OT-cat declawing

[la79al]

This is not in any way related to DW but I need opinions. We got a kitten in January. She is a pretty good cat except that she scratches EVERYTHING (brand new Pack n Play almost has holes, couch, rocking chair DD got at the baby shower, suitcases, doors, etc). I have been thinking about getting her declawed but I think that declawing is mean (since it basically takes the end off their toes). Well this morning the kitten accidently scratched DD on the arm. The kitten was giving herself a bath on top of one of the suitcases and DD pulled herself up onto the suitcase and the reached out, but had her claws out. Like I said, total accident, DD does just about everything to the kitten and this is the first scratch. But now I am thinking again about getting her declawed. I just don't know if I am panicking about the scratch and not being fair.

 

[Carlyzmom]

Be warned - because I am pretty sure this is a HOT button topic! BUT, I have had two cats in the past that were declawed. They were just fine. They were very well loved and taken care of. I am sure if given the choice, they would rather have been declawed and live a wonderful life indoors than have to suffer the elements outside! To me, it is a fair exchange. Yes, cats will destroy your furniture, carpet, and scratch people. It's just the way they are.
To me, it is a personal decision - but animal rights folks will freak out - so be careful!

 

[Denine]

You can trim their claws. Since yours is just a kitten, it should adjust to it without any problems. I have had 2 cats declawed in the past and vowed never to do it again after I saw what it did to one of our cats. Since then, I trim their claws. It takes less than 5 minutes and they are good to go for a while.
Mine weren't even kittens when I started trimming their nails.

Now, 1 cat I have I can't even hold let alone do her nails. But we have a scratching box upstairs and a scratching post downstairs. I just put cat nip on them and she uses those for her scratching needs.

Good luck!

 

[tinkerlisa]

You will find that vets are not so easy to convince to have this done. We are debating this same issue for a few reasons...
1) our kitten is CRAZY!! claws everything
2) our older cat is declawed and with the kitten having claws she has an unfair advantage...


We tried this stuff called NO SCRATCH. It works. you just have to keep spraying it and it is pricy almost 10 bucks a bottle but it lasts a while.
Also we just put these things called soft claws on her. they work good. you just have to keep redoing them every month or so.

My argument with these two things are this:
would the he money you spend on them all the time be better spent on declawing? we have one day to decide on having her declawed. she goes for a vet check tommorrow where we will discuss the surgery.
we had to change vets because our first vet REFUSES to do declawing.

If you do decide to have her declawed, make sure you get her spayed at the same time, eliminating the need for her "going under" two different times. Check into laser declawing also. We were told that it is virtually painless.

 

[starryskies]

I will start by saying that I resent the statement "animal rights folks will freak out." (Carlyzmom) Those of us who support animal rights are capable of providing sympathetic advice with a humane emphasis without being preachy. Yes, there are some very intense people in the world who support animal rights, but please do not let the minority cloud the reputation of the whole. For the most part, we are reasonable people with reasonable expectations of others.


That said, I think it is important to note that declawing as a solution to scratching is of course inhumane, but it also can cause a host of other issues.

I am the owner of 1 declawed male and 2 intact younger cats, 1 female/ 1 male. I willingly declawed the first cat and it made me realize that I will never declaw again. Here are some problems that can result from declawing:

-litter box avoidance (the pain from the clay litter can make them disinterested in using their box, so instead they use your laundry pile). This is a VERY tough habit to break in your cat and probably the most frustrating problem your cat can have (for you and him/her.)

-biting. When cats know they have no other method of defense, they turn to biting. This happened with my oldest cat and I have never broken him of it.

-personality change. I have witnessed cats go from being trusting and loving to going in a completely different direction-- scared, skittish, and sometimes mean.

-the arm muscles can suffer from a form of atrophy because the cat will never truly achieve a good forearm stretch. This can cause a ripple effect that affects the posture of the cat, the spine, and eventually cause arthritic symptoms.

-stressful self-mutilating behaviors. Due to the stress of the incident, cats can develop Psychogenic Alopecia, which is basically overgrooming to the point of hair loss. They do it to self-soothe. This happened to my oldest cat as well, and his 8 and still has a bald belly and forearms. No matter how much comforting I give him, he is still afraid. This is the worst guilt in the world.

-If your cat should get out by accident, declawing renders them defenseless against any type of other animal attack (dog, racoon). Not only can they not fight back, they cannot climb up a tree to get away from an attack.

-there are more, just google it and you can find a bunch of websites regarding the pros and cons.

