Declawing Your Cat Could Endanger Your Child

I volunteer with several animal rescue organizations and I'm amazed by the number of declawed cats who end up in shelters. The reason is almost always the same: "cat bit child." These cats, despite having the apparent extra convenience of being declawed, are almost impossible to rehome, and many shelters euthanize them on intake. The sad fact is that declawed cats are a serious danger to children-much more dangerous than cats with claws left intact-and that declawing your cat actually puts your entire family at risk.

One of the most common reasons for declawing cats is for the protection of children. It sounds great in theory. Cats are well-known for taking a swipe at kids when they feel angry, threatened, or even annoyed. A child who is left unsupervised with a cat, but hasn't yet learned to respect the cat's space and to notice warning signs of aggression, is very likely to end up clawed to pieces. Well-meaning parents assume that the best thing to do, for both the child and the cat, is to declaw.

The problem is that declawing doesn't prevent aggression; it encourages it. One scientific study, "Effects of Declawing on Feline Behaviors," published in Companion Animal Practice, found that about 16% of cats developed new or worsened aggression after being declawed, and declawed cats were more likely than intact cats to be brought to professionals for behavioral problems. A declawed cat who is left with a rough-handling child is still going to have an instinct to protect herself, but she'll no longer be able to do it. She'll use her teeth instead.

Cat bites and cat scratches both carry risks, but the risks of a bite are much greater, especially when the victim is a child. A cat scratch can develop into a usually-mild infection, according to the ASPCA, but this is usually only a risk of the scratch victim has a severely compromised immune system. Cat bites, on the other hand, are full of many different kinds of bacteria and can cause deep, painful infections that can quickly threaten life or limb. A child who is scratched by a cat may be fine with a boo-boo kiss and a bandage, but a child who has been bitten by a cat needs a trip to the E.R. promptly.

Declawing a cat won't do any favors to your child, and it's arguably an act of cruelty toward your cat. The ASPCA recommends against declawing except in a very few unusual circumstances, and many countries have completely outlawed the procedure. In addition to causing new or worsened aggression, declawing is excruciatingly painful for the cat and may cause complications like infection and excessive bleeding. It's not worth it to cause so much distress to an animal, especially since it will not protect the child.

If you have children and cats, the most reasonable, fair, and safe thing to do is to teach your child to respect animals and understand appropriate boundaries. Children should know the body languagesigns that indicate that a cat is angry, and should know not to do things that stress or injure the cat. Whether you have kids or not, it's easy and harmless to trim your cat's claws yourself every few weeks to keep them relatively dull without the pain and trauma of declawing. Declawing your cat won't help your child at all; it will just increase the risk of a serious bite and an infection.