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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain

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Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren Boglebom Here does it look as if Jack

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Speaker 1: the Ripper went dog day afternoon on your couch? Does

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Speaker 1: it seem as if Edward scissor hands continually carves abstract

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Speaker 1: figures into your door jams? If you answer yes to

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Speaker 1: these questions, chances are you have a cat. Cats are

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Speaker 1: notorious for scratching. Some scratch furniture, some pick it carpets,

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Speaker 1: a few slice human flesh. They use chair legs as

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Speaker 1: scratching posts, and have been known to shred drapes and

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Speaker 1: tablecloths into rags. Cats scratch, That's what they do. The

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Speaker 1: American Veterinary Medical Association the a v m A says

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Speaker 1: that this is both perfectly normal, but conversely that up

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Speaker 1: to half of people's complaints about feline behavior regards destructive scratching.

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Speaker 1: Cats don't do it for malevolent reasons, but mainly to

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Speaker 1: mark their territory, sharpen their nails, stripe their tiny cat muscles,

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Speaker 1: or remove dead husks from their claws. All of this

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Speaker 1: is natural and instinctive, but because such activities can have

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Speaker 1: unwanted consequences, many cat owners resort to declawing their feelines.

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Speaker 1: But what exactly does this process entail and why is

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Speaker 1: it controversial. In July twenty nineteen, New York became the

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Speaker 1: first state to outlaw cat declawing. Pet Owners who declaw

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Speaker 1: their cats for anything other than medically necessary therapeutic purposes

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Speaker 1: alike in the case of feline cancer, can face a

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Speaker 1: stiff thousand dollar fine. That's because declawing isn't a benign practice.

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Speaker 1: The most common procedures involve a veterinarian amputating the last

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Speaker 1: bone of each cat toe with a blade or laser.

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Speaker 1: It's the equivalent of cutting off each of a human's

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Speaker 1: fingers at the last knuckle. Other procedures involve severing the

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Speaker 1: tendon in each toe that controls the toe's claw. That

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Speaker 1: option allows the claw to remain the cat just won't

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Speaker 1: be able to use it. The claw will continue to grow, though,

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Speaker 1: meaning that the owner will likely have to trim the

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Speaker 1: cat's nails. Any kind of surgery like this done to

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Speaker 1: a creature with a central nervous system is of course

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Speaker 1: going to be painful. But how painful pain in animals

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Speaker 1: is tricky to measure. They can't talk us through it,

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Speaker 1: and we know that in humans, when we experience pain,

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Speaker 1: it's not just that we've taken damage and it hurts,

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Speaker 1: but further that that damage and hurt is upsetting. We

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Speaker 1: can't know whether animals have a similar response, but there

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Speaker 1: are some cues we can take from animals to suss

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Speaker 1: it out. The m v A says clinical signs of

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Speaker 1: pain following declining include a guarding posture, reluctance to bear

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Speaker 1: weight on the de claude limbs, and reluctance to move.

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Speaker 1: After reviewing one study, the a v m A says

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Speaker 1: that sixty one of a hundred and sixty three cats

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Speaker 1: exhibited signs of pain for between one to forty two

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Speaker 1: days after declining, and twenty of cats went lame for

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Speaker 1: between one and fifty four days. Longer surgery times and

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Speaker 1: use of scalpels versus other instruments increased risk for lameness

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Speaker 1: after surgery. With the passage of the measure in New York,

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Speaker 1: the Empire State joined several US cities, including Los Angeles

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Speaker 1: and Denver, in banning decline, while similar bills are being

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Speaker 1: considered elsewhere. Kitty Block, president of the Humane Society of

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Speaker 1: the United States, hopes more communities will make declawing illegal.

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Speaker 1: In an email, Block said that the procedure is an

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Speaker 1: unnecessary convenience surgery. Quote. Complications from declawing include an increase

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Speaker 1: in biting and litter box avoidance, which often results in

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Speaker 1: the cat being surrendered to an animal shelter. Block says

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Speaker 1: the Humane Society is partnering with the Paw Project and

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Speaker 1: veterinarians to educate lawmakers around the country about the issue

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Speaker 1: in hopes of expanding the ban. So if declawing is

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Speaker 1: so painful for cats, why do people choose this option.

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Speaker 1: The reasons vary. Some do it because they love their furniture.

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Speaker 1: A declaw may protect cat owners, especially those with compromised

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Speaker 1: immune systems, who could experience life threatening complications from cat scratches,

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Speaker 1: but let's be real, instances of cats killing people through

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Speaker 1: infection are rare. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that

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Speaker 1: each year, twelve thousand people in the United States are

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Speaker 1: diagnosed with cat scratch fever, resulting in five hospitalizations. For

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Speaker 1: most people, though, the disease is mild with low grade fever, fatigue,

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Speaker 1: and headaches, and there are ways to change a cat

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Speaker 1: scratching behavior. Here are a few from our friends at

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Speaker 1: pet m D. You can invest in a scratching post

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Speaker 1: or several and place them strategically around the house. When

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Speaker 1: your cat starts to scratch, don't yellow scold, just pick

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Speaker 1: her up and put her near the post. Try sprinkling

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Speaker 1: catnip on your cat scratching post to make it more inviting.

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Speaker 1: You can also tack a toy to the post, or

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Speaker 1: by scratching post with one. When the cat swipes at it,

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Speaker 1: she might scratch the post and realize it's pretty great.

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Speaker 1: Cover your cat's favorite scratching sites with double sided sticky

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Speaker 1: tape to deter future scratching, or try spraying furniture with

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Speaker 1: herbal sprays that cats will avoid. Finally, you can always

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Speaker 1: trim your cat's nails to a blunt edge, or if

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Speaker 1: your cat isn't a fan of nail trims, consider buying

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Speaker 1: plastic colored caps to place over the claws. Not only

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Speaker 1: will the caps save your furniture, but your cat will

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Speaker 1: be pretty style in. Today's episode was written by John

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Speaker 1: Paritano and produced by Tyler clayg. Brain Stuff is a

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Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radios. How Stuff Works. For Ruin

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Speaker 1: this and lots of other humane topics, visit our home planet,

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Speaker 1: how Stuff works dot com, and for more podcast from

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Speaker 1: My Heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.