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Should I declaw my cat? – What is onychectomy?

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What causes cats to scratch?

Cat scratching his scratching post
Cat scratching his scratching post

Scratching behavior is a normal part of being a feline. Cats use scratching on objects to remove the dying sheaths of the nail, marking territory and stretching their muscles. Undesirable scratching behavior in cats, destroying objects in the home or scratching people in the home, is responsible for up to 42% of feline behavior complaints. Onychectomy is a surgical procedure aimed at removing the claws of a cat to prevent this potentially destructive behavior.

What is involved in a declaw?

Unfortunately unlike human nails, cat’s nails grow from the germinal cells of the third phalanx or finger bone on their paws. In order to make sure that the nail is removed and will be unable to grow back, the third finger bone is surgically removed. Veterinarians will remove the finger bone with sterilized guillotine nail trimmers, a surgical blade or laser. The paws are then bandaged to prevent bleeding as the surgical sites are not routinely sutured. Imagine having your finger bones surgically removed!

Why would anyone do this to their cat you ask? Well, as mentioned above, undesirable scratching is responsible for behavior complaints and in some cases relinquishing of the cat. But there are other ways of stopping a cat from scratching furniture, wood work and you!

The new philosophy on declaws

When I first started practicing veterinary medicine, declawing was a routine procedure at the animal hospital where I worked. It sort of was a given that the indoor cat would be declawed at the time of their spay or neuter. (for more information on spay and neuter….) Since that time through client awareness and education, most clients are unwilling to declaw their cat and put them through this elective painful surgical procedure in order to protect their couch.  The Cat Clinic of Plymouth no longer provides this service unless required by a medical condition of the cat or it’s human. Most other first world countries have also banned the declawing of cats for convenience.

“The AVMA or American Veterinary Medical Association official position on declawing cats is this…

The current AVMA policy on Declawing of Domestic Cats recommends that the procedure

only be performed after exhausting other methods of controlling scratching behavior or if it has been

determined that the cat’s claws present a human health risk.”

From Literature Review on the Welfare Implications of Declawing of Domestic Cats, February 2016

How to prevent scratching?

There are other more humane ways of preventing undesirable scratching behavior in cats and avoid declaw.

  • Keeping the nails trimmed
  • Providing acceptable alternatives for your cat to scratch i.e. cat scratching posts (see “How do I train my cat not to scratch my furniture?”)
  • Training to not scratch inappropriate objects including people (see “Why does my cat scratch me?”)
  • Nail Caps that glue onto the nail to prevent damage when scratching
  • Facial pheromone diffusers or sprays
  • Environmental Enrichment (see “Enriching Your Environment for Cat Happiness”)

By Cassandra Kelley DVM, Cat Clinic of Plymouth

 

How to Choose your Veterinarian?

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Veterinarian
Veterinarian examining a cat

I was going to title this blog “Why are you mad at your veterinarian?”

Sometimes as a veterinarian during my examination of a cat, I start to give some options for dealing with some of the everyday problems that the cat parent has brought to my attention for instance, occasional vomiting, bad breath, itchy skin, etc. Every once in a while, a cat parent becomes quite agitated with my suggestions. Their face clenches, their words get clipped, the voice is raised and I am not sure why. Why are they mad at me? Maybe they feel I am suggesting that they do the impossible. Maybe they feel they can’t afford some of the recommendations. Maybe they feel that the problem isn’t actually a problem. I really don’t know because the conversation becomes almost impossible to navigate because of the agitation level.

I always feel terrible when this does happen because I feel that I felt short of doing my job which is to be a health advocate for the little cat that is my patient. And I think if everyone who is interested in the best care for their pets would pick the right veterinarian for them, we could avoid this unpleasantness altogether.

Choosing your veterinarian

Now I believe that all veterinarians are kind hearted people who were called to this profession because of their love and commitment to animals. Believe me. No one chose this job because they were in it for the money, hours, lack of stress, emotional or physical comfort, etc. We work long hard hours to make sure your pet is well cared for while we miss dinner with the family every night. We drive our old cars so we can pay our student loans. We cry after we euthanize your pet.

So beyond making sure that your veterinarian is a qualified, up to date, skilled practitioner of veterinary medicine, make sure you like this person. You should feel able to ask questions of this person, learn from this person and communicate easily with this person. Most pet parents eventually have an emotional and difficult conversation with their pet’s veterinarian. So make sure before that happens that the discussions about at home dental care, flea control and diets aren’t difficult. Everyone communicates differently and has different personalities. That’s why there is more than one veterinarian. Make sure you pick the best one for you!

