• The British Veterinary Association
• The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
• The Paw Project (1-877-PAWPROJECT; www.pawproject.com, has list of more organizations that oppose declawing)
• Cats International (www.catsinternational.org)
• In Defense of Animals (www.idausa.org).
• Friends of Animals (www.friendsofanimals.org): “If you love your cat, don’t declaw.”
• Animal Protection Institute (www.api4animals.org): “Please make the humane choice—do not declaw.”

• www.declawhallofshame.com
• www.goodcatswearblack.com
• www.pawsneedclaws.com
• www.pawproject.com
• www.declawing.com
• www.stopdeclaw.com
• www.declaw.com (lists veterinarians who don’t declaw)
• www.listnow.com/helpingpaws/ (articles about declawing)
• http://declaw.lisaviolet.com
• http://maxshouse.com/Truth%20About%20Declawing.htm
• http://tedeboy.tripod.com/drmichaelwfox/id115.html (Article: Veterinarians Spread False Information Nationwide to Justify Their Cruel Surgeries that Cripple Millions of Cats)

• Petitions to sign to help end declawing:
• Petition 1
• Petition 2

A feral cat is hardly ever suitable for adoption as a pet. Some owners have had success retraining feral cats, but it took years. Some semiferals are able to adjust if caught soon enough. It’s best to let ferals live with their own kind. Ferals do not need your home. Ferals are at home in the wild.

Facts About Feral Cats

• Never touch or handle a feral cat.
• Feral cats usually make bad house pets. Ferals live in and prefer the outdoors. They do not consider your home a paradise—to them, it’s a prison.
• There are about 60 million feral cats in the United States alone. About 17.5 million Americans feed feral cats.
• If a feral is returned to a different colony, he may try to return “home” even if it takes crossing several miles of highways to do it.

Why Be Concerned About Feral Cats?

If feral cats continue to breed and multiply, their numbers “swell quickly to unmanageable magnitude,” according to Esther Mechler, director of SPAY/USA in New York. That’s no lie: One female cat and her offspring theoretically can produce 420,000 cats in seven years. This problem becomes everyone’s responsibility. Without the tireless efforts of volunteers and veterinarians who trap and alter cats, our cities would be overrun with cats.

Destroying feral cats only keeps a steady stream of new cats invading the area. However, if an entire colony is trapped, altered, and returned to the same area, their numbers remain steady. Some cities and counties pledge funds to control the population—a form of “animal control.” The results have paid off. Studies across the United States and Europe have shown not only that the stray cat population is decreasing, but that it is actually cheaper to spay, neuter, and return ferals to their colony than it is to kill them.

What to Do If You Find a Feral Cat Colony

A few shelters may know the location of feral colonies and caretakers in your area. Because some agencies simply kill feral cats and others offer assistance, call different shelters. Ask about organizations whose mission is to spay and neuter feral cats. Some shelters will trap, alter, and return the colony if the caller or community can locate a caretaker who will commit to feeding and watering the colony every day. Backup caretakers also are needed. Shelters don’t like to return fixed ferals to an area that has no steady food and water supply because the cats won’t live long under those conditions.

SPAY/USA and Alley Cat Allies have a growing friends-of-feral-felines national network. They can help you organize your community.

What Else You Can Do for Ferals

• Raise community awareness. Ferals are easy targets on which to vent abuse.
• Set a good example for kids. Let them know that anyone who tortures cats or other animals is doing something very wrong and needs a mental health professional.
• Volunteer to feed and water a cat colony. You must be able to go to the colony every day and have a backup for any day you cannot make it.
• Volunteer to trap ferals and transport them to the vet’s office to be altered. Then transport them back to the colony.
• If you see a cat roaming the neighborhood that doesn’t appear to be taken care of, consider calling the shelter to have him rescued. Some people will agree to have a stray altered and then find him another home. Neighborhood cats are no longer anyone’s pet. They don’t have regular proper care, but they are not yet feral. When caught and fixed soon enough in life, a neighborhood stray is quite adoptable. But if he runs the streets with little or no human contact, he will lose trust and become feral in no time.

Contact List for Spay and Neutering Services

For information on affordable spay and neutering services, contact:

Alley Cat Allies
www.alleycat.org

Alley Cat Rescue
www.saveacat.org

SPAY/USA
www.spayusa.org
1-800 248-SPAY (7729)

The mission of SPAY/USA is to end pet overpopulation. SPAY/USA is a network of volunteers and veterinarians working together to popularize and facilitate spay/neuter services through a nationwide toll-free referral service. SPAY/USA empowers local groups to start their own spay/neuter clinics.

