Declawing our kitty....

[Heather Smith]

We got our two kittens from the pound. Got them declawed. That may have been cruel, but they were hours away from someithing even crueler. They are stil playful and affectionate.

 

[8 Ears]

I will not give you my thoughts on this other than to say, please do your "homework" before making your decision. By this I mean, reading and call a vet a two. Good luck on your choice aw:

 

[N.Bailey]

We got a kitten in July too and I really feel your pain. I know many here are adamantly opposed to having cats declawed and I know it's even illegal in some countries, BUT..... my cat constantly tries to climb up your leg all the time and I can't begin to tell you how painful that is. I raised a baby squirrel once that did it too as it got a little older. I don't know how in the world to break the cat of doing this. She's really a sweetie, but it hurts just the same, ya know? She's constantly playing with the dog too and my dog has cuts inside her mouth from the cat. Our dog wouldn't harm a hair on the cat's head though, so she takes it without trying to defend herself in any way at all.

She's not so bad on the furniture, but claws a little at the carpet. We use the scratching post and spray bottle with pretty good results.

I'd not have her declawed for carpeting, but I am thinking of having her front paws declawed so the rest of us don't have to suffer constantly.

I know that's not the popular decision around here, but we've given her 5 months and things just aren't changing.

 

[Pete's Mom]

I have two cats. One, Luigi, is front declawed because he was, well, pretty vicious. We tried Soft Paws, but they just came off. He never scratch on anything but us. He was constantly in attack mode and being a BIG cat could do quite a bit of damage. It was either have him put to sleep or declawed as he was "unadoptable".

He was fine when I picked him up and the bandages came off after a few days. Personally, I think having his "meatballs" removed bothered him more.

My other kitty, Daisy, still has her claws. She occasionally digs her claws in from time to time, but not on purpose. Sometimes she claws at furniture and such, but nothing drastic. I have no intentions of having her declawed.

Luigi has calmed down since we adopted Daisy and they get along well.

Good luck!

 

[SueM in MN]

We had a cat when I was growing up that was declawed (she climbed straight up my dad's pants when he was sitting at the kitchen table one time too many and he said it was either declaw her or she was leaving), so she got declawed. She had a very strong "clawing" need and declawing her did not stop her from damaging the furniture and drapes. It just made different damage; instead of snags, we had places that were rubbed so much by front paws without claws that the material got thin. She still had her back claws - the vet said they were necessary in case she ever got out, so she would at least have a chance to climb a tree in an attempt to get away from another animal. She was a nice cat before that and did get mean after. Instead of using claws, she used her teeth. Her recovery was "average" from what the vet said, but it was a good 2 weeks until she really seemed to be pretty much back to normal.
We've had 2 cats since then, not declawed. The softpaws worked well and another thing that helped was a pheromone spray called Feliway Spray. That was like magic spray. It is supposed to give the cat calm feelings. In our cat's case, she would come over to the couch to scratch, get her paws in postion and then STOP. You could almost see her thinking "I don't need to mark this. It's already marked." You do need to follow the directions on the bottle _ you apply it every day for (I think) 30 days and then periodically after. when we completely stop applying it, the cat will start scratching again. Especially if her claws are long or there is a lot of stress in the house.
Cat Scratching solutions also has hints for introducing a scratching post and other things (Like taping the area of carpet the cat likes to scratch.

 

[epcotfan]

Please don't do it. Try teaching her to use a scratching post. Both my cats were not kittens when I got them and they were taught to use the post. We rubbed some catnip on it and dragged their paws down it to show them. Keeping their nails trimmed also helps. We use Rescue Remedy (Bach Flower Remedy) to calm them down if they are hyper. This might work if you need to trim her nails and she is freaking out. Soft claws sound like a wonderful alternative. I'm sure a vet would be able to apply them if you can't. They may administer a sedative to do so.

 

[epcotfan]

Oh and forgot to add, with cats if things are out of sight, they are out of mind. Meaning, you should have a scratching post positioned where she normally scratches.
Feliway is also a good alternative.

 

[azgal81]

My kitty is also around seven months old and he will never be declawed. He scratches things sometimes but not that often. He'll start scratching something and I will say no and he'll stop. He uses his teeth more then his claws. He hates it when I clip his claws as well he won't let me at all so I do it when he's sleeping. Normally I can get a few done before he will wake up and realize what is going on. I don't know if you have tried clipping the claws when your kitty is sleeping. Also get a scratching post not the carpet kind but the rope kind. Cats need to be trained not to scratch things. Spray bottles work as well. Declaw as a last resort.

 

[Planogirl]

I personally think that declawing is cruel even though I'm not familiar with the laser method. We've had several cats over the years, none declawed except one. This cat was hopeless. I tried everything and after more than two years I finally caved and had him declawed. I felt horrible about it though.

You could try some of the suggestions here and maybe also rub catnip on the scratching post if your cat likes the stuff. Good luck with training your kitty.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

OT but you're killing m with that pic in your sig

You mean Josh??

 

[pearlieq]

Please don't do it. It's essentially mutilating your cat for your own convenience. It's cruel and inhumane. It's also a lazy way out instead of properly training your cat.

