De-Clawing my cat?

Question

The people that I bought my cat from are firmly against De-Clawing cats... But my mom De-Clawed her cat about 2 years ago... and her cat loves her, she sleeps with my mom, she follows my mom around.. they are like best friends. My mother spends hundreds of dollars on her cat a year on just spoiling it.. and the cat just loves her to death. The cat is an indoor cat and has never been outside... but she was tearing up all of her furniture and everything.. even when my mom kept her nails trimmed. I just recently bought a kitty and she is starting to do the same things.. what do you think?

I don't want to buy too many cat toys because I have a really nice house with beautiful furniture and I don't want it to look like I live in a white trash mess...

STOP ASKING ME IF I WANT MY FINGERNAILS RIPPED OFF PLEASE.... It's a very immature response to a very serious question.

STOP ASKING ME IF I WANT MY FINGERNAILS RIPPED OFF PLEASE.... It's a very immature response to a very serious question.

BTW we have the tape that goes on furniture and it doesn't work. And there is NO WAY that anyone would be able to hold down my cat to put on soft claws... I know what they are.

Twisted R-
I didn't say that all of the answers were immature. I just got sick of reading people's answers that included... "Cut off the tips of your fingers and see how you feel" or "Imagine your fingers cut off" That's not what I was asking for. I was asking people to tell me what they thought about my circumstances... not to give me crap about it...

Answer 1

Declawing is not as horrible as some of those people make it seem. In fact, if you think about it, it is not as big a deal as getting a cat spayed or neutered, and most people seem to advocate that. I'm sure it hurts, but not as badly as having your abdomen sliced open and having organs removed. They may limp for a few days, but they really shouldn't bleed too much. Make sure you use shredded newspaper or special litter instead of the regular kind once the bandages are removed (I'm sure your vet will tell you all about it. And once its paws are healed, the cat will be fine with no lasting side effects if you have a half-way good vet. You already seem to know about not letting the cat outside, which is a good thing. Although I have a friend who has a declawed cat, and she'll let it out in the backyard (which is cat-proofed as good as possible) but only when she is there to watch ans make sure it doesn't get it trouble. It is a big Maine Coon cat, and even though it has no claws on its front (the back claws are rarely removed as they don't really cause damage to anything) it can climb trees by digging in the back claws, and basically standing up-right, kinda "walk" up the tree. Its really kinda funny.
Anyways, I kinda rambled a bit, but I think you get the idea. Its ok to declaw your cat as long as you take care of her afterward, and it causes no lasting damage to the cat.

Answer 2

Your mom's situatio might be more of an exception than the rule. Cats often start peeing all over the place if you declaw them, Often the personality changes to a great degree (never for the better). I believe it is because of the pain involved.

I have 4 indoor cats with no clawing issues. I do have a couple of cat climbers/towers in different rooms and a big box of cat toys. I clip thier nails (but I don't always remember) and have no issues with clawing of furniture.
I think it says on the site that Feliway works for clawing. You have to spray it a couple of times a day but whatever works right?

Answer 3

Hi,
Please be aware that de-clawing a cat is un-natural! A cat's nails are essential for his defends, as well as his personl hygiene.
I have been working with (house) cats for over 25 years now and none of them ever set a nail into the furniture!
Since you have a young kitten please let me make a suggestion before you decide to de-claw your kitty...
Train your cat! This sounds like an impossible task but actually it's not.
This is how you do it ->
First make sure your cat has a scratch post. This does not have to be an expensive one, a little one will do just as good.. Make sure that you place this post in the room where you and your cat will mostly sitting.. Your cat will not goto your bedroom just to stretch out or sharpen it's nails..
Just give it it's own place in the room where your cat can easy access it.
It could be that your cat is not yet trained with the scratchy post. Rub some catnip on the post, this will draw the cat more to it..
Another very important aspect with training your cat, is being consistant (this is with a cat 100 times more important than with a dog!)...
Each time your cat tries to set a nail into your furniture, slap it on it's paws (not too agressive please, we're not abusing your cat!)..
You could also get a flowering spray bottle and hit the cat with some water each time it tries to do this.. Make sure the kitty does not see you do it.. They have to start associating it with clawing -> the water comes each time I claw.. Not here she comes with a bottle, now the water comes...
After having your cat punished, let the cat know he/she was wrong.. Do NOT be sweet to it for a little while.. After 15 mins or so, be sweet to it again and bring the cat to it's scratchy post..
Rub his paws over the post and pet it nicely..
If you are very strict with this procedure.
If you are not consistent with this procedure all your work will be for nothing.. A cat is smarter then you think and if it discoveres only one time it can get away with it, it will continue doing it when you're not around..
Again be strict and it will work without a doubt! The cat might use all nails into the post but will think 3 times before using your furniture..
If you have any questions, do not hesitate e-mailing me.. I rather spend time e-mailing you and helping you to have a good behaving cat with claws then de-clawing him..
In my personal opinion it should be against the law to de-claw, unless it is for it's own medical reasons and above all: with proper training it is not needed at all!
Good luck ;o)
Techie

