[Jessica.]

I was speaking to a friend from the USA recently and she said her cat's front paws have been declawed in order to save the furniture in her house and prevent scratches. I was baffled so I did some research and I found out that it's extremely popular in the USA and Canada. I think it's barbaric, but what do YOU think?

Cat declawing is also known as onychectomy and is a much more complex operation than simply removing your cat’s nails or claws. The declawing operation is in fact the amputation of each of the cat’s toes at the first joint. It involves cutting of the front part of a cat’s toes and means cutting through nerves and muscles and removing bone. This operation is extremely painful (it has been proven to be much more painful than sterilizing or spaying your cat) and it will take a long time to heal. Even after the wounds have healed, the cat may suffer from a series of after-effects.