Is your carpet really worth cutting off your cats fingers?

 

[ItsJustMe]

Declawing is banned in several places around the world, including the U.K. I've read that it's a very gory surgery, and recovery is extremely painful. In my opinion, it IS cruel. Please don't punish your kitty like this

 

[gradtchr]

We have one declawed kitty (front only) and one not declawed kitty. For our declawed cat we did it when he was fixed and he had to spend the night at the vets with that. By the time he came home the next day he was fine running around, jumping and having fun. We had to declaw him-if not he would not be able to stay with us. He never did claw furniture, carpets, etc.. He only clawed us and my arms could not take it. he would go from sweet to mean in an instant and claw my arms to shreds as well as DH's arms, and legs too. We talked and worked with an animal behaviorist, we did all the different methods of correction water gun, loud noise, rewards for behaving etc... and nothing worked Simba was very set in his ways and he would not change regardless of anything we tried. We talked to the vet again and asked for more help and he asked if we really wanted his honest opinion on what he would do and we of course said yes. He said for Simba's personality it wasn't going to change and that he honestly would declaw him if he were his cat. We already had the fixing surgery set so we added that on. There was a huge change after we had that done in his personality. We could play with him, he was not as angry, and he would let us touch him and pet him. He's calmed down even more since we got our second cat. Pooh isn't declawed and won't be there's no need.

For us it was a last resort-we loved our cat, we had made a commitment to keep him when we rescued him off the street, but we couldn't do anything with him if he was attacking us.

 

[Lisa F]

The only thing I have to say on this subject is shop around and find a vet who will do the laser surgery. We have had 3 cats declawed (the three in my picture) and the last one was done with laser. The first day home he was a little wonky from the anesthesia but after that he was fine. The recovery time was so short compared to a standard declaw! I personally don't think it's any more cruel to cut a cat's claws off than it is to cut their nuts off. Both are for the convenience of the owner. If you are a responsible cat owner and have cats of only one sex and keep them inside there is no chance of them producing kittens yet people think it is ok to neuter them because it makes them less aggressive and no one wants to deal with spraying or female cats going into heat and humping everything around. JMHO

 

[Mom2be]

As the daughter in law of a vet I will tell you that for the most part your kitty won't feel a thing - especially if you do it at the same time as their spay or neuter. They will be knocked out. Recovery time for the declaw is about 24 to 48 hours. I've owned 6 cats in my life, all have been declawed and none of them got "meaner" after. They went back to being the sweet babies that they always were.

I agree with Lisa F it is no more cruel then having them neutered. In fact what I think is worse is when people crop their dogs ears and tails because let me tell you - they do NOT get knocked out for that.

All of our cats kept their back claws.

~Amanda

 

[shortbun]

I've loved eight cats since I was 1 year old. None of them has been declawed. I put down a split piece of log with the bark on it next to food dishes for my cats. They love it, just like outside!!! I've hung clawing pieces on door handles and for one cat I did use the water bottle method. No furniture ruined, only one pair of leather hiking boots lost in 50 years(I had no idea they were using them) and all my cats were happy and healthy. I see declawing sorta the same as spanking; take some more time, try some other approaches. OMG.....Did I say "spanking!?" LOL!!!!

 

[Mom2be]

I've loved eight cats since I was 1 year old. None of them has been declawed. I put down a split piece of log with the bark on it next to food dishes for my cats. They love it, just like outside!!! I've hung clawing pieces on door handles and for one cat I did use the water bottle method. No furniture ruined, only one pair of leather hiking boots lost in 50 years(I had no idea they were using them) and all my cats were happy and healthy. I see declawing sorta the same as spanking; take some more time, try some other approaches. OMG.....Did I say "spanking!?" LOL!!!!

NOT SPANKING!

 

[bicker]

My wife and I have had feline companions for collectively over 50 years. The vast majority of our cats have been declawed and have been as happy as they could be. For many of them, such as my beloved Kaliope, they were just days away from being put down, before they were adopted. Twelve years later, if Kaliope understood the choice, she'd be very grateful for it having been made the way it was made.

 

[MsSpinShady]

Jen, just wanted to let you know about our experience with Soft Paws -- they were great!

Our cat is an indoor/outdoor, and right before we went to Disney last year we purchased new furniture. Since he had scratched our old set, I was really worried about coming back to shredded furniture.

I bought the Soft Paws and took them to our vet and they put them on him for the same price that they usually charge for a nail trim (there was no way we were going to be able to get them on him!). They worked great, and stayed on for over three months before the first one came off.

They worked for us, and I will use them again on him and our new kitty!

Good luck! aw:

MsSpinShady

 

[NCRedding]

We declawed our first two cats, and they did fine. It didn't change their personality. They were very groggy from the anesthia, but recovered within a day. One lived indoors with us for 13 years, until she passed away. The other cat had behavioral problems following the birth of my DD, and being declawed made it difficult to find an alternative home for her.

I decided not to declaw our newest cats. They also never took to a scratching post, so my furniture looks like crap, but it is a small price to pay (they don't claw us though, unless we provoke them).