The behaviorists listed below are happy to take your calls and answer your questions:

Mr. Jackson Galaxy, Feline Behavior Consultant
Little Big Cat, Inc.—Mind/Body Consultations for Cats and Their People
www.littlebigcat.com
Phone: 310-376-6616

Cats International offers free advice for your feline behavior problems and questions.
www.catsinternational.org
Behavior hotline: 262-375-8852

www.AnimalRadio.com

World’s Best Cat Litter—natural clumping litter
1-877-367-9225
www.worldsbestcatlitter.com

SWHEAT SCOOP Wheat Litter
Pet Care Systems, Inc.
1-800-SWHEATS
www.swheatscoop.com

• Get Serious! Stain, odor and pheromone extractor, 714-639-3580, www.getseriousproducts.com
• Urine-Off, Odor & Stain Remover, www.urine-off.com
• X-O Odor Neutralizer, natural and organic, www.xocorp.com

In Cat Be Good she shares her wisdom-painstakingly assembled over years and carefully organized and illustrated for the reader’s convenience.  You can learn why hairballs occur, how to recognize them, and how to minimize their occurrence; what catnip does to cats and why; the motivation for and environmental treatment for urine spraying; how to understand and redirect furniture scratching; and so much more (Annie firmly opposes declawing, as I do).

Cat Be Good also contains information about where to go to get additional information on products and resources, how to contact cat advocacy groups, how to donate to cat charities, etc.  There are cat vignettes, quotations about cats, even a poem Annie authored thrown in for good measure. Cat Be Good is basically everything a 100 percent cat person could possibly write down to help other cat owners do the best for their cats and thus prevent stresses that cause problems for both cats and their owners.

Annie has pulled no punches, spared no amount of research, and told it as she sees it for the benefit of cat owners-and, more important, for their four-footed feline friends. Anecdotal and empirical, mythical and factual, fun-filled and serious, Cat Be Good deals with all common cat issues as a text or reference. Read and enjoy.

Nicholas Dodman BVMS, MRCVS, DACVB
Professor and Behaviorist, Tufts University
Author: The Cat Who Cried for Help and If Only They Could Speak

What others have said about Cat Be Good by Annie Bruce:

This easy to read, basic, and sensible book will delight any cat owner, whether you are about to get your very first cat or you already have a multi cat household.”
—Cat Fancy Magazine

“From the first sentence dealing with bringing that kitten home to the last chapter on how to say goodbye, the book had this veteran cat owner’s full attention and approval.”
—Rene Knapp, host of television show Pet Talk in Connecticut

“Cat Be Good is a great guide or gift for anyone who is thinking about sharing life with a feline friend.”
—The Whole Cat Journal

“Bruce give readers the scoop on all things feline.”
—Cats magazine

“A wonderful book and should be required reading for everyone who lives with a cat. It covers absolutely everything you need to know to live happily ever after with our feline pals.”
—Dr. Jean Hofve, DVM, Animal Protection Institute’s Animal Issues

“If you’ve got a hairball problem, Annie Bruce has the solution. Ditto for those disconcerting litter-box issues and sofa shredding incidents.”
—Rocky Mountain News (Denver)

“An enlightened, common-sense guide for living with cats.”
—The Animals’ Agenda

“Bruce successfully dispels in this fun, easy read some of the most common myths of the cat world.”
—ASPCA’s Animal Watch

“The book provides practical advice on cat behavior, including how to train a cat to come when called, eliminating aggression and other problems.”
—Pet Business

Contrary to what most American cat owners think, declawing does not “save” cats, training time, money, or sofas. It frequently does the exact opposite. Declawed cats can be expensive and dangerous to own because declawing is the number one cause of litter box problems and biting problems.

• Declawing is an amputation of the cat’s toes to the first knuckle of each joint. Declawing removes claw, bone, tendon, and ligament.

• A study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (“Risk factors for relinquishment of cats to an animal shelter”, by Patronek, Glickman, Beck, et al., JAVMA, 1996:209:582-588) found that declawed cats were at an increased risk of relinquishment to animal shelters. Among relinquished cats, 52.4% of declawed cats were reported to exhibit litter box avoidance, compared to 29.1% of non-declawed cats.

