Declawing big cats

R

RowanGreen

Well-Known Member
Thought I'd try this here, as the UK forum probably doesn't have a lot of experience with this... Hearing that Craig Busch is appearing in the UK this weekend got me thinking...

The main reasoning behind getting big cats declawed seems to be to allow closer contact and interaction with humans. But is this misguided?

There's now a good bit of evidence that declawing domestic cats increases the chance that they'll bite (and probably be nervouse and agressive in general). Since it seems that generally big cats do even worse than little ones when declawed, you'd expect this effect to be greater: whether from insecurity due to being disabled, or chronic pain.

Was the tiger that killed Dalu declawed?
 
I guess this is going to be hard to find information on, unless anyone has any tales?

I've been reading the Paw Project site: ban cat declawing | animal welfare | The Paw Project

Their FAQ lists the research into the effects of declawing on domestic cats. Since starting this I've also read through their case studies (in the FAQ section) and they have several where a declawed exotic cat was in some way rather grumpy, but improved after surgery to improve their paws. This certainly supports the idea that declawing would NOT always make a big cat easier to handle. I'm not sure it's all I'm looking for though.
 
I'm not sure how accurate this is, but a few years ago I was at Babcock Ranch in Florida with my grandparents. On the ranch was a large enclosure housing 2 rescued Panthers that had formerly been household pets. The guide said that they had been declawed by their previous owners and that, as a result, their paws would, at some point, no longer be able to stand on them and would be euthanized.
Like I said, not so sure how accurate that was. But IMO, if an animal needs to be "modified" so be safe to keep in zoos, they simply shouldn't be kept. Most zoos are strongly against venomoid Snakes, I don't see how declawed cats are any different.
 
Declawing big cats was made illegal by the USDA (thankfully) in August 2006. Earlier this year we acquired several tigers that were declawed when younger. Although the operation was done very nicely (no floppy feet; the claws were removed without removing the first digit), these two animals were the noisest animals ever have been. They too wanted to bite any other animal and person. Despite this, the adult female was one of the sweetest I have been around. Because they were defenseless against the other tigers with hardware intact, we were not able to keep the two and both were retired.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top