(Ouch!)
Thirty-eight countries around the world now ban this practice, and I recently read that Rhode Island has joined Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, New York, and Washington, D.C. in banning it too. Many cities have also outlawed it, including Denver, Austin, St. Louis, and my hometown… yay, Pittsburgh!!
Declawing a cat is like amputating your fingers and toes at the first joints. Imagine how that would affect everything you do. So besides the pain and trauma of the procedure itself, declawing leads to all kinds of post-surgical problems. Some are medical, like infections, back pain, arthritis, nerve damage, and lameness, while others affect the cat’s emotional life and behavior.
Scratching is a fundamental feline behavior. It allows them to exercise, stretch, mark territory, reduce stress, and shed claw sheaths. Cats who scratch are happy cats and preventing them from doing this not only removes their main form of defense but also deprives them of a key pleasure in life.
In fact, scratching is so essential to feline nature that declawing often results in worse behaviors, like fear aggression, biting, and litter box avoidance. Our Walter’s previous owner had all four paws declawed — it was a botched surgery! — and we discovered he needed a special type of litter in his box because regular litter hurt his paws.
Some people argue that banning declawing could lead to more cats being dumped in shelters or abandoned. However, many shelters report that their surrenders often include declawed cats whose aggression and litter box issues cause families to give them up. Learning how to work with your cat to redirect scratching is the only humane solution. Alley Cat Allies offers helpful tips for managing unwanted scratching.
It’s so important to trim your cat’s nails regularly. Personally, I enjoy giving my residents and fosters their nail trims. I believe in starting them young so they get used to it. Little Ivy (above left) was perfect for her first nail trim. Even though she mumbles and grumbles, our naughty, lovable, poopy Pebble (above right) tolerates nail trims pretty well.
If you can’t manage nail trims on your own, your vet will handle them for you. Include a mani-pedi during your next visit. This is a great time to make an appointment, as August 22 is National Take Your Cat to the Vet Day. August is also National Immunization Awareness Month, a helpful reminder to keep your pets current on their vaccinations. It’s also Microchip Month, with Check the Chip Day celebrated on August 15. If your pet isn’t microchipped, schedule an appointment now. And if you’ve moved or changed your phone number or email, be sure to update this information with your chip provider.
August is also National Dog Month. To honor this special season, my clever colleagues at NSALA introduced DOGust 1st a few years ago as the official birthday for all shelter dogs. Since then, this holiday has grown into a major event. This year’s celebration was a great success, with lots of adoptions on Long Island and at our shelter partners from Alabama to Vermont.
Some of the dogs celebrating at our Port Washington Campus recently came to us from the devastating July 4th floods in Central Texas. Working with our shelter partner in Abilene, we welcomed more than two dozen dogs and puppies to Long Island. These dogs had already been waiting in shelters when the floods ravaged communities along the Guadalupe River. By transferring them to our shelter, we freed up space in Texas shelters for animals who were lost and displaced by the flooding.
One of our Texas rescues is Aspen, a sweet and gentle Australian Shepherd, and her 10 puppies, all saved from a hoarding situation.
HERE ARE THREE MORE TEXAS PUPS AWAITING ADOPTION AT OUR PORT WASHINGTON, NY ADOPTION CENTER.
**Update: Great news!! Since I wrote this blog post Lenora has found her forever family! What a lucky girl – and a very lucky adopter!
**Update: Great news!! Since I wrote this blog post Hoot has found his forever family! What a lucky boy – and a very lucky adopter!
I’m so proud of how Animal League America’s emergency rescue team responds to natural disasters, which unfortunately seem to happen more often than ever. Besides the Texas rescues, our team organized two lifesaving flights from Los Angeles to Long Island, one in March and one in June, transporting a total of 78 unclaimed dogs to Long Island for adoption and freeing up kennels for dogs displaced by the terrible January fires.
There’s one more special day in August: the 26th is International Homeless Animals Day. Why not honor this day by finding a way to help homeless pets in your community? If you can, consider adopting! If adoption isn’t possible, then volunteer your time, energy, and skills to a local shelter or rescue group. Remember, we all have an incredible, lifesaving superpower, and it’s called compassion.
xo
Beth
P.S. We lost two precious family members in July: our good boy Walter, who was 19 years old, and our hospice kitty Lucy Stern, who was only six. Walter lived a long, loved life. Howard especially adored him, and Walter’s dear friend, The Moosh, is grieving. Poor Lucy died of mammary cancer, which could have been prevented if she’d been spayed young. We will love and miss them forever.
