Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff Lauren Boglebom Here does it look as if Jack the Ripper went dog day afternoon on your couch? Does it seem as if Edward scissor hands continually carves abstract figures into your door jams? If you answer yes to these questions, chances are you have a cat. Cats are notorious for scratching. Some scratch furniture, some pick it carpets,
a few slice human flesh. They use chair legs as scratching posts, and have been known to shred drapes and tablecloths into rags. Cats scratch, That's what they do. The American Veterinary Medical Association the a v m A says that this is both perfectly normal, but conversely that up to half of people's complaints about feline behavior regards destructive scratching. Cats don't do it for malevolent reasons, but mainly to mark their territory, sharpen their nails, stripe their tiny cat muscles,
or remove dead husks from their claws. All of this is natural and instinctive, but because such activities can have unwanted consequences, many cat owners resort to declawing their feelines. But what exactly does this process entail and why is it controversial. In July twenty nineteen, New York became the first state to outlaw cat declawing. Pet Owners who declaw their cats for anything other than medically necessary therapeutic purposes alike in the case of feline cancer, can face a
stiff thousand dollar fine. That's because declawing isn't a benign practice. The most common procedures involve a veterinarian amputating the last bone of each cat toe with a blade or laser. It's the equivalent of cutting off each of a human's fingers at the last knuckle. Other procedures involve severing the tendon in each toe that controls the toe's claw. That option allows the claw to remain the cat just won't
be able to use it. The claw will continue to grow, though, meaning that the owner will likely have to trim the cat's nails. Any kind of surgery like this done to a creature with a central nervous system is of course going to be painful. But how painful pain in animals is tricky to measure. They can't talk us through it, and we know that in humans, when we experience pain, it's not just that we've taken damage and it hurts,
but further that that damage and hurt is upsetting. We can't know whether animals have a similar response, but there are some cues we can take from animals to suss it out. The m v A says clinical signs of pain following declining include a guarding posture, reluctance to bear weight on the de claude limbs, and reluctance to move.
After reviewing one study, the a v m A says that sixty one of a hundred and sixty three cats exhibited signs of pain for between one to forty two days after declining, and twenty of cats went lame for between one and fifty four days. Longer surgery times and use of scalpels versus other instruments increased risk for lameness
after surgery. With the passage of the measure in New York, the Empire State joined several US cities, including Los Angeles and Denver, in banning decline, while similar bills are being considered elsewhere. Kitty Block, president of the Humane Society of the United States, hopes more communities will make declawing illegal. In an email, Block said that the procedure is an
unnecessary convenience surgery. Quote. Complications from declawing include an increase in biting and litter box avoidance, which often results in the cat being surrendered to an animal shelter. Block says the Humane Society is partnering with the Paw Project and veterinarians to educate lawmakers around the country about the issue in hopes of expanding the ban. So if declawing is so painful for cats, why do people choose this option.
The reasons vary. Some do it because they love their furniture. A declaw may protect cat owners, especially those with compromised immune systems, who could experience life threatening complications from cat scratches, but let's be real, instances of cats killing people through infection are rare. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that each year, twelve thousand people in the United States are
diagnosed with cat scratch fever, resulting in five hospitalizations. For most people, though, the disease is mild with low grade fever, fatigue, and headaches, and there are ways to change a cat scratching behavior. Here are a few from our friends at pet m D. You can invest in a scratching post or several and place them strategically around the house. When your cat starts to scratch, don't yellow scold, just pick
her up and put her near the post. Try sprinkling catnip on your cat scratching post to make it more inviting. You can also tack a toy to the post, or by scratching post with one. When the cat swipes at it, she might scratch the post and realize it's pretty great. Cover your cat's favorite scratching sites with double sided sticky tape to deter future scratching, or try spraying furniture with
herbal sprays that cats will avoid. Finally, you can always trim your cat's nails to a blunt edge, or if your cat isn't a fan of nail trims, consider buying plastic colored caps to place over the claws. Not only will the caps save your furniture, but your cat will be pretty style in. Today's episode was written by John Paritano and produced by Tyler clayg. Brain Stuff is a
production of I Heart Radios. How Stuff Works. For Ruin this and lots of other humane topics, visit our home planet, how Stuff works dot com, and for more podcast from My Heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.