Check out some of the testimonials from clients of the Cat Clinic of Plymouth.

By Cassandra Kelley DVM, veterinarian and owner Cat Clinic of Plymouth

Cat Scratch Fever

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Cat Scratch Fever
Preventative Care can protect a cat from disease

What is Cat Scratch Fever? A visit to your veterinarian could prevent this disease.

Not only is Cat Scratch Fever a groovy song from the 70’s, it is also a bacterial infection that can affect humans. It is transmitted through bites and scratches from cats. Cat Scratch Disease can also be transmitted from an infected cat to a human if the cat comes in contact with the human’s open wound or eyes.  This makes it a zoonotic disease, one that can be passed from animal to human.

The bacteria are Bartonella henselae and are one of the most common bacteria in the world. About 40% of cats will carry these bacteria at some point in their lives, very commonly when they are kittens. It is believed that the bacteria are transmitted to cats through fleas, another important reason to protect your cat against fleas all year round. For more information on flea prevention see Infested .  The bacteria are transmitted to the cat when it grooms itself and inadvertently ingests the feces of the flea. Humans cannot contract the disease directly through fleas but the disease can be transmitted to humans and cats through ticks.

Cat Scratch Disease symptoms

Most cats are not clinically sick when they are infected with Bartonella henselae. Occasionally, a cat will present with fever, muscle aches and swollen lymph nodes to the veterinarian but treatment is not always required. While most cases in humans are generally mild, it is estimated that over 25,000 people in the U.S. are hospitalized each year for symptoms of Cat Scratch Disease.

Symptoms usually appear 7-14 days after exposure and can include….

  • Reddish small solid rounded bump or papule at the site of scratch or bite
  • Swelling and appearance of infection at site
  • Swelling of lymph nodes nearest the site of scratch or bite
  • Mild fever
  • Chills
  • Fatigue
  • General malaise
  • Lack of appetite
  • Muscle pain (myalgia)
  • Nausea or abdominal cramps
  • Occasional serious effects on internal organs in children under 5 or those immunocompromised individuals.

However sometimes symptoms don’t occur for months making diagnosis difficult. When I was finally diagnosed with Cat Scratch Disease years ago, I had already been tested for HIV and my affected lymph node was biopsied for cancer. Luckily those tests came back negative and revealed that I had simply been infected with Bartonella henselae!

Prevention of Cat Scratch Disease

Fortunately Cat Scratch Disease is not fatal in humans but can cause serious issues for immunocompromised people.  Here are the CDC’s (Center for Disease Control) recommendations to prevent Cat Scratch Disease in people.

People

Do:

A cat’s paw with long sharp nails.

  • Wash cat bites and scratches right away with soap and running water.
  • Wash your hands with soap and running water after playing with your cat, especially if you live with young children or people with weakened immune systems.
  • Since cats less than one year of age are more likely to have CSD and spread it to people, persons with a weakened immune system should adopt cats older than one year of age.

Do not:

  • Play rough with your pets because they may scratch and bite.
  • Allow cats to lick your open wounds.
  • Pet or touch stray or feral cats.

Cats

Do:

  • Control fleas
  • Keep your cat’s nails
  • Apply a flea product (topical or oral medication) as directed by your veterinarian.
    • BEWARE: Over-the-counter flea products may not be safe for cats. Check with your veterinarian before applying ANY flea product to make sure it is safe for your cat and your family.
    • Check for fleas by using a flea comb on your cat to inspect for flea dirt.
    • Control fleas in your home by
    • Vacuuming frequently
    • Contacting a pest-control agent if necessary

Protect your cat’s health

  • Schedule routine veterinary health check-ups.
  • Keep cats indoors to
    • Decrease their contact with fleas
    • Prevent them from fighting with stray or potentially infected animals

From http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/diseases/cat-scratch.html

Although most humans do not require treatment, alert your doctor if you have any symptoms of Cat Scratch Disease. Just because Cat Scratch Fever is a groovy song, I can assure becoming symptomatic due to Cat Scratch Fever is not groovy!

