At What Age Should a Cat Be Declawed?

Function

• Cats instinctively scratch with their front paws to shed worn-out nail coverings and to mark territory, but this behavior can be destructive in a home. Also, a cat can use its claws in an aggressive manner toward people or other pets in the house. For these reasons, some people decide it is best to have the cat declawed. This decision should be considered seriously, because it is not like trimming nails. Rather, it is surgery performed under general anesthesia, and the procedure amputates the last joint of the cat's toes.

Time Frame

• Declawing should be done when kittens are at least three months old and under six months old. Most veterinarians will not declaw kittens until they are three months old. Most also will only declaw an adult cat for a particular good reason, and after a consultation with the owner to discuss possible negative aspects of the decision.

  Reasons to declaw an adult cat could be that it is continuing to scratch people or other pets despite efforts to train it, the cat is being introduced into a family with other declawed cats, an owner has an illness where getting scratched by a cat could be life-threatening, or new family members (such as a baby) present a potential problem with a cat that has front claws.

Effects

• After declawing, the kitten may have to stay overnight at the clinic. Usually its feet will be bandaged, and tender for several days. Almost all kittens recover quickly.

Warning

• Veterinarians are all too familiar with having to treat severe injuries to a declawed cat who managed to get outside, then had no way of defending itself against a dog or other predator, and had trouble escaping up a tree because of its lack of claws. If you decide to have the declawing performed, it's best to leave the back claws intact. Many veterinarians will not remove back claws in any case. You can trim the back claws regularly with a nail trimmer to make sure the points are not sharp.

Potential

• People have been routinely having their cats declawed since the 1940s, but by the 1980s, the practice had become a bit controversial. Some people question whether the surgery should ever be performed at all, particularly when only for the owner's convenience.

  Most kittens can be trained not to scratch in inappropriate places. If your cat likes scratching on carpet, try providing a nubby-textured rug or a scratch post covered with carpet. If the cat seems more interested in wood, you can buy or make scratch posts made of roughly-textured wood, or provide a small tree log for the cat to scratch. To train a kitten, you can attract it to the preferred area by dangling toys there or sprinkling it with catnip. When your kitten scratches there, give it a special food treat. Cats learn quickly and tend to be very motivated.

  Nevertheless, if a cat's claws are going to get in the way of a good relationship between the two of you, it's better to go ahead with the declawing than have negative feelings toward your pet. If the declawing is done with a young kitten, the kitten will recover quickly and forget all about it, continuing to jump and play and scratch non-destructively to everyone's content. Veterinary research shows that most declawed cats appear to be just as happy as cats with all claws intact.