Showing off the "bloody stumps" of his fingers, Ozzy Osbourne — whose new album, "Ordinary Man", drops in February — screams out a heavy metal message for cat guardians in a new PETA ad: never declaw. When cats are declawed, their claws and part of their toes are amputated. Veterinarians equate declawing with cutting off the last bone in a human's finger, often causing nerve damage, infection, and immense pain — a message that hit home for Ozzy, who nearly lost some of his own fingers in late 2018 as a result of an infection. "Amputating a cat's toes is twisted and wrong," says Osbourne. "If your couch is more important to you than your cat's health and happiness, you don't deserve to have an animal! Get cats a scratching post — don't mutilate them for life." Because of impaired balance caused by the crippling procedure, declawed cats have to relearn how to walk and are more likely to bite as a means of self-protection (having lost their first line of defense). They're nearly defenseless when outdoors, and some acquire lifelong behavioral issues, such as urinating outside the litterbox as well as biting. Nearly two dozen countries — including Australia, England, and Japan — and New York state have prohibited or severely restricted declawing. PETA encourages cat guardians to trim their cats' nails and provide them with scratching posts, where they can shed their outer claw sheath and stretch, which are essential for their basic well-being. Osbourne is part of a long list of celebrities — including his wife, Sharon Osbourne; his daughter Kelly Osbourne; Justin Hawkins; Moby; Jermaine Dupri; RZA; Paul McCartney; Jhené Aiko; Chrissie Hynde; Joan Jett; and Rob Zombie — who've teamed up with PETA to promote kindness to animals. PETA — whose motto reads, in part, that "animals aren't ours to abuse in any way" — opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, visit PETA.org.
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