declawed, than it is for the more natural american shorthair
and other varieties.  My reasoning here is that they seem to be so much
farther removed from the animals who originally needed the claws to help them
survive.  These animals truly do not need claws any more, they are just
genetic "left overs" of ancient times. 

Please note that I am _not_ including the siamese and other slender, wirey 
style of cat in this category.  Although those have also been genetically 
manipulated over the years, I believe the persians are the most "altered" of 
all the breeds (at least, of those I am familiar with).  Also note that I do 
not mean for these comments to denigrate persians.  Far from it; persians are 
my favorite breed of cat.  I simply have no illusions about how they got to 
be the way they currently are.  ;-)

-- 

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* A. Collene Pearce (512-343-7372, x114) * Organization: UniSQL, Inc.  *
*                                        * Austin, TX                  *
* unisql!collene@cs.utexas.edu           * 512-343-7297 or 7383(fax)   *
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