Acclimating SV in a loft

[Patti]

I don't think you'll get a lot of support for declawing your kitten here. I guess you will have to decide what is more important to you - the table or your kitten.

I don't know what you have available where you are, but there are products that you can consider getting to protect the table legs:
http://www.petsmart.com/cat/scratch...t-scratcher-zid36-5041694/cat-36-catid-200086
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...vptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5eaki7be1l_b

 

[Xenaph]

It not the table or furnitures the problem, it my hand.

 

[Patti]

Oops sorry, I must have misunderstood.

 

[Rafiki]

How often have you tried clipping his nails? It took a long time for Rafiki to get used to this although it was my male pixie bob that tended to bite when getting his nails trimmed.

First of all, play with his paws daily. Get him used to you touching his paws when you are petting him and everything is calm. Speak soothingly and make it so that your touching his paws is normal and not associated with nail trimming.

When you trim his nails, you need to make it as pleasant as possible. You may only trim a nail or two at a time. In the beginning, I would clip a nail or two and rub her paws afterwards. I would also pet and cuddle her and only when she was calm would I continue. And afterwards she gets her absolute favorite cat treat.

I trim her nails every 2 weeks and while I cannot say that she enjoys it, she does prefer to have her nails short and will bite and chew on them if I cannot keep to the regular schedule. It takes me maybe 3-5 minutes now. Jammu (my male) still requires 2 people as he squirms and I am afraid of cutting the quick.

 

[Chris Elliott]

Cats without claws can only defend themselves by biting. Many declawed cats become biters, and bites are far more likely to become infected than pricks from claws. Some estimates are that 80% of cat bites become infected and need treatment.

Yelling ouch is good. As you know, cats don't take well to physical punishment. Try to give him praise or treats when you can clip a nail--or, even hold his foot, at first.

Another alternative is to have a vet clip his nails the first few times. It should get easier for you to do it after a professional does it. Ask for tips while you're there.

Some cats are much more willful than others, and Savannahs certainly fall into the very willful category. So you have to go slow and give positive reinforcement to acknowledge when they take even very small steps toward the goal.

 

[Xenaph]

I try to tail claw when the soft paw fall. Abbas is very scary about the clip, i'm able to play with his paws. When i show the clip, he jump away.

I tried some brand of treat, he dont like it. He only love raw meat...but last time he got worm so the vet dont want anymore.

 

[Xenaph]

@Rafiki

Which brand of threat is she love ? I really want keep his claw and try your advice.

 

[Lesley]

Hi Xenaph, I have been off forum for awhile and am catching up. You are working very hard in a difficult situation. Doing a good job. I would urge you to not declaw Abbas. Believe me, I have constant claw marks on hands and arms and feet from our kids. Not mean, just life playing with cats. I would never declaw them no matter how much I bleed. I do trim nails, but that doesn't fix everything. My advice is to accept the scratches, trim nails, and try to be quicker (haha) then Abbas. Best of luck and please don't become discouraged. I'm sure most of the people in this forum have scratch marks on their hands. Consider it a badge of honor. Band of the claw marked!

 

[Rafiki]

My cats (and most of the cats on this forum) are crazy about freeze dried chicken. It is only chicken - no other ingredients. Can you get "Liv-a-Littles" by Halo where you are? PureBites and Whole Life also have them. All are available on Amazon. And, if your cat is ever picky about food, sprinkling the crumbs on their food bowl works wonders.

 

[Rafiki]

And by the way, when Rafiki was only about 5 months old, she jumped up and bit me thru my jeans. I had the nastiest bite on my bottom that took several weeks to heal. I will definitely take a cat scratch over a bite any day! And yes, we did manage to teach her not to bite her humans......I lost count of how many times we said "No biting your humans!" the first few months. It is all about teaching them boundaries - what is acceptable behavior and what is not. And as other have stated, punishment doesn't really work. You have to redirect them. You need to redirect him from scratching your hand to attacking a cat toy.