I've heard plenty of my friends declaw their cats. I don't think it is a good idea though. That is just my personal opinion. Without claws, they can't defend themselves, nor they can climb as easy. It's just like making them less cat like lol.
Why do cats have the need to scratch things in the first place?
I know rats and mice need to shorten their never stop growing teeth, but do cats need to shorten their claws? lol
Cats claw stuff because it keeps their claws in shape, removes the outer husk. They also claw to leave their scent. They have scent glands in their feet. Plus it just feels good, they like the long stretch when they claw, that is why a tall scratching post works best. One ,covered with sisal is best to use rather than one covered with carpet. The cat does not know the difference between the carpet on the post and the carpet on your floor. Carpet is carpet.
Onyx I probably would adopt one that was declawed (it's not the cats fault it was maimed) but I would NEVER have it done myself. I have no experience with the Soft Paws but I have heard of them. I have always just trained the cats to use their scratching posts.
03-23-2012, 06:28 PM, (This post was last modified: 03-23-2012, 06:32 PM by Karenskatz.)
This clawing behavior originated in the wild partly for exercise (sink those claws in and PULL!), but mostly to mark terratory. Scent glands in the paws would "mark" the various trees and such in the cat's territory, and by reaching high up on the tree to scratsh they were trying to impress intruders with what a big cat they are. In many ways, they are just transfering this instinct to their indoor terratory.
I have also found that cats have different preferences in the kind of surface they scratch on. With my first two cats, one prefered loop-pile carpeting, the other had a taste for bare wood. I took a clean piece of split fireplace wood and mounted it upright on a sturdy base, then fastened a strip of loop-pile carpet on one side, left bare wood on the second side, and left the bark on the third. Take your pick!. A few cats seem to prefer horizontal scratching to vertical. A cat I had who was like that seemed to enjoy a small braided rug at my parents house. So when my parents passed and we sold the house, I brought the rug home for her to use. Horizontal scratchers who do not seem to care for those coregated cardboard scratchers might like an inexpensive "straw" doormat. Watch to see what sort of surface your cat seems to prefer and give them a similar surface on their post, and you will have better luck getting them to use that and not the furniture.
Your first paragraph reinforced what I had said earlier about the scent glands and marking. Also about the long stretch. I have had really good luck with sisal on a cat post but I like your multi-surface post idea! Thanks.
I will not be de-clawing my cat. Even though he does not go outside, I am afraid that if he gets out one day he will not have the means to defend himself. He uses his scratching post and we have never had a problem with him scratching or chewing on anything that he isn't supposed to.
None of my cats are declawed ... I don't understand why one would go against what is natural to an animal. Just my personal opinion though.
The others beat me to it on the explanation for scratching so I can't add more to that part of the discussion.
However, I will say that I have 4 cats, 3 are true siblings (same mom and dad) .. and all 4 have their own scratching preferences.
A comment about the sisal ... if you have the rope sisal scratching post, have you experienced them easily unraveling? All of ours do so within the first month. Pet supply companies do not make things (scratching posts and toys) durable for cats. All my cats are naturally strong and easily tear and pull at things will playing or scratching. So, we'll have to switch to carpet scratching posts.
Another problem I have is that the pure black cat (not related to the other 3) likes to scratch/pick at things she knows she isn't supposed to. We've had her for almost 11 years now ... she knows what NO means and yet is obstinate enough to do what she wants. She loves to pick at the leather chairs we have in the TV room. I've used the water bottle on her, tapped her on the nose with a strong "NO", and have used all the anti-scratching sprays. I've even used cayenne pepper rubbed onto the chairs. Absolutely nothing stops her from picking at the chairs. We can't have any nice furniture because of her. Even though we've provided and encouraged a scratching post from kittenhood, she still insists on picking at furniture (she does occasionally use the post when she feels like it though).
pffft! Sometimes cats are worse than the terrible twos and teenagers put together! LOL
I think it's absolutely cruel to declaw a cat. Does anyone know how much torture this brings to a cat? It's inhumane and the practice should be ended immediately.
The best option is to just teach the cat not to scratch furniture and get him or her scratching posts, toys or other endless items out there. My fiancee is vehemently opposed to it and so am I. I couldn't imagine doing this to our little guys.
I agree with footballtim; the best way to deal with kitty's claws is to get them trimmed every few weeks by a professional groomer or your vet.
A vet or groomer will typically charge from $5-$10 for the service, and it's well worth it. Scratch pads don't trim claws. Declawing, on the other hand, is like removing a finger joint; it's painful and disfiguring for the cat.
Declawing the cats would actually be harmful for them in the future . It would be great if they have nail cap for them. Though i find that Bengal kittens are the most well behaved among all .
