At Cat Hospital of Chicago, we work hard to discourage owners from declawing their pet cats. In general, although it may take a good deal of effort on the part of the owner, we feel that the majority of cats can be taught to use owner-acceptable scratching surfaces. In addition, declawing decreases the cat’s defense abilities, and thus should absolutely never be performed in cats who spend any time outdoors, especially if unsupervised. Many owners also feel that because they have an older household cat(s) who is already declawed, any new feline additions to the house should automatically be declawed. In nearly all cases, this is not necessary at all. Many of us at Cat Hospital of Chicago have both clawed and declawed cats that we have acquired over the years – and with no exceptions, they all live happily with one another! (In fact, in Dr. Currigan’s home, her thin, geriatric, declawed cat is the “top cat” over her two younger, clawed housemates!). In summary, because a declaw is an elective procedure, and often is not necessary for the “sanity of the owners” or protection of other cats in the home, we encourage owners to think it through thoroughly, and to explore other options, before making the final decision to declaw.

With that said, we do realize, however, that there are owners who do provide extremely loving homes for their cats, but who are also strong in their desires, for whatever reason, to have their cat(s) declawed. In such cases, we will perform the surgery with our laser surgical unit which assures that the post-operative period (from immediately post-op to several days afterwards) is less painful for the cat. We are also very aggressive with pain management in all cats undergoing declaw surgery, even with use of the laser, as we are fully aware that even the laser and medication only lessen, not eliminate, the discomfort associated with this surgery.

For those owners desiring declaws, we suggest that it be done when the cat is still fairly young (the young age of the cat, as well as the lower body weight, both help to speed post-op recovery), and we clearly prefer not to ever declaw all four paws. (Cats rarely do damage with their rear claws). Declawing can be performed at the same time as a spay or castration.

Although it has been reported by some, we have not observed an increase in physical, emotional, or behavioral problems associated with our declaws. Certainly any or all of these are possible if the procedure is not done properly, if aggressive pain management is not utilized, or if the cat isn’t handled compassionately while hospitalized.

Declaw Protocol and Technique

1. The cat is received by the hospital staff and is examined by the veterinarian. Pre-operative laboratory work, if not already done, is performed at this time.
2. A pre-anesthetic tranquilizer/analgesic (pain medication) is administered and the cat is placed in a hospital cage with a “kitty condo”.
3. After the tranquilizer/analgesic takes effect, general anesthesia with a small amount of injectable or gas anesthetic is induced.
4. An endotracheal tube (breathing tube) is placed into the cat’s windpipe.
5. The endotrachel tube is hooked up to the gas anesthetic machine, and the cat’s anesthesia is maintained from here forward with gas anesthesia.
6. Anesthetic monitoring devices are attached to the cat in order to ensure his or her safety during the surgery. These include continual measurement/monitoring of EKG, heart rate, body temperature, oxygen saturation of red blood cells, efficacy of ventilation, and blood pressure. Monitoring these parameters is all done non-invasively, and are major factors in helping us to assess cardiac and respiratory function under anesthesia. Obviously, we are also very aware of the patient’s breathing, gum color, heart sounds, depth of anesthesia, etc., independent of all the equipment to which the cat is attached. Additionally, because low body temperature can adversely affect these parameters, and thus the overall safety of anesthesia, we also make use of a pediatric Bair Hugger warming blanket (just as is used in hospitals for children) for all anesthetized patients. Additionally, we apply infant “booties” to our patients’ paws in order to further aid in heat retention. We have found that the majority of our patients remain normothermic (normal body temperature) with these preventive measures being taken.
7. An intravenous catheter is placed and fluid administration through the catheter is started. (The fluid is a balanced electrolyte solution, and helps to combat both dehydration and an anesthesia-induced drop in blood pressure). The fluid is warmed before entering the cat’s body via an IV warming unit.
8. A local anesthetic block is performed at the level of the carpus (the wrist) to further aid in pain control.
9. After moving the cat into the surgical suite, the veterinarian then performs the surgery while a technician maintains the anesthesia and monitors the patients throughout the procedure.
10. Using the surgical laser for the entire procedure, each of the cats’ claws, along with “phalanx 3” (the bone to which the claw is attached) is removed. (This would be similar to removing a human fingernail, and the third finger bone, which is the one located at the tip of your finger to which your nail is attached). With use of the surgical laser (vs. the scalpel blade previously used), there is minimal to no bleeding – so a tourniquet on the arm throughout the surgery is not necessary as it used to be when the scalpel was used.
11. After the claws are removed, surgical glue is used to close the small opening where the claw and phalanx 3 had been. No post-op bandaging of the paws is necessary with use of the surgical laser. (With the scalpel or “traditional” declaw, patients had to have their paws remain bandaged for 12-24 hours after surgery).
12. When the surgery is finished, the cat is moved to a post-surgical area. They are carefully monitored as they recover from the anesthesia.
13. Most cats are able to eat, and are offered food, within 30-45 minutes of being taken off the surgery table (versus after a “traditional” declaw, when cats were awake enough to eat only after 6-8 hours or more post-op because cats needed to be kept heavily sedated for so much longer with the previous protocol).
14. At Cat Hospital of Chicago, we hospitalize our declaw patients overnight one night. This is to assure that they remain quiet and don’t move around excessively on their feet. It also allows us to better assess them and their pain management needs for 24 hours after the surgery is performed.

In addition to the pre-anesthetic pain injection, and the analgesic carpal block (“wrist” block) mentioned above, all declaw patients receive additional pain medication (injections, pain patch, etc.) that is tailored to the individual cat. All declaw patients are also sent home with pain medication. At Cat Hospital of Chicago, we pride ourselves on being very aggressive in the area of pain management, and this is especially evident in those procedures known to be associated with high levels of pain, such as the declaw.

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