Declawing and fixing

[Tort518]

I have nice woodwork and nice furniture around the house without much concern of scratching. I willingly go the extra mile in encouraging use of very good scratching posts, scratching the post with my fingers to show the cats what is ok works wonders along with other training techniques. Plus I am willing to accept a minimum of 'love marks' during the process. So far no noticable scratches on woodwork or furniture.

That said, I highly recommend against declawing.

I do have a friend with massive money socked into expensive persian rugs, and antique furniture and porcelain art pieces. He has dealt with some breakage, but sadly did have his cat declawed while she was a tiny kitten.

 

[Lesley]

We have nice furniture and the whole house is scratch worthy wood. I have never declawed a cat. IMHO if you feel the need to declaw, you need to look for a different animal to share your life. I don't think cutting off the first joint of a toe should be a prerequisite to bringing a kitten into your life.

 

[Patti]

I practice early spay and neuter for my pet kittens. I would worry about a kitten (male or female) starting to spray by six months of age and would recommend no later than five months in order to avoid potential unwanted behavior.

As for the declaw - believe me I have been tempted at times when I have had to deal with a couple of very aggressive cats that do not hold back when they take a swipe at me. However, multiple scars later I know that a cat who finds its claws are no longer effective is very likely to turn to biting, and cat bites are much more difficult to deal with and heal from. In truth, I would never seriously consider amputating the toes of a cat, even the nasty ones.

 

[MM3]

Read naughty no more author Marilyn. Best book answers many many questions. Marilyn explains that if your cats DONT have a space of their own ( including a place to scratch every time they wake up) they will chose something. They need a place to retreat to WHEN THEY HAVE MADE THE DECISION NEED TO GET AWAY FROM US. I followed all her advice and it is 100% accurate. Declawing is the lazy and irresponsible way out.....and why should the cat suffer because the cat is not provided with what it needs to live a happy fulfilled life? READ MARILYN'S BOOK!!!

 

[Dinah Russell]

We have only declawed our animals when my mother got cancer and was going through chemo. She had lived with leukemia for years, and we were just very careful to train our cats not to scratch on anything but their scratching posts. But while my mother was going through chemo, her cat scratched her. It got infected giving her "cat scratch fever," and almost killed her. We all had our cats declawed, using the laser method. My mother loved her cat and those we had. When we visited my mother we all brought our fur babies, as they were as much my mother's "kids" as we were. She loved seeing them and they loved her. They just had fur. We didn't. My mother spoiled all her "kids," both the two legged and the furry ones with four legs. You wouldn't believe the meals my mother actually fixed for all the "fur kids!" Since my mother's death we have not declawed any of our fur babies. Furniture can be replaced. Mothers and fur babies can not. If it's a matter of someone's life, we declaw. If it is not, we don't declaw.

 

[Becki]

I would never declaw and I don't use absolutes very often! In fact, when seeking breeders, there wasn't one that didn't have a no declaw clause (claws? Haha, I crack myself up sometimes). Nyah was spayed at 7 months, but that is because we bought her as a 6.5 month old kitten. Kovu was neutered at 4.5 months, and I would have done it earlier except one of his testicles didn't drop and we were waiting to see if it would naturally. It didn't, so rather than wait longer, I went forward with the procedure being a bit more invasive as a cryptorchid. He was fine, bouncing around very soon after because he was born with springs for feet.

Declawing can actually make a cat aggressive, they have lost their "defense system" and have to compensate, this can come in the form of biting. If you have ever been seriously bitten by a cat, it hurts like heck. I don't mean the playful bites they all do despite our repeated warnings. I mean shark chomps.

 

[Enigmatic.eyez]

Thank you everyone! I definitely won't be declawing and definitely fixing the kitten as soon as healthy possible

 

[cbain]

We never declaw but we do trim , our 2 F3 cats have bigger claws than our 2 American shorthairs and they hate to be picked up , our female Savannah will let us trim 2 or 3 nails at a time so in a few hours we trim her front feet, the rear claws we don't trim. our male Savannah is a very strong cat with huge hooks so every 6 weeks he see's the VET,he is known there as Freddy Kruger due to his big claws, this week he was due and got a free vitamin shot in the butt, he hates the Vet on her ground but when she visits him on his ground ,at our house he gives her a Savannah welcome head butt. strange but that is how he is .

 

[jungle boy]

Thank you everyone! I definitely won't be declawing and definitely fixing the kitten as soon as healthy possible

HURRAY!! You won't regret your decision!

 

[NikkiA]

Like Dinah, absent extreme illness, I would not declaw.
Furniture can be replaced. Floors and woodwork can be refinished. Once the decision to remove claws has been made, that can't be undone. I am eternally grateful for the fact that I did not take steps to remove Jarvis' claws. I am not the healthiest person, and we at one point considered it or finding him a new home, and I am forever grateful that we took a step back, and a deep breath, and a risk the doctor told us not to take, and waited. I can't imagine the guilt I would feel now if we had declawed, or how much I would miss him if he were not here with us.