Declawing is cruel, physically and psychologically, and completely unnecessary.
A cat's claws function as part of its fingers and toes. Declawing means amputating the last joint of a cat's toes. The surgery and recovery is extremely painful. Declawing impedes a cat's ability to walk and play as well as protect and groom themselves. Psychologically, cats need to claw as part of their grooming ritual and many cats knead with their claws to express comfort. Declawed cats tend to have higher levels of anxiety because they feel defenseless and often become biters. They also tend to react to stress by acting out such as not using their litter boxes.
Frequent clipping of the tip of the claw can help alleviate damage due to scratching. A cat can be given plenty of appropriate things to scratch and be gently corrected if it scratches the wrong things. Plastic coverings can be put on the cat's claws. This does not impede the way a cat uses its claws and avoids damage from scratching. A spray can be used on items where scratching is undesirable such as furniture.
A little patience, positive reinforcement, and consistency in training alleviates the vast majority of scratching problems.
I would like to see a Michigan state wide ban on cat declawing and eventually a U.S. ban. Twenty-one countries have banned declawing as well as several U.S. cities: England, Scotland, Wales, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Slovenia, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand, West Hollywood, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Denver.
