A little background:
Wee little kittens Abby, and his now Angel brother Tuffy, were found in a cemetery stuck to a headstone in late November of 1996. They were stuck to the headstone because they got on there to get warm in freezing temperatures and got frozen to the headstone. (There was a blizzard later that night. They would not have survived.)
Fast forward a bit:
When they were old enough to be neutered, I took them in for this. Vet suggested declawing (front), which I also did. Sadly, I didn't know any better 16 years ago about what a declaw involved or the potential ramifications of my uninformed decision.
Present day:
Abby is a very spry and active 16-year-old boy (I attribute to our raw diet since around late 2005, early 2006). He loves jumping onto their 7 foot kitty tree. When I say "jumping" I mean an almost 5 foot leap to the second to top perch from a window sill, then he goes to the top perch from there. Well, over the years I've noticed that of my three (Maxie and Izzy are not declawed), he sometimes loses his grip and plummets to the floor--sometimes I can get to him to help, but not always. Most often he can use his back claws to get an awkward grip, but when he doesn't get that grip, well...it is so heart wrenching that I made such a terrible decision all those year ago that affect him to this day. This happened just a bit ago and brought me to tears for my sweet boy.
The other two go racing up and down the tree (gripping with their front claws), but Abby can't do that because he can't grab with his front claws. He has to make the huge leap to get to where he wants on the kitty tree--the top perch.
Abby can't race up and over furniture when they are all playing chase. He has no front claws to get a good grip. He'll always go behind or around things the other two take great pleasure in racing up and over. They have claws, he doesn't have his to enjoy this fun as much.
He uses our flat cat scratchers and on the bottom of the kitty tree to "scratch" with is front paws, but it's not the same as with the other two who are not declawed. It's a natural instinct that he can't enjoy to the fullest.
When playing with interactive toys, like Da Bird, Abby will attempt to leap and catch the toy, like Maxie and Izzy can do, but he can't actually grip and catch it like they can. I keep Da Bird low to the floor for him so he can catch it that way.
Abby is also my boy who when stressed, will pee in inappropriate places. I think he feels more defenseless because of the declaw.
He's also the only one who has had FLUTD/IC a few years ago (twice--first episode was awful, second I knew what to do right away). I have that under control with a change to their raw diet (more water added and tweaked what goes into their raw). I also use supplements (in particular L-Theanine) when I know he's under stress, because that is his trigger and we don't want a recurrence. Especially outside kitty fights trigger him; which thankfully aren't that often.
So these are just some of my observations over the years regarding how much a declaw can affect a kitty. This mama is so, so sorry to not have known better all those years ago. My precious boy has had to pay the price.
Wee little kittens Abby, and his now Angel brother Tuffy, were found in a cemetery stuck to a headstone in late November of 1996. They were stuck to the headstone because they got on there to get warm in freezing temperatures and got frozen to the headstone. (There was a blizzard later that night. They would not have survived.)
Fast forward a bit:
When they were old enough to be neutered, I took them in for this. Vet suggested declawing (front), which I also did. Sadly, I didn't know any better 16 years ago about what a declaw involved or the potential ramifications of my uninformed decision.
Present day:
Abby is a very spry and active 16-year-old boy (I attribute to our raw diet since around late 2005, early 2006). He loves jumping onto their 7 foot kitty tree. When I say "jumping" I mean an almost 5 foot leap to the second to top perch from a window sill, then he goes to the top perch from there. Well, over the years I've noticed that of my three (Maxie and Izzy are not declawed), he sometimes loses his grip and plummets to the floor--sometimes I can get to him to help, but not always. Most often he can use his back claws to get an awkward grip, but when he doesn't get that grip, well...it is so heart wrenching that I made such a terrible decision all those year ago that affect him to this day. This happened just a bit ago and brought me to tears for my sweet boy.
The other two go racing up and down the tree (gripping with their front claws), but Abby can't do that because he can't grab with his front claws. He has to make the huge leap to get to where he wants on the kitty tree--the top perch.
Abby can't race up and over furniture when they are all playing chase. He has no front claws to get a good grip. He'll always go behind or around things the other two take great pleasure in racing up and over. They have claws, he doesn't have his to enjoy this fun as much.
He uses our flat cat scratchers and on the bottom of the kitty tree to "scratch" with is front paws, but it's not the same as with the other two who are not declawed. It's a natural instinct that he can't enjoy to the fullest.
When playing with interactive toys, like Da Bird, Abby will attempt to leap and catch the toy, like Maxie and Izzy can do, but he can't actually grip and catch it like they can. I keep Da Bird low to the floor for him so he can catch it that way.
Abby is also my boy who when stressed, will pee in inappropriate places. I think he feels more defenseless because of the declaw.
He's also the only one who has had FLUTD/IC a few years ago (twice--first episode was awful, second I knew what to do right away). I have that under control with a change to their raw diet (more water added and tweaked what goes into their raw). I also use supplements (in particular L-Theanine) when I know he's under stress, because that is his trigger and we don't want a recurrence. Especially outside kitty fights trigger him; which thankfully aren't that often.
So these are just some of my observations over the years regarding how much a declaw can affect a kitty. This mama is so, so sorry to not have known better all those years ago. My precious boy has had to pay the price.
