Cat declaw or not?

[gorillahung]

I posted about my new kitty. I'm facing a big decision on whether to have her declawed. I know it sucks for the cat and I honestly would feel guilty but then there's the practical reasons to do it. I have a new leather couch that she scratches and she keeps climbing my legs, LOL. Seriously, should I have her declawed or not?

 

[AFeedz]

Why don't you go read your other thread about your cat and see what we said.

Getting your cat declawed is fucked up.

 

[musclemom]

Absolutely Not!!!

Okay, I'm breathing ... look, I've got SIX cats, they all have their claws. I have two scratching posts in the house (Top Cat brand, see the other thread). Scratching up the furniture or people is not an issue, they use the posts. I do have a few that are constantly getting themselves caught up on the comforter on the bed, my husband and I trim their front claws once in a while, takes us all of five minutes.

Just read this article, DECLAWING: What You Need to Know it's not that long, follow the links in the article, educate yourself. Declawing a cat is roughly equivalent to amputating the top joint of a human's fingers. Many cats use their claws to pick up things, some simply enjoy giving themselves manicures, I've seen cats overshoot a jump and the only thing that saved their lives was their claws hooking onto something.

You declaw a cat, you run the risk of it becoming traumatized. The biggest thing is you've now removed their primary defense mechanisms. A declawed cat's go-to maneuver to protect itself is biting. Virtually ALL declawed cats that end up in shelters are euthanized because they are very difficult to adopt. Your cat may come out of surgery just fine, but more than 1/3 of all cats that are declawed recover from the surgery screwed up somehow, they get twitchy, they stop using the litterpan predictably, they become withdrawn, they become aggressive. You have no guarantees.

Just get the damned scratching post I recommend, get the one with the sisal base: Sisal Cat Scratching Post by TopCat Products

Get a pair of claw clippers that look like this and start trimming the kitten's claw tips:

You'll have no problem. Here's instructions on how to trim cat claws: How To Trim Your Cat's Claws - Including Photos | Cat Care Articles

The article I chose has the best close up photos of what you want to trim off and what you want to avoid. I personally don't care for human cuticle trimmers because they can crush the claw, I bought a pair of the small scissors I have pictured above and use them ONLY for trimming claws, I've had them for years. You really don't need to trim claws more than once a month and there is no reason to trim rear claws.

Your best bet is a good scratching post (cats have an instinctive need to scratch and even declawed ones will peform scratch behaviors, the key is to redirect their instinctive behavior in acceptable manners) and once monthly front claw trimming sessions. You have a pet, you need to care for it, with dogs you need to groom, bathe, clean ears, clip claws, maybe even drain anal glands. With cats its just grooming and maybe claws (if their ears are dirty there's something going on, and they take care of their own anus).

 

[smurf2]

Basically No.
Its brutal.
Get plenty of scratching posts.
The end.

 

[WoodyO]

I say do it.

 

[gatemoney]

Absolutely Not!!!

Okay, I'm breathing ... look, I've got SIX cats, they all have their claws. I have two scratching posts in the house (Top Cat brand, see the other thread). Scratching up the furniture or people is not an issue, they use the posts. I do have a few that are constantly getting themselves caught up on the comforter on the bed, my husband and I trim their front claws once in a while, takes us all of five minutes.

Just read this article, DECLAWING: What You Need to Know it's not that long, follow the links in the article, educate yourself. Declawing a cat is roughly equivalent to amputating the top joint of a human's fingers. Many cats use their claws to pick up things, some simply enjoy giving themselves manicures, I've seen cats overshoot a jump and the only thing that saved their lives was their claws hooking onto something.

You declaw a cat, you run the risk of it becoming traumatized. The biggest thing is you've now removed their primary defense mechanisms. A declawed cat's go-to maneuver to protect itself is biting. Virtually ALL declawed cats that end up in shelters are euthanized because they are very difficult to adopt. Your cat may come out of surgery just fine, but more than 1/3 of all cats that are declawed recover from the surgery screwed up somehow, they get twitchy, they stop using the litterpan predictably, they become withdrawn, they become aggressive. You have no guarantees.

Just get the damned scratching post I recommend, get the one with the sisal base: Sisal Cat Scratching Post by TopCat Products

Get a pair of claw clippers that look like this and start trimming the kitten's claw tips:
http://video.zootoo.com/prod/147000/thumbs175/prod_147623.jpg

You'll have no problem. Here's instructions on how to trim cat claws: How To Trim Your Cat's Claws - Including Photos | Cat Care Articles

The article I chose has the best close up photos of what you want to trim off and what you want to avoid. I personally don't care for human cuticle trimmers because they can crush the claw, I bought a pair of the small scissors I have pictured above and use them ONLY for trimming claws, I've had them for years. You really don't need to trim claws more than once a month and there is no reason to trim rear claws.