I get a really nauseous feeling when someone even mentions declawing. I don't understand why would anyone even consider it, if they have even a drop of empathy. It's really horrifying for me that some veterinarians still practice this, I even heard some do it as a routine job during sterilization (I made sure my doctor doesn't do that before I took my cat). Trimming the nails is better, but it's still not a good thing to do. It's no too rare that it leads to ingrown nails, and a lot of cats don't like the nail caps. I've heard really scary stories about cats who chew their paws bloody trying to get the caps off. Giving your cats things to scratch is the best thing to do. They shorten their nail that way. I know that some cats get attached to a piece of furniture and won't stop scratching it, but I would much rather lose the furniture piece than maul my cat. Nobody is forced to keep a pet, if a person can't handle the change he can just skip the whole experience, rather than cut off the parts of the animal he doesn't like.
Isn't cat-declawing considered by most to be excessively cruel? I'm not trying to be snarky or sarcastic, I'm legitimately curious. It seems on most forums that declawing your cat is one of the worst things you can do to them.
I wouldn't declaw my cat, simply because I believe that the only alteration to their body should be spaying and neutering, other than that I'd let them live with all their parts intact. I do know that cats'll scratch things because they have scent glands on their feet, and it keeps their claws maintained or something like that. Other than that, I'm not familiar with claws and why you'd declaw them other than to prevent scratching, which I do know can be prevented using various other means like scratching posts. My cat claws things all the time, and we simply let her. What she claws she usually leaves no marks on, save for one time she almost tore the carpet off the side of the stairs. We got her a scratching post with the EXACT same carpet and everything, but the little bastard wouldn't use it and kept clawin' away.
When I lived with my sister my cat (Ginger) would scratch the dining room chairs all the time, but not too bad. My sister has the kind of chairs that have soft material. That's what probably attracted Ginger to the chairs. Since moving to my own place and having my own dining room chairs that have metal legs, Ginger does not scratch the chair legs. Good thing.
In my earlier posting, I commented on how Ginger never scratched my furniture. The number one reason for this was probably because she had a scratch box. I am a firm fan of this product, because I enjoyed seeing Ginger enjoy scratching on the box and it saved my furniture, thank you scratch box.
I agree that declawing is wrong. You're basically mutilating a cat to have it live in your house. Imagine if someone chopped off the ends of all of your fingers, how would you like that? I believe if you supply the cat with a scratching post and things to scratch on, and reinforce to them where they shouldn't scratch (like if they are scratching on your couch). I don't have any firsthand experience, but isn't a water squirt bottle a pretty good training tool to use with cats? The bottom line is, don't mutilate an animal to have it in your house, if you're really concerned about them scratching then maybe owning a cat isn't for you. I really think more people need to take realistic pet ownership into account before they get a pet, and decide if they can handle it, then perhaps so many pets wouldn't end up in shelters.
As long as you don't remove the rear claws, they are not entirely defenseless. I've read that cats do the most damage in fights with their back claws. In fact, if you see two cats fighting, the one that is on the bottom is likely the dominant cat and is using that position to win the fight. We tried the scratching posts and all the other tricks, but our cats still just wouldn't stop, so we had them declawed. The laser method actually didn't slow them down much. The same night they were trying to claw their way into the bedroom and didn't seem to care. We had closed the door.
My cat is not declawed, and she's taken quite well to the scratching post I got her. It's actually in the shape of a ramp, and I set it next to the couch in the living room. That way, if she is tempted to scratch the couch, she'll notice the ramp and choose that instead. When I first got it, I'd give her a treat and pet her whenever she used the scratching post. It also came with a bag of catnip, so I'll occasionally sprinkle some on there to attract her to the scratching post. She'll occasionally start scratching the furniture, but if I tell her "No!" or start walking over, she stops. My biggest problem with her claws is when she climbs the window screens!
No to declawing. But the scratching is quite destructive since we have 5 cats in the household. We were given this anti-scratching spray which did not help at all. Our cats seemed to be immune from the scent it left. My husband did make a scratching post for them using sisal. There still are occasional scratches on out furniture but we are making progress.
I think the best thing is if your cat is able to go outside in the yard, and then they can actually do their scratching on a tree, instead of on the furniture. I agree that declawing a cat is it a good thing, and is hard for the cat to ajust to not having claws, although I have had cats before that someone had declawed, and they were healthy, happy cats, with no real problems abut being declawed.
One cat even was a great mouse catcher. He would grab the mouse with his paws, and then get his teeth into that mouse FAST ! He had probably been declawed as a kitten and lived that way all his life, so he really didn't know anything different.
08-09-2013, 02:09 AM, (This post was last modified: 08-09-2013, 02:10 AM by Tribie.)
I don't think I can have the heart to declaw my cat. If somebody told me that they would take out my nails, it is not and will never be okay. My cat scratches many things. He particularly enjoys my old speakers. Cat's can learn. If they scratch something that they are not supposed to, give them a "bad experience" so they won't do it again. I generally use my son's water gun to shoot my cat.
