Today it comes out.
In no uncertain terms, by the time we're done today,
you will know exactly where the cat daddy stands.
People, let's talk about declawing.
It's very simple.
I mean, declawing is something that I come across every day.
25% of all cats in the US are declawed,
which is crazy when you ask me.
Why is it crazy?
Because declawing is, in my humble opinion,
inhumane, barbaric, for the most part cosmetic,
and it is unnecessary.
What is declawing?
Declawing is actually de-knuckling.
You think that all you're doing is pulling out
the claws of a cat to make your belongings safer,
or your kids, or you.
But it's not.
It is the amputation of the first joint
of every knuckle on a cat's paws.
I'm here to talk for the cats.
And the cats say, of course I wouldn't
want my knuckles amputated.
And for what reason?
We're removing the initial line of defense for a cat.
When a cat tries to get your attention because they don't
like what's going on, then they're
going to pat pat at you.
If you don't get that message, then the claws come out.
Hey, I'm trying to tell you something.
And the third line of defense is their teeth.
That's when they bite.
So when a cat gets their claws taken away
because you think you're going to be safer,
I'm telling you what.
You're going to get bit more often than not.
Cats who are declawed are more likely to get
surrendered to shelters.
Why is that?
Usually because of secondary symptoms,
a cat goes in the litter box for the first time after surgery.
It hurts.
A cat doesn't say, wow, my paws hurt.
What they say when they step in the litter box
is that place hurts.
And why would I go back there?
Yeah, no reasonable cat would go back
into something that hurts them.
So they stop.
And cats who are declawed then wind up
with litter box problems.
That's when I meet them.
Let's also talk about what we're doing to a cat's physiology.
We are changing it.
Cats are what we call digitigrade.
They walk on their tiptoes.
And when we change the formation of their paws, poot,
they sink down.
Please, think about it.
Later on in life, are they more susceptible to arthritis,
for instance?
Of course they are, because we've
changed the way nature made them.
Now, do cats who suffer declawing
have problems defending themselves?
Sure they do.
Declawed cats have a hard time climbing trees
to get away from predators.
Even though vets are still performing
declawing to a large degree, they'll
still say, keep your cat indoors,
because they have trouble defending themselves outdoors.
Is declining with a laser better?
It's less messy, sure, but there have
been papers published that say that there is absolutely
no correlation between laser declawing
and a decrease in the amount of chronic pain and discomfort
that a cat will experience, none whatsoever.
Declawing is so predictably painful
that pharmaceuticals actually use it
as a measure to test pain medication.
Guys, 22 countries on record, and I'm
sure more at this point, have banned
declawing, whole countries.
Now, we've been fighting in the States
to ban it city by city because of some arcane laws
that prevent us from going after the states, at least
in California, but entire countries, 22 of them.
Well, the one thing I don't want to do
is come across as somebody who is
wagging their finger at everybody.
That's not who I am.
I swear to you.
I'm an educator and a student for the most part.
But I'm here to tell you that it's forgivable.
If you said, oh, my grandparents declawed.
My mom declawed her cats, so I declawed mine.
It's fine if you're learning right now.
If you refuse to look at both anecdotal and scientific
evidence and you don't listen to me, someone
who has been in the field for 20 years working with these cats,
then I have a hard time forgiving, because you
are going against what you know about your cats.
If you want to learn more about declawing, well, first of all
there's me.
And you will find articles on cats, scratching,
and how cats can live happily ever after on my website.
As a matter of fact, you probably see a link for it
right there.
But also another link right there would be pawproject.org.
Man, you got lots of great information there.
But here, this is what I'm going to be doing.
I'll be giving away two.
Count them, two copies of The Paw Project movie.
I will autograph it, sign it to you, or your favorite cat,
or someone that you're trying to educate.
I'll sign their name right on here as well.
And it is a fantastic movie.
So stay tuned, guys.
All you've got do is leave a comment on the bottom
of this here page, subscribe to this channel,
and you are entered automatically
to win one of these movies.
And hurry up, because you only have a short amount of time
to do this.
More information to follow, so please subscribe
and you'll find out more.