Declawing is a personal decision between you and your vet, but I would recommend laser declawing if you feel you must do it. However, please note that there are humane and effective alternatives that do not harm the cat or possibly have these side effects. They include:

-scratch posts
-nail clipping
-nail filing systems like Pawdicure
-or what I use, Soft Paws which can be purchased at any Petsmart/ Petco/ Pet Supplies Plus/ etc. OR on ebay for less. They last a long time and are easy to apply, and they guarantee to me that my cats cannot scratch anything.

Good luck with your decision, and know that ALL animal rights supporters agree that you've already made the best decision of all by giving a loving and nuturing home to your kitten.

 

[skw444]

Here's another alternative to declawing to check out. It's called Soft Paws. They are nail caps that cover the nail. It allows the cats to keep their claws but not have the problems for the owners associated with the scratching.

Here's the website: http://www.softpaws.com/

 

[mjmoon]

This is definitely a controversial subject. My DH and I had our first cat declawed. The biggest mistake I made was not doing much research on the procedure and the affects on cats before doing it. I had never had a cat before and as a kid everyone I knew with indoor cats had them declawed.. so I figured that is what you did. My kitty was not a happy cat after returning home and to some extent, never was the same, sweet kitty again.

Know that when declawing a cat, they are actually amputating the tips of their paws. This takes away their natural defense if they get out (which my cat started doing every time anyone opened the front door). My cat ran away dozens of times before adopting a neighbor a street over from us. I felt so bad wondering where he was and if he could protect himself without his front claws.

I will never declaw a kitty again.. there are other ways to train a cat not to scratch.. is a google search to get you started.

http://www.google.com/search?q=teac...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

 

[PollyannaMom]

I wouldn't declaw. My sister-in-law had a declawed cat accidentally get outside, and it didn't make it. Personally, we do OK with trimming our 2 kittens' claws. (I hold them while DH trims). But with a very little child around, I might look into the caps. - I saw them in Petco the other day, in all sorts of colors.

For getting them to scratch in the right place, find what they like. (We have a post and a flat cardboard-type one you can put catnip on to attract them. There are other varieties too.) If they do start to scratch on something other than their scratchers, we move them to where they are supposed to be. They also get a treat when they use the proper scratching posts on their own.

 

[scrapquitler]

Oh Boy. Just gonna watch....

We have had 3 of our 5 cats declawed over the years. Right now, we have one older cat that is not declawed (he used to rip everything before he was declawed), one 6 year old cat that is not declawed by never scratches anything, and an almost 1 year old kitten that is destroying everything, and probably headed for declawing very soon.

My vet recommends declawing at the same time as you spay/neuter if you are going to do it so that there is less hospitalization/anesthesia etc. With all our previous declawed cats, we did that. We didn't have the kitten done at the same time as his neutering, and we probably should have.

Now, there ARE alternatives. I'm going to look into them before we send the kitten to get declawed. My vet does sell a thing (soft paws might be the name?) that you somehow put over the claws.

I know a couple of people that swear by the Pedi Paws for manicuring the cats nails. My cats won't let me use it on them, so YMMV./

 

[Reese'smom]

We had our cat declawed when she was fixed and we didnt have any problems. She was actually much more relaxed and calm after it was done. I dont know if it was done with lasers or not, but it must have been because she had no bandages when she came home, no problems at all. She will bite when extremely angry, but thats rare. She has never offered to bite our 19month old who bugs the poor cat all day. As previous posters have said, just make sure the cat doesn't go outside if you declaw it. Good luck to you!

 

[hopesmommy]

I agree the declawing is something very hard for a cat to handle.

However, I rescued my cat at about 7 months and she start to scratch my husband's speakers. My husband said, "Either get the cat to quit damaging my speakers or the cat goes away!" No Scratch did not work. Scratching posts did not keep her from scratching other things. I could not hold on to the cat long enough for the Soft Paws to stay glued to her nails. There was no way of clipping her nails without ending up all scratched and bleeding myself. So, my family's decision was to have her declawed. I believe it is more humane to keep a cat healthy and happy than to keep a cat that is destroying everything and therefore has to be returned to the adoption place. She is so lovable and lets my DD7 do so much to her without biting or scratching with her back paws. She still thinks she has claws in front and still "scratches" everything, but does not do any damage. She still uses her scratching post.

There is an alternative to cutting off the end of the toe. The vet cuts the ligament attached to the nail making it impossible for the nail to come out. This is the procedure we chose.

This is your decision and no one else's. Please do what is best for your family and cat.

