Main Street Veterinary Service

Indications for a declaw paw salvage surgery

• Holding either paw up.
• Calluses on the front of digit pads especially digits 3 and 4.
• Very reluctant to have digits straightened or even touched.
• Radiographs show distal P2 cartilage damage or P3 fragments.
• Tight muscle knots in lumbar muscles.
• Excessive biting
• Inappropriate elimination with no other identifiable cause.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank Letrisa Miller MS DVM for her invaluable input and for sharing her astute observations of the declawed cat's problems.

"I looked but I did not see, she illuminated my path then I did see."

Reference

Bilateral flexor tendon contracture following onychectomy in 2 cats

Maureen A. Cooper, Peter H. Laverty, and Emily E. Soiderer

Can Vet J. 2005 March; 46(3): 244–246