Why You Shouldn’t Declaw Your Cat

It hurts.

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rationale, from Merriam Webster

          noun  ￨  ra·tio·nale  ￨  \ ˌra-shə-ˈnal \

          1  : an explanation of controlling principles of opinion, belief, practice, or phenomena

          2  : an underlying reason : basis

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Lotus feet were once considered beautiful, sexually alluring.  Broken bones bound in silk, the pus, the reek.

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neat pedicure
painted “Satin Slipper”
pawprints across snow

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An article in The New Yorker, “Are Cats Domesticated?” by Ferris Jabr, suggests that cats are only semi-domesticated, or in other words, semi-feral.  They are an “opportunistic creature that evolved to take advantage of civilization.”  And aren’t they charming?  “[A] docile carnivore balanced on the border of a human home, alone and content, yet with all its senses tuned to the world beyond.”

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After that meeting
I bit my fingernail sharp
scratched a missive
into my tattooed forearm
took afternoon tea.

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When I volunteered at the local branch of the A. S. P. C. A., a couple brought back the cat they had adopted because it jumped on their things:  dressers, shelves, countertops.  Cats will jump on your things.  On all your things.

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De-clawing involves the amputation of the last bone of each toe.  A guillotine clipper.  Bandages.  Blood.  Complications include lameness, infection, and tissue necrosis.

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Trace DNA
is often found
under fingernails.

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“Stop your cat from scratching the wrong things,” according to The Humane Society of the United States:

• Keep their claws trimmed;
• Provide stable scratching posts;
• Ask your veterinarian about soft plastic caps;
• Attach a special double-sided tape to furniture.

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These are the wrong things:

The pretty man who approached you in the bar that night in his smoothly pressed suit;
The police officer in his navy uniform;
Your husband.

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Cats use their claws for hunting and climbing.  And for protection.

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Cats climb trees and sometimes get stuck.  My first cat Nia once got stuck in a tree–Sue and I rigged the shittiest ladder to get her down.  Her body stiff and then shaking, yellow eyes peering back at mine.  On the ground, I just held her, and she let me. 

I scaled a fence once; I’m sure I’ll be climbing trees soon.

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A cat will scratch your eyes out.  Some stories, like Carver’s “Cathedral” and Oedipus the King, suggest that the blind see better than the sighted. 

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CBS News reports the death of a man from cat-scratch fever.  The CDC now warns people to beware of Bartonella henselae.  I wonder what the guy did to the cat.

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There is a scar
on my left hand
where the tattoo doesn’t cover
a thin raised welt.
My cat Asher
the most elusive one
got carried away
doing bunny-feet
one afternoon.
That’s how they play.
The blood was easy to clean.

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Cats can will not be trained.

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It still hurts.