Expert: Dear Tabbi - 5/24/2009

Question
My cat is a male cat that has been neutered and is about four years old. I recently had the cat declawed about a month ago. Every since the surgery the cat has avoiding using the litter box. I have had the cat looked at by the vet, who verified that the cat paws have recovered from the surgery well and this was not the issue. I was told that there was an issue with the cats bladder size and he was having trouble emptying his bladder. I was given a prescription of bethantecol to solve the problem. The vet said this should do the trick but nothing has changed. The cat is still not using the box. Also his behavior has completely changed and he has become very aggresive with me ,and was always a loving cat. He has even started hiding in cabinets and seating on my dresser and computer desk and using it as a litter box. I am really worried that he will have to go to the pound soon and can't afford to spend much more money on this situation. My question is would there be anything else that I could do. My vet never told me this could result from the surgery and there was no option since I'm not the owner of my house.

Answer
Tene,

I'm very sorry I didn't answer your question earlier but the hard drive in my computer died and I was just able to get it replaced.

I don't mean to sound blunt or abrupt but obviously you did not research about de-clawing cats before you had it done. If you had, you would never had had the cat de-clawed!

It can take months, or even years, for the cat to heal. The surgery consisted of cutting off the cat's 'fingers' to the knuckle so the claws wouldn't grow back. Think of having stumps for fingers and digging in the rough cat litter! There is a lot of emotional and physical pain related to de-clawing. A lot of times there are permanently exposed nerves that can't be seen that causes the cat pain when 'digging'.

He is hiding because of the pain from the de-clawing. He is trying to hide from it.

I would start putting puppy pee pads next to the litterbox so he can use those and not have to dig in the litterbox which is painful for him (which is why he is avoiding it), and he can get a little rock of litter in his 'stump' which will cause more pain.

That would be even more cruel to the cat to send him to the pound where he would be even more confused and upset. He deserves to be given lots of love, attention, and understanding after what he has been through. His physical and emotional problems may last his lifetime as a result of the de-clawing.

The vet is not going to tell you all of this because he will lose the money for the procedure and he is there for the money, not for goodwill. In some countries, unfortunately not the US, de-clawing is not legal.

Here aresome articles to read on declawing:
(copy and paste, or type, the whole link into your address bar)

http://www.declawing.com/
http://www.hdw-inc.com/declaw.htm
http://cats.about.com/cs/declawing/a/declawing.htm

I'm sorry to "tell it like it is", but that is how it is.

Tabbi