Cats are digitigrade animals, they use all of their digits or walking. When the last digit of the anatomy is removed by "declawing" the animal has to shift it's weight back onto his wrists & pads for walking, creating strain on the back and leg muscles. You can see in this picture that the declawed finger paw pads are dark, rough, & irritated, while the pads on the clawed feet are pink, plump, & healthy - they way they should be! Read more about this in our NEWS section under the article "Cats Are Digitigrade - they use all of their digits for walking".