By Cassandra Kelley DVM, veterinarian and owner Cat Clinic of Plymouth

Planes, Trains and Pet Sitter

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Planes, Trains and a Pet Sitter

Pet Sitter for our Beach Vacation
Beach Vacation

 

Finding a Pet Sitter

My husband and I love to travel. We love vacations by the beach…. in February.  As a New Englander this always involves travel. One of the most stressful parts of planning a trip is what to do with the cats, the dog and the fish.  We usually try to get a pet sitter. We always have multiple cats, sometimes multiple dogs and sometimes other critters. It just seemed less stressful for someone to come in to the house and let everyone stay in their preferred environment. But who should that person be? A professional? A neighbor? A friend? A colleague?

Pet Sitter of Our Dreams

We were lucky many years ago to come across a veterinary technician that worked with my husband who fit the bill for our pet sitter. She was young, unattached and willing to stay away from her parents’ house for a vacation of her own. She was also extremely reliable and very concerned for our pet’s well-being. I knew nothing would happen under her watch.

This gave us a sense of security. We always scheduled our pet sitter before making plans of our own. But how long would this last? Luckily for us it lasted many years until one day she found the man of her dreams. Great for her! But I am thinking that she will no longer want to leave her home of wedding bliss to stay with my pets!

Boarding VS Pet Sitter

Now the dilemma begins again. We found several professional pet sitters that came highly recommended. We also had the option of boarding our pets.

Pet sitter vs Happy Cat getting love in a Boarding Condo
Happy Cat getting love in a Boarding Condo

Luckily, the Cat Clinic of Plymouth offers boarding for cats only. The facility is great! Clean, quiet and offers multiple options for boarding areas. There are large multi-level condos available with cubicles to hide in. They either face the sunny windows with birds flying to and fro or they face the kitchen area for those social cats that want pats every time an employee walks by.  There is also a horizontal condo with two sides that the cat can access for those elderly or less nimble cats that want to stretch their legs but don’t want to jump. And suitable for our multi-cat situation there are entire rooms that can be rented allowing a family of cats to stay together. Some of these even have ocean views!

This seemed like the best option for us. The only issue was… the dog! (Yes the cat vet owns a dog.) I mean she is a tiny dog, but I think the staff would figure it out meaning little Luna would have to stay at another boarding facility all by herself. So either the family is divided or we come up with another option. And the fish! Is there a fish boarding facility?

Cat Only Boarding

So if your family is made up of just human travelers and cats, we have the answer for you at the Cat Clinic of Plymouth. Let us take your cats on vacation for some pampering while you enjoy your travels. Come check out our cat only boarding facility at the Cat Clinic of Plymouth.

 

Post Script: A veterinary technician of mine fell into circumstances where she was available and willing to be our pet sitter. A big sigh of relief, at least for now.

By Cassandra Kelley DVM, veterinarian and owner Cat Clinic of Plymouth

Tulip – one feral cat’s story

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Introducing Tulip

feral cat
Feral Cat – Tulip

The first time I laid eyes on our feral cat Tulip she was in a Have-A-Heart Trap that smelled like tuna

fish and urine.She was wet and cold, shivering in the far reaches of the cage in order to give as much distance from her captors. Despite all that, she was beautiful! Her black and white coat and round little facial features made her appear sweet and kind. Tulip was indeed a feral cat.

What is a Feral Cat

A feral cat is a cat that was born outside and receives no socialization with humans. They are fearful of humans and would rather flee from the human than attack. Feral cats would only lash out if trapped with no means of escape. Feral cats can have certain levels based on how many generations the population has been on their own, human social interaction as a feeding station, and individual personality. Feral cats will usually live in a colony that may also include domesticated cat that has lost their owners in some manner. They are not wild in the sense that most of them require food from human sources even if that means picking from a dumpster.

In fact, that was Tulip’s story.  She and her babies were living behind a dumpster at the condominium complex where my mother was living. Some of my mom’s neighbors started helping the little family out by bringing cat food and placing it under the dumpster for them. Unfortunately, there were some complaints from the non-feline fan club around the condos. The condo association then announced that the feeding needed to stop and in fact the pests were to be exterminated at some future date.

Trapping, Neutering and Release of Feral Cats

You can’t imagine the horror of my mother and her neighbors. The thought of the destruction of this little family was too much to bear and they reached out to me and the Cat Clinic of Plymouth for help. We were able to find a kitty angel that spent most of her time volunteering to help trap feral cats. She would work to get them veterinary care and then either re-release them spayed, neutered and vaccinated or would find placement for them if they could be socialized. Obviously this little family could not be released at the same area. So that posed another dilemma. Where would this little family go?

