Can all cats realize that they have been declawed?

[JonathanB]

I have a 17 year old cat...had him neutered and declawed when i got him around 15 years ago...ever since i can remember i have seen him attempt to sharpen his nonexistant claws on furniture. Why does he do this?

[Suzume279]

It is a natural instinct. He wont just stop because his claws have been removed.

[Ocimom650]

Because of scent glands on his feet and because there are (were) certain muscles/tendons connnected to claws that need to be stretched.

When you declaw, you don't just cut off the nail - you mutilate and take out the bone and tendons connected to the nail.

A kittens' feet feel a certain way to them - by removing their nails in declawing, for the rest of their life their feet feel funny to them and the have no clue as to why their feet and claws do not work as they remember it and as its intended.

While your cat may not have had a lot of physical or mental issues by declawing, he's a lucky one - most have a lot of physical/mental problems.

I do hope in the future you will never declaw another cat.

[talim27676]

I remember a bio teacher telling me that there are glands in the paws and that when they do that they are actually claiming it as their own as well as sharpening the claws. I was also told by someone not to let my cat to it to me even though she was declawed because it was a dominate behavior.... I let her do it anyway, it was funny because it scared the crap out of people who didn't knwo she was declawed.

[PrettyKitty134]

Cats have a natural instinct to scratch. De-toeing them doesn't take that away. I'm sure the cat realizes he's missing the first joints of his toes. Poor cat.

[Ang2008766]

My parents' cats are declawed and I have seen them trying to claw the furniture.

[RapidFire314]

Cats are genetically hardwired to sharpen their claws even if they do not have them anymore.

And it drives their "poor" ignorant owners to distraction because they thought that removing the cats claws would stop the animal from scratching. (SERVES THEM RIGHT). In actual fact, all they have done is frustrate the poor cats. Could have saved the hundreds of dollars for the surgery and just trained the cat to scratch in an appropriate spot. I have seen homes where a declawed cat has rubbed the paint off a door jam trying to sharpen it's non extant claws. It has gotten so bad that some owners have surrendered their cats because of this behaviour.
TRUTH - declawing accomplishes absolutely nothing except to lighten the animal owners wallet.

[Laura587972]

My family had a couple of cats when I was growing up (they passed away years ago) that had been declawed as kittens, and they did this phantom scratching all the time. It is normal, as the clawing motion is instinctual. Ours also seemed to enjoy the stretch of "clawing" upwards on furniture.

Before I continue, let me reassure everyone that I AM against declawing, and I think it is as cruel and inhumane as everyone else thinks it is, BUT...

For those of you who are freaking out because he had his cat declawed FIFTEEN years ago, keep in mind that times have changed. It wasn't always thought that the declaw procedure was cruel...my parents (who are now strongly anti-declawing) said that when they bought these cats for my sisters for Christmas over twenty years ago, it was just procedure to have them declawed, especially if they were going to be around young children. The viewpoint that it is inhumane didn't become prevalent until years later. Luckily, neither of our cats ever seemed to have any problem without claws. I highly doubt that they spent their pampered,18-year-long lives living in inner turmoil.

Give the guy a break. The cat has been declawed for over a decade, and he seems to be doing fine. He is not a "poor cat." He clearly has a loving home and is being taken care of, which is more than a lot of cats have.

[Heidi996]

Yes, like others have said, he's just marking his territory with the scent glands in his paws.

No, he's not frustrated, and no, your declawing him didn't hurt him and this isn't his way of acting out. He just wants to mark his territory. :)

[Unicornrider616]

Yes, because they WALK on the toes, which are then gone. The weight shifts, to a unnatural walk.
They are so desperate to have a good stretch, which they cannot do they cannot stretch out fully even with what they have left.
The scratching they still do, since that's about scent, the glands are between the toes.
See how it destroys the ability to "be" a cat? The problem with claws is not the cat, who can only be a cat, and when the owner has no idea what that entails and tried to surgically modify a behavioural thing that is part of being a cat, the problem, clearly, is the owner.
It';s nonsense that it's not painful - if it was not painfu, there would be NO litterbox avoidance, or aggression issues that come up, EVER. A quick survey of the shelters in the USA confirmed that this is the reason why thousands of declaws wind up in shelters. If it was such a great thing to do, they would not be there.