Declawing cats - Page 3

[Noelle C.]

Clawed cats and declawed cats alike can be ittle terros and have bevahioral problems. By nature cats like to be outside, yet are so often kept indoors every minute of their lives. I've had cats with claws and cats that were declawed, and realistically there were no more problems among the cats without claws, no behavior issues, so balance issues, nothing. Animals adapt far better to physical change than humans. We'd be depressed as hell is we lost some fingers or a leg or an arm, but animals get over it and don't realize they're somehow different. The adapt. They're fine.

That said, I'd still suggest Soft Paws first. They do help cut down on claw-damage and are pretty dang cute too. Our black cat Starbuck has hot pink ones that match her pink collar and pink tag!

[miss_sonja]

Why not start with clipping your cats claws while you work on a screen door solution? And for the screen door, try a model that has a metal guard covering the screen.

I clip my 2 boys' claws about once every two weeks. I never let them get to a talon shape. With their blunted claws, they can't do any damage to furniture/screens, but they have no problems gripping. We have a sisal rope scratching thing hanging from a door knob--they like the sisal rope a lot.

It's easy to do if you get them used to it as kittens; if not, then wrap kitty in a towel and hold on tight. I use human toe nail clippers as they cut much better than the so-called cat claw clippers.

[rainbowmoon]

An online friend of mine had taken her kitty to petco (I think it was petco) last week to get the smart paws put on her cat. They got the cat home and it went into convulsions and died. Apparently it was allergic to the glue they used!!! They are doing an autopsy to be sure..

[Pumpkin_Pie]

What about a tendonectomy? Not that I am advocating doing anything to your cat's claws, but isn't that supposed to be a bit less extreme than declawing? Personally I had a Siamese who was scratching the heck out of everything and I used Soft Paws on him, and he did great with them after a couple of weeks of chewing them off.

[rainbowmoon]

my cats can and have definitely done damage with clipped claws.

Originally Posted by miss_sonja

I clip my 2 boys' claws about once every two weeks. I never let them get to a talon shape. With their blunted claws, they can't do any damage to furniture/screens, but they have no problems gripping. We have a sisal rope scratching thing hanging from a door knob--they like the sisal rope a lot.

[SquishyKitty]

I would talk to a trainer or a vet or somebody before I ever considered declawing an animal. It's illegal in europe and I have a hard time fathoming why it's still even an option.

Please don't declaw your cat. On the off chance he does get outside, he has no chance of defending himself against any other animals.

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by rainbowmoon

my cats can and have definitely done damage with clipped claws.

How often are you clipping them, and do you clip them short?

We clip once a week and since I've been doing this for decades I clip as much as I safely can off (there are online instructions you can find). If their claws are adequately clipped they can't imbed them in anything to destroy or shred things.

I was helping out a new exhibitor at a cat show a while back, and none of us thought her cats claws were clipped, though she claimed she had clipped them. We all wound up teaching her how to clip right before the show started. She was not clipping low enough.

I speak to you as someone who has owned three pieces of leather furniture the last ten years LOL. I actually had a few people tell me I 'couldn't possibly do that, I'd have to get all my cats front and rear declawed'. And, the cats love the leather, they sleep on it!

My siblings also had leather furniture with dogs...if they nails are blunt apparently they are OK.

With kittens, in particular, they can be like little needles if they're not clipped. Youch!

Just like people, some cats claws do grow very quickly. I always figure once a week as a guage. Some don't need much clipped off at that point, but there's usually something. I used to show every weekend at one point (that was lunacy--just had one of the top cats that year) and it was easy to do it at the same time, same day every week.