The Cat Clinic of Plymouth volunteered to help with the veterinary care once they were captured with the caveat that the neighbors would find a place where they could go. Interestingly enough capturing these little cats was the easy part. They caught two males first. One was pretty well socialized and was adopted by one of our wonderful clients and transitioned to household living well. The other male was extremely feral. He was adopted by one of our wonderful veterinary technicians and was able to adjust to his new colony and indoor living but never socialized with humans.

They next caught the two baby cats who at this time were months old and therefore more difficult to socialize. At the time there were no options for this rag tag team so they remained at the clinic taking up my cage space for several months. They slowly became more and more socialized as a result of their forced loving from their veterinary technicians at the Cat Clinic of Plymouth. The boy cats were finally adopted to one of the neighbors after causing much commotion at the clinic. The staff would put them in an exam room overnight so they could play with a little more room than a double wide cat condominium. The boy cats were able to somehow manage to get the cover off of the heating duct and enter the duct system overnight. It took hours of removing ducts from the heating system to finally capture them!

Finally, Tulip was trapped. After her veterinary care, she adjusted to cage living but clearly was not socialized. With the help of Victor, our hospital cat, she began very slowly adjust to human companionship. After almost a year of cage living and no prospects, she began to show some progress. We could at least touch her with a brush without her striking out from the back of the cage obviously scared out of her mind!

Happy Endings

While this was developing, I lost my elderly dog. I figured that this was an opportunity for Tulip. There was an opening at my house. Maybe just maybe, she would transfer her crush from Victor to my male cat. Luckily that worked out. We moved her cage into my back bedroom and allowed everyone to visit. With only mild hostility from my female cat Olive, we slowly made the transition from cage to room to house.

I would still consider Tulip somewhat feral. After years of working with her she can socialize with us allowing us to brush her, pet her with one hand under certain conditions. She still cannot be picked up, medicated or treated for fleas without a great deal of planning and effort, in other words, capturing her when she comes for her meal and scruffing her on the floor while my husband attempts to treat her. Even so, she always forgives us. And she has no interest in going outside again ever.

To learn more about cat care and cat behavior, go to  Cat Clinic Blog

By Cassandra Kelley DVM, veterinarian and owner Cat Clinic of Plymouth

Environmental Enrichment for Stressed Indoor Cats

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Happy Indoor Cat
Happy Indoor Cat

What is Environmental Enrichment for Stressed Cats?

What does your cat do all day while you are at work? Most likely the answer is sleep. But is there a way that we can improve life indoors? I believe that there is.

Some of my clients worry that by not allowing their cats the freedom of the outdoors that we are keeping them from the normal activities of being a cat. My answer is that although it would be more exciting to live in Iraq, I feel safer living in the United States. I think that with a little ingenuity we can make indoor life just as exciting as outdoor life but safer.

The Life of a Cat

Think of what cats do outside. They hunt, they climb, they scratch, they problem solve and they move! So how can we help them do this in the safety of their homes? Providing an enriched environment can prevent many behavior problems.

A Checklist for Relieving Stress

  • Vertical Space increases overall space available to the cat and allows them the opportunity to climb. Provide cat trees, cat perches and shelves.
  • Appropriate scratching materials allow the cat to exhibit normal cat behavior to mark territory, stretch and keep claws healthy. Each cat has a preference for scratching material. See my blog regarding how to train your cat to scratch appropriately. https://catclinicplymouth.com/blog/
  • Interactive Toys and Hunting Games provide both mental and physical stimulation. Play with your cat several times a day allowing them to stalk and catch!
  • Keeping the home predictable without being rigid keeps cats from being bored. Making small changes that provide novelty like rotating toys or purchasing new toys. Cats play the most with interactive toys that involve their human.
  • Make feeding more natural for your cat. Cats in the wild forage for food and eat 10-20 small meals daily. Although I recommend a majority of the diet be canned, dental kibble can be fed in small amounts using interactive food toys or balls, food puzzles or hiding it around the house for the cat to hunt.
  • Provide cover to hide in. Boxes, bags and carriers left out can provide these coveted spots.
  • Provide interaction outside. Cats can be trained to walk on a leash. There are also companies that can design a cat safe outdoor enclosure. Simply having some bird feeders in window near their perch can help.
  • Clicker training or training for food can teach your cat to sit, come or do a variety of other “tricks.”

Finally, cats are social animals. So even if you are tired after work. Try to carve out some time to groom, pet or play with your feline furbaby. You will both benefit from it!Cat Clinic Plymouth MA

By Cassandra Kelley DVM, veterinarian and owner Cat Clinic of Plymouth