Cat about to be declawed.... :(

[pclstyle]

+ Topic blew up a little more than I expected, so I figured I'd toss in an update for anyone who might be interested.

Update:
Did a little more research last night on both declawing and non-declawing alternatives. Overall it seems like there's plenty of happy declawed kitties out there, but the thought of lopping off the end-joints of every one of his paws didn't quite sit right with me. Ended up canceling the scheduled surgical op, and converted the appointment into a claw trimming. I wanted to have the vet do the trimming the first time so I wouldn't accidentally cut off his toes.

- He sat though it real nicely, so I'm pretty confident I'll be able to maintain him on my own in the future.

In the end, I came to the conclusion that animals are just behavioral creatures, that can be conditioned and trained with enough effort and patience. Any inconvenience we've had with him up till now is probably just a result of our own lack of persistence in reversing his undesirable habits. Although I can understand the need for declawing in certain situations, I couldn't justify it in mine. He was just cheerfully expressing an instinctual need, and it wouldn't have been entirely fair for me to suddenly drag him into an operating room and start chopping away.

End result:
The little guy rests peacefully on my bed -nails a little blunted but paws intact- under my watchful eye and a spray bottle within arm's reach (training purposes).

Thanks for all the opinions, wouldn't have managed to get agitated enough about the circumstances alone. If he wasn't so damn clueless, mao would say thanks too.





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So, my cat has a habit of gouging little holes in the leather couches upstairs. I guess it happens naturally when he climbs on the furniture, but recently it's become more noticeable. A week ago the family presented the little guy an ultimatum. Either stop climbing the furniture or lose the claws. :brokenheart: We tried to assist him by getting him a little jungle gym set-up and applying this eucalyptus-based 'scratch-off' spray to the furniture -- but he's quite determined.

Enter the present: scheduled declawing for Thursday afternoon. He'll have to go in by Wednesday night, so the timeframe for salvation is rather tight. Does anyone have any failproof ideas for a method of some sort that would keep him off the couches? A new spray whatever? Thanks in advance.


BTW, he loves the outdoors. So eliminating his primary form of defense would really limit his normal recreation, and probably just end up turning him into a mopey indoor version of his former self.

See below for furball:
mao

 

[Jhill]

Buy a few pit bulls and put them on the coaches.

 

[Deeko]

Declawed cats are PERFECTLY happy.

 

[bctbct]

Are you doing all 4 paws? Cats can still fight with the hind claws so I think he will be okay outside.

You could try nail caps, if anyone has experience with those I would be interested to hear. I have a cat that has a medical condition and cant be declawed for the time being but has really taken to clawing also.

 

[SmoochyTX]

You can't train a cat in a week. Just get it declawed.

 

[spidey07]

Spray bottle and catch him in the act. If he goes outdoors and roams then you really shouldn't declaw him. And before the thread goes there all my cats are declawed, I hated to do it buy had to.

If he's determined to climb furniture there isn't much you can do other than corrective action - train him to not climb furniture. He looks like still a kitten so teach him now when he's young.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

They say bitter apple spray will deter cats from clawing things. I'd try that. Honestly (and I hate to sound like a bleeding heart), I consider declawing cruel and I wouldn't do it to any cat of mine.

 

[BrownTown]

Personally I would n ever declaw a cat, but your property your decision and all.

 

[Shadowknight]

Declawing is like cutting off the fingers above the knuckle of a human. It's better if you give him away to someone who WON'T basically cut his fingers off.

 

[PingSpike]

Give the nail caps a try...I don't know of any other alternative. Our cats were pretty quick at taking them off, but I've heard other people have great success. If you can keep on top of replacing the ones that fall off, its not to hard to put them on except for the first time. (Hard to get the cat to hold still for 5 claws per paw). The cat can still damage stuff with its hind claws, but those claws are rarely very sharp. And you could cap the hind claws as well if you were feeling like you need more punishment.

 

[Canai]

Trim the claws like a responsible pet owner?

Declawing is maiming. Once a cat loses it's main weapons, it'll start to bite more.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Deeko
Declawed cats are PERFECTLY happy.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Let him live outside. We feed an alley cat and it spends all night fighting other cats. Our cat wins =)

 

[308nato]

Declaw the front and leave the back claws....that way they can still defend themselves and it tends to cut down on the destruction. If he still keeps it up then get the back ones taken off to.

 

[Pacfanweb]

I have a declawed cat I got from the pound. He was an older adult cat...had never been outside. He's been going outside for about 6 years now and loves it. No problems at all.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Declawing is like cutting off the fingers above the knuckle of a human. It's better if you give him away to someone who WON'T basically cut his fingers off.

cept its not. declawed cats don't hobble around, they go around like normal cats, just without claws.
don't listen to the fud pushers. they've been brainwashed into being selectively outraged about one thing for some reason.
if you want the cat to have all its rights how about not taking away its reproductive rights for instance
losing your claws is hardly a big price to pay for warm shelter, care and good food for life.

 

[Canai]

am I the only person who takes care of their cat's claws instead of just lopping off the tips of their toes?

 

[Pepsei]

try nail caps..

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Declawing is like cutting off the fingers above the knuckle of a human. It's better if you give him away to someone who WON'T basically cut his fingers off.

No, it isn't. My mom always had cats when I was growing up (3 right now), all front declawed. They aren't hobbled or crippled, they are perfectly happy. They don't bite more, they aren't depressed, they don't try to climb things only to fall off or any of that. Cats are stupid. They don't even remember the claws were there. They go through some of the same motions - acting like they're scratching on furniture for instance - but otherwise they're perfectly fine.