• From CourierPostOnline.com, February 1, 2003: “Eighty percent of the cats that are surrendered that are declawed are euthanized because they have a behavioral problem. . . . Declawed cats frequently become biters and also stop using litter boxes . . . one or the other.” —William Lombardi, shelter director, Gloucester County, New Jersey.

• A study of 163 cats that underwent onychectomy (declawing), published in the July/August 1994 Journal of Veterinary Surgery, showed that 50 percent suffered from immediate postoperative complications such as pain, hemorrhage, and lameness; long-term complications, including prolonged lameness, were found in nearly 20 percent of the 121 cats who were followed up in the study.

• A study published in the January 2001 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) found that 31 percent of 39 cats that underwent onychectomy or tendonectomy developed at least one behavior change immediately after surgery, with the most common problems being litter box problems and biting.

• A national survey of shelters from the Caddo Parrish Forgotten Felines and Friends indicates that approximately 70 percent of cats turned in to shelters for behavioral problems are declawed.

• From the Summer 2002 issue of PETA’s Animal Times: “A survey by a Delaware animal shelter showed that more than 75 percent of the cats turned in for avoiding their litter boxes had been declawed.”

• According to a study published in the October 2001 issue of JAVMA by Dr. Gary J. Patronek, VMD, PhD, “declawed cats were at an increased risk of relinquishment.”

• In three years of experience as a cat owner consultant, Annie Bruce (author of Cat Be Good) received 95% of calls about declawed cats related to litter box problems, as opposed to only 46% of calls about clawed cats—and most of those were older cats with physical ailments. Only declawed cats cost their owners security deposits, leather sofas, and floorboards. And it’s mostly declawed cats that have been prescribed painkillers, antidepressants, tranquilizers, and steroids.

• Declawing is illegal or considered inhumane in many countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Norway, Austria, Scotland, Wales, and Portugal.

Note: “…behavior problems… relinquished … euthanized…” are all the things that the American Veterinary Medical Association claim that declawing is intended to stop.

Please share this page with others: http://www.catbegood.com/declawing/important-facts

Click here to download a printable PDF of this page.

• Diet affects cat behavior. Feed a wide variety of food (canned, dry, homemade, leftovers.)

• Exercise affects cat behavior. Your cat strengthens his muscles by scratching his scratching post.

• Spending time outdoors improves cat behavior. Unless there are inordinate threats to the cat’s safety and welfare, familiarize your cat with the outdoors. Spend time together outside learning the whereabouts of traffic and property boundaries and becoming familiar with passersby. Cats can become “street smart,” and this training may save their lives.

• When your cat is bad, simply say “No!” Don’t say “No” with his name. Use his name only when he is good.

• Do not spank your cat or squirt water on him.

• Always make it pleasant for your cat to come to you or come home. Say “Hi!” and his name when he enters the room. Reward good behavior with kind words, petting, brushing, hugs, and kisses.

• Adopt spayed or neutered, clawed cats only. Clawed cats need homes and are safer and cheaper to own. Do not declaw any cat.

• Play with your cat every day. Use cat toys, not your hands.

I feel so bad to be telling you this
Declawed cats bite, they growl and piss.
Adopt clawed cats is what I say
Don’t mess with cats that aren’t God made.
Clawed cats are smart and easy to train
Compared to vets, cats got way more brain.

Say “Hey there, cat doctor! Annie Bruce said,
“Stop declawing! Or I’ll look elsewhere instead.”
A guy or gal who thinks more of cats.
They’ll want first class homes. Not “last resort” threats.
And please tell us why these cats get so moody?
Oh well, they’re “just cats.”
AVMA kiss my booty.

Cats are smart. Clawed cats are great!
Cats need their claws and they need OUR strength.
To end this abuse takes more than me
To end it now takes us all you see?
Last resorts aren’t the way to go
If you want it to end, we all must say “NO!”

So if you want a cat that’s gonna be good
And safe around your friends and ‘hood.
Black clawed males are the very best
How declaws act, is any fools guess.
Besides all that, if something happens to you,
Wouldn’t you want your cat to pull through?
Feed, exercise and just talk to him right.
Neuter ‘n spay.
He won’t pee. She won’t bite.

Cats are smart. Cats are good
Cats kill mice in the neighborhood
Cats need claws to exercise
Cats needs vets humane and wise.

(AVMA is the American Veterinary Medical Association.)

In memory of Moses and all declawed cats who have suffered.

Someday declawing will end.