Answer 4

Declawing should be a last resort. With a "new" kitty, you haven't gone through the rounds of trying to train it to see if she will stop scratching things yet. Once you've exhausted everything and are dealing with damage - sometimes there's no other choice. I had three that shredded my furniture down to the wood, shredded the corner of my mattress, and then started on the carpet - and since I rent a townhouse, that was the end point. MY things being destroyed were one thing, but destroying my landlord's carpet ($$$) was where it had to stop.
Your cats will love you -- you just have to be aware that it's an incredibly painful process for them. And it is the equivalent of having your fingers chipped off at the top nuckles, and they don't treat them with pain meds, much. Having gone through it once, I will avoid putting any of my babies through that again. However, if it does come down to a choice between having to get rid of them or be evicted, that's when it will become a consideration again - but not before. I've got young ones again now, and we're in the midst of determining whether or not they will be destructo-kitties or not. Unfortunately, these tend to do more damage with the BACK claws from CLIMBING everything.
Do your best to break her of the behavior, and do your best to avoid declawing. Consider it only as a last resort.

Answer 5

the first site actually tells you exactly how and what declawing is, and the risks and troubles the cat can/may have in the future because alot of people think its just removing the nail, if you read the site, thats not true. and the second site are some alternatives. at the store i work at we have what is called soft paws. i've had alot of people buy them and take them to the vet to have them put on the cat. they are great, they have them for dogs too. i would read these sites and think again on declawing your cat. claws are part of the cat, dont take them away from her. buy some scratching posts and put them by whatever she scratches (sofa) and then put or rub some catnip on the posts so that she is atracted to the posts. i've heard that works GREAT.
and if somehow she does manage to slip out the door and she is declawed, that could be deadly to her.and there is also a company called pet organics and they make a spray called no scratch that discourages the cat from scratching whatever you have sprayed with this product, it will NOT hurt your furniture, its all organic and safe. you can look any of these up on the net, or you could call 1-888-628-8783 for the pet organics or go to your local pet shop or pet botique and i'm sure they would have the soft paws and or pet organics 'no scratch'

Answer 6

Well since it is an indoor cat you should defenitly declaw heer if she is tearing up all of your furniture!!! Well if it is a kitten over 5 monthes go for it but if it is a cat then I wouldnt i would trim his/her claws though if it were a cat. The only reason you shouldnt if it was a Cat then it would never grow into not having claws but if it is a kitten ti will so good luck! Only do front claws though, your cat needs some kind of defence!!

Answer 7

I have declawed cats before, and it's awful. They amputate the first knuckle of each toe. One of my cats limped the rest of her life.

My present cat is not declawed. I clip his claws when they need it. It's really easy. I check them about every two weeks. I look for claws that have gotten sharp. The ones that are still blunted I don't clip.

You can buy cat claw clippers at pet stores like PetSmart. I had PetSmart clip his claws the first few times while I watched. If you can see the white part of the claw and the pink part, avoid the pink part. I am very careful when I clip his nails, because if you clip to close to the quick, you can cause bleeding.

When I can feel the sharpness of his claws when he puts his paws on me, then I clip him. He has learned to keep his claws in.

Walmart has a cheap skratcher made of cardboard. When I first opened it I thought I had been ripped off, and threw it on the floor. To my surprise, my cat loves it and uses it all the time. It's called "SmartKat SuperScratcher+"

Answer 8

i think declawing cats are inhumane. after all it's their defense mechanism.

however, when you declaw a kitty (young age) they can get used to it without a problem. they can't miss what they don't realize they had, right?

for adult, i've heard people declaw just the front paws, since those are the ones that do the most damage. if yu really must declaw your cat, do that and see if that helps. otherwise, find another home for the cat.

my cat has all 4 claws. i am resigned to the fact that i will never have nice things (at least not for long) around the house until he goes to kitty heaven. he's definitely the king of his domain.

Answer 9

when a cat is declawed it is essentially amputating the nail and toe down to the first knuckle. it would be like you having the tops of your fingers cut off down to the first knuckle. i think that would be painfull dont you? cats need their nails to be able to exercise thier shoulder muscles, without this they loose muscle tone. there are beautiful and elegant cat trees out there that are acutally designed to fit in with nice furniture. buy one or more, rub them with cat nip and your cat should use the cat tree instead of the furniture. make sure the trees have sisal rope and not just carpet around the posts as cats seem to be attracted to it. it's an instinctual thing, but cats also like to visually see the results of their scratching and sisal rope allows this without having to sacrifice your furniture. personally could never willing allow any part of an animal to be amputated unless it was for medical reasons and certainly not vanity. if god had thought cats didn't really need their claws he wouldn't have given them any. so it is not true that indoor cats do not need their claws too. declawing is illegal in many places and countries due to the cruelty factor.

Answer 10

It sounds like you have already made up your mind about declawing your cat, and are just looking for justification for doing it...since you don't seem to be willing to listen to the reasons not to declaw, taking them as imature. Are they? If that's the case why are you asking?

Anyways, if you are going to keep your cat strickly indoors, then perhaps it would be alright. However, I have known many loving kittens who have turned to biting after they have been declawed. Faced with that, I can't help but think that there's a personality change when they get declawed. They also can't defend themselves if they happen to get outside.

Other than that, its your cat, and if your furniture is worth that much to you, then go ahead.