 

[RapidSnail]

Originally posted by: Don Vito Corleone
They say bitter apple spray will deter cats from clawing things. I'd try that. Honestly (and I hate to sound like a bleeding heart), I consider declawing cruel and I wouldn't do it to any cat of mine.

Yet you have no issue severing the head of a horse and leaving it in my bed. :roll:

 

[RapidSnail]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Declawing is like cutting off the fingers above the knuckle of a human. It's better if you give him away to someone who WON'T basically cut his fingers off.

Wouldn't it be more like removing the finger and toe nails of a human?

Text

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Canai
Trim the claws like a responsible pet owner?

Declawing is maiming. Once a cat loses it's main weapons, it'll start to bite more.

I've lived with 5 cats in my life. One was not declawed - she was a rescue from a household where she was really abused. She was several years old, and we figured that was too old. She did love to attack furniture, and was too nutty to take to training. She'd been locked in a small room for most of her life, fed rarely, and her litter box was changed about every 2 months. We gave her two baths when we got her, and she didn't seem to mind a bit.
Fortunately it was just the one corner of one chair that she went after. It wasn't stylish, but our solution was to tape thick plastic sheeting over that corner.
We'd tried a scratching post, but I guess it didn't smell right or something, she tried it out once but didn't seem to like it.
And yes, we did keep her claws trimmed. Dull claws can do a lot of damaged when they're attached to a determined cat with boundless energy.

I had three other cats though, all declawed in the front. The first was Harry, he died at age 17 - euthanized, as he had developed a large tumor on his back leg, and he was already in deteriorating health otherwise due to age. He could still climb trees when he got out.
He was a perfect gentleman, too. We had a kitten, Rosy, for a short time - she jumped up on the kitchen table, which we do not allow. Harry lept up, grabbed her, hopped back to the floor, and set her down. She never went up there again. If I remember right, she was hit by a car (this was when I was very young).
He was very tolerant, too. He was a few years old when I was born. Once I could walk with some stability, I would pick him up, sling him over my shoulder, and walk around with him. He just hung there, riding along patiently without any protest.

Scotty and Beverly were siblings. Scotty died last year of some brain-related problem. My mom thinks he had a stroke a few months before he died, as he started acting really weird one day, and Beverly suddenly didn't want to have anything to do with him. Then he had a seizure, and seemed to forget where he lived. He went room to room, like he'd never seen the house before. The seizures got worse, and we didn't have the money for any kind of surgery. We tried phenabarb, an old anti-seizure med. Higher doses just about sedated him completely unconscious, and lower doses didn't stop the seizures. After about a week of the seizures, he died in his sleep, about age 15.
His defenses didn't seem significantly hindered. A collie got into our yard, and was chasing Scotty around, back when we let the cats out (that stopped several years ago). He bolted up to the sliding glass door in the back, swiped frantically at the glass for us to let him in, but the collie came up the deck, too. Scotty just dove right off the deck to the ground about 11 feet below. The dog pursued, and they went into some brush between our lot and the next one.
Result: Scotty came back with one small cut. The collie needed stitches on a lightly shredded ear. The owners finally installed an electric fence to keep their dogs contained.

Beverly is still around, and still quite active. Biting? No. Neither cat ever bit us. They'd fake it sometimes - just put their teeth on my fingers, but never any pressure. They rarely even raised a paw at me in play, either Scotty or Beverly. Beverly's even wary of stepping on people.

Declawed cats might bite more - if they are allowed in situations where they need to fight. Keep them inside, treat them well, and they shouldn't ever have to raise a paw, or take a nip, out of anger or self-defense.

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
cept its not. declawed cats don't hobble around, they go around like normal cats, just without claws.
don't listen to the fud pushers. they've been brainwashed into being selectively outraged about one thing for some reason.
if you want the cat to have all its rights how about not taking away its reproductive rights for instance
losing your claws is hardly a big price to pay for warm shelter, care and good food for life.

My thoughts, too. Our pets have access to medical science and nutritional science that is eons ahead of anything they could imagine. They basically have a life free of any worries. They get attention, they have a climate-controlled shelter, they have companions, they have nutritious, tasty food. The cost: Claws and libido. Seems like a damn fine deal to me.

 

[UberNeuman]

Have you tried gloves?

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: RapidSnail

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Declawing is like cutting off the fingers above the knuckle of a human. It's better if you give him away to someone who WON'T basically cut his fingers off.

Wouldn't it be more like removing the finger and toe nails of a human?

Text

http://www.declawing.com/

Not even close

The following is a list of countries in which declawing cats is either illegal
or considered extremely inhumane and only performed under
extreme circumstances.

England
Scotland
Wales
Italy
France
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
Norway
Sweden
Netherlands
Northern Ireland
Ireland
Denmark
Finland
Slovenia
Portugal
Belgium
Brazil
Australia
New Zealand
Yugoslavia
Japan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onychectomy

Look under legal status. Declawing is bad. Anyone who has their cats declawed to prevent them from scratching is an idiot and a lazy fool. Trimming the claws once a week is all that is required.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: RapidSnail

Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Declawing is like cutting off the fingers above the knuckle of a human. It's better if you give him away to someone who WON'T basically cut his fingers off.

Wouldn't it be more like removing the finger and toe nails of a human?

Text

http://www.declawing.com/

Not even close

*whoop* *whoop*
FUD alert! FUD alert!
*whoop* *whoop*

Just because it's on the intarweb doesn't make it true.