A cautionary tale about a declaw, my adoptee Loki

Meet Loki, my F2 Savannah boy.

I adopted Loki in April of 2021 when he was 3 years old, and he came with a sad tale. Even if you can not help with funds, please read his story about his past, why we need help now, and spread our story.

Loki had a terrific breeder who thought she found him a forever home. He was going to another Savannah Cat enthusiast with years of experience. Unfortunately for Loki, no one knew what type of abusive situation he was going to.

When he arrived at his new home as a rambunctious kitten, his 1st owner just wasn't equipped to handle the ball of energy. She decided to remedy that by putting a harness on him, and tied a weight to the other end of the leash so all he could do was run circles. When he wasn't weighted in one spot, he was thrown in a room by himself in isolation. This went on a few months until...

He started to get frustrated and angry. When he started his behavioral problems, described as "aggressive and dangerous" at 6 months old, his 1st owner remedied that by taking him in for a 4 paw declaw. Loki wasn't going to catch a break from that vet either, who wanted to euthanize him for his "behavioral" problems.

That vet willingly did a 4 paw declaw, in the worst method possible. The vet used a guillotine nail trimmer instead of safer healing methods like laser or scalpel.

After his declaw, he obviously had even more issues with "aggression" and instead of euthanasia, the 1st owner did the only right thing for him. She gave him back to his breeder, who found him a second home where they loved him. But, Loki was also showing some catty behavior towards his 2nd owners. His 2nd owners became pregnant, and understandably made the heart wrenching decision to contact his breeder to try and find his forever home.

That is where I came in the picture. I prepared myself from the warnings of possible aggressive tendencies. I brought him home and it took a few weeks to bond, but he is my baby, and he has found his forever home. We go on walks, he loves chasing grasshoppers, he enjoys playing with his doggie and little rescue kitty sisters, he is also very willing to give me kisses anytime he can get near my face.

But that awful declaw has crept up. At first it started with swollen toes, so I did hot compresses until the abscess burst. I thought he maybe got a sticker in his paw on one of our walks and just kept giving hot compresses and cleaning his toe. It wasn't healing, so I took him to my vet a week later. They gave medications and ointment, but he still wasn't healing. Then another toe burst from an abscess. The vet gave stronger medications and I diligently put hot compresses on and tried to get him to heal.

We still couldn't understand why his paw was abscessing. Until his other paw started to abscess. After many discussions with the vet and the breeder, I found another vet that had the equipment to handle a larger cat, and he just got done with x-rays.

He needs surgery. The excess bone in his paws from the declaw will continue to cause inflammation and abscess. The bone has to be removed from his back two paws. While under sedation, he will need x-rays on both his front paws.

I have paid close to a few thousand with his treatments up to this date, but my savings are running low. I took this beautiful soul in to give him a happy and healthy life until it's his time to go. I won't give up on him now, and I will continue to do everything I can for him. He is my world and I am devastated to know that he is in pain because of a selfish and uncaring human, whom by all accounts should have known better!

Anything will help if you can help. If you can't help, please share, if anything to spread the word that a declaw can have lifelong painful consequences. Thank you.

Anything over what I'm asking, if that happens, will be donated to a Savannah Cat care fund.