 

[3boymthr]

I know some people will freak bout this suggestion too. But really, if you live in a suburban area, the best solution to a cat that scratches furniture is to take it outside and let it have at a tree! (one small enough that it can't climb out of your reach). Truly, it works. If you don't want it outside on it's own stay out with it and bring it in when you go in. People keep their cats inside to keep them "safe", but they are by instinct outside animals. They DON'T want to be in and they are not designed by nature to live inside. They scratch furniture, spray walls, etc, because they are not outside scratching trees & spraying rocks like they are supposed to. With all of my cats that have been outdoor cats I have NEVER had a scratching problem. All the cats that were indoor cats, clawed furniture and people relentlessly, sprayed, etc. People say it is cruel to let a cat out, but really is keeping it inside any less cruel, but to mind it's like caging a tiger - cat's are feline. All felines are hunters who need to be out hunting their prey.

Okay, rant over.

That aside, often kittens will scratch you because the don't realize their claws are out. If the kitten scratches you, tell it naughty, then while holding it gently soothe the paw until the claws retract. Then play with the kitten again. Eventually they learn to retract the claws on their own.

 

[susykt4]

I worked at a vet's office for years. I used to be very much against declawing, but changed my mind. If declawing the cat means you won't dump it at the local shelter, DO IT! Also, it's much easier for a kitten to handle declawing than an older cat- especially a fat cat! I had my cat declawed when she was 3 or 4 because she was clawing my then infant daughter's face. It was get rid of the claws or get rid of the cat. It was a bit harder on her because she was full grown, but fortunately she wasn't fat. That was eight years ago and she's been completely fine after the first few days following surgery! My kids are now 8 and 6 and love the cat. Follow the post surgical instructions as much as you can and don't feel guilty about it!

 

[kacaju]

I have had over 10 cats in my lifetime and all but 2 of them have been declawed and I never had a single problem with any of them. The two I did not have done were bacause they were much older when I got them and I would not have done it at their advanced ages. All my other ones were kittens or young adults.
I used to work at the Vets office and at that time it was never an issue.

 

[disneybridetobe]

My mom's cats (well, they were "ours" then I moved out and got married,) are both males and were neutered and declawed at the same time. They're both as loveable as could be, and they're both happy and healthy. They do fight each other at times, especially when one tries to bathe the other, and honestly I'm glad they don't have claws because they'd do some damage if they weren't. They've never bitten a human, EVER.

I agree with the PP's who said that if it's between declawing or giving the cat up-- declaw! It's not the end of the world.

 

[micheleq]

Thanks to everyone for the info. and to the OP. We have a 7 month old cat, and she does scratch as well. I've never had a cat before, my DH has had many, and he keeps assuring me that we don't need to declaw her as she is beginning to spend more time outside. After reading the posts, I now understand why many people chose to/or not to declaw. And thanks for the tips on how to get cats to not scratch! I will try some cat nip on a scratching post.

 

[2thfairy]

I just went thru this decision in the fall. we got a new kitten and i was against declawing. I had tried trimming his nails and it was a definate battle of wills. i could only do one every day or so. He started scratching on my new furniture and i was not going to have it ruined for our new cat. I called the vet and talked to him about my options. The cat also likes to play with my boys's heads. my youngest in still in diapers and whenever i change him on the floor the cat is on his head. my son thinks this is funny but i was scared he was going to get a claw in the eye. We finally decided to declaw when he went in to be neutered. He has been fine since. He bites some when he plays but he did this as a kitten also. we are trying to break him of it. he did calm down some but that is a good thing. he still plays and runs and jumps. it was the best decision we made. good luck and do what is right for you and your family. like a pp said and my vet said it is much better than deciding in a few years you wish they had been declawed and take them to a shelter or just let them go.

 

[playswithstars]

I have two cats and they are both declawed. The first cat is 12 years old and has just his front paws declawed from when she was a kitten. He's had had no adverse effects from it. He stays inside all the time and there's no chance of him accidentally getting out.

The other cat is a little over a year and all four of her paws are declawed. This is because she liked to swipe at people with her legs and arms.

 

[RitaFaye94]

If you do choose to declaw your cat, please do only the front claws, and leave the rear. This would be their only defense mechanism should they escape from the house or be in danger within the house.

I have a cat that was completely declawed and he became a little mean afterwards, and now instead of just smacking at something to defend, he will lurch and bite.

If the cat will be outside at all, I recommend not getting any claws removed.

 

[la79al]

OP here. If we end up declawing, it would only be the front paws. The kitten stays inside all the time (well has so far). I am going to try the nail caps first, after she gets back from her play week next week while we are on vacation. Hopefully that takes care of the problem. I am pretty anti-declawing, considering how attached I am to the ends of my fingers.