Your best bet is a good scratching post (cats have an instinctive need to scratch and even declawed ones will peform scratch behaviors, the key is to redirect their instinctive behavior in acceptable manners) and once monthly front claw trimming sessions. You have a pet, you need to care for it, with dogs you need to groom, bathe, clean ears, clip claws, maybe even drain anal glands. With cats its just grooming and maybe claws (if their ears are dirty there's something going on, and they take care of their own anus).

holy shit@ 6 cats

 

[wootoom]

Where is jenscat

 

[gatemoney]

Where is mootoow?

 

[smurf2]

Where is jenscat

Yeah wtf!

 

[buddhabuilder]

Just get a nail clipper, scratch its belly while you clip away, the cat will be happy, your furniture intact.

 

[mistaballoonhands]

Where is mootoow?

woot fucking banned me! Errr him....


Free mootoow!

 

[wootoom]

woot fucking banned me! Errr him....


Free mootoow!

Lololololol

 

[miplank]

I'm telling

 

[wootoom]

Can I tell?

 

[pdaddyII]

I'm harder than a fucking scratching post right now

 

[musclemom]

holy shit@ 6 cats

Eh, six isn't so many in a two story three bedroom house and I have all females who are fed right, the largest is maybe 13 lbs., most of them are around 9 lbs. at the most (so basically, altogether they aren't even as large as one average medium sized dog). Plus, they don't like each other very much, it's rare to have more than a couple in one room at any given time.

 

[pdaddyII]

Eh, six isn't so many in a two story three bedroom house and I have all females who are fed right, the largest is maybe 13 lbs., most of them are around 9 lbs. at the most (so basically, altogether they aren't even as large as one average medium sized dog). Plus, they don't like each other very much, it's rare to have more than a couple in one room at any given time.

My biggest complaint while I had my cats was how one minute they would be playing around in their liter box and the next prancing around my kitchen counter. I know they say they are clean but that just doesn't seem sanitary. I also HATED having to clean out the liter box every single god dammed day or else the house would smell. I can't even imagine how many times a day you're scooping liter. My cats destroyed twice the amount of stuff any puppy I've ever had. ANYTHING that was free standing in a horizontal position they would knock over and break, I couldn't open my windows because they would scale my screens and wind up tearing them. Despite having a spotless liter box they would still piss behind the furniture. It was impossible to trim their nails. They would get so angry they would shit all over me while tearing my arms to shreds. One of them clawed my 4 yr old daughter in the face causing her to bleed luckily not scarred. Both of these cats were rescues. The one that flawed my daughter I had put down and the other one ran away and eventually run over by a car. Maybe I just got a couple of bad cats but it was sure enough to not want to own another one.

 

[wootoom]

My biggest complaint while I had my cats was how one minute they would be playing around in their liter box and the next prancing around my kitchen counter. I know they say they are clean but that just doesn't seem sanitary. I also HATED having to clean out the liter box every single god dammed day or else the house would smell. I can't even imagine how many times a day you're scooping liter. My cats destroyed twice the amount of stuff any puppy I've ever had. ANYTHING that was free standing in a horizontal position they would knock over and break, I couldn't open my windows because they would scale my screens and wind up tearing them. Despite having a spotless liter box they would still piss behind the furniture. It was impossible to trim their nails. They would get so angry they would shit all over me while tearing my arms to shreds. One of them clawed my 4 yr old daughter in the face causing her to bleed luckily not scarred. Both of these cats were rescues. The one that flawed my daughter I had put down and the other one ran away and eventually run over by a car. Maybe I just got a couple of bad cats but it was sure enough to not want to own another one.

Amazing story rob

 

[pdaddyII]

Amazing story rob

Thanks bro!

 

[musclemom]

I don't know how old your cats were, how much of a shit you gave about trying to teach them appropriate behavior, how much you perceived was inappropriate behavior vs. shit that pissed you off that was natural cat behavior ... and if you can't clip a cat's claws then you're probably not very cat savvy.

I have one litter pan per cat, the pans are scooped every other day. As for smelling like cats People that own dogs you can smell "dog smell" in their house so it is what it is. As for scratching your kid, it happens. My kid got the shit scratched out of him when he mistreated a cat when he was little. He came crying to me, I asked him if he was doing something I'd told him not to, he said yes, I said then you rated the scratch, I told you not to do that. I grew up around horses and big dogs and the fact of life is combine kids and animals, you're going to see blood sooner or later -- farmers have known it for centuries. Part of the reason why our children grow up so inconsiderate anymore is because they aren't confronted by the brutal justice/reality check of nature daily.

Look, don't take what I'm saying as judging, because there is no way I'm capable of making a judgement based on the information provided, all I'm saying is its possible part of what pissed you off about your cats was them just being cats, the rest sounds like they might have been young, under-exercised, over exuberant and a little ignorant (as in you didn't give them ground rules, they were too young to learn the rules).

My cats don't climb the window screens, they do jump up on the counters but cats are VERTICAL creatures, it's their nature to seek height anytime. Frankly, I'm not all that hung up on dirt, I wipe a counter before I use it, problem solved. Yes, they knock shit over, which is why I don't have anything in a position they CAN knock over. I like my cats and could give a fuck how my house looks I've had cats grumble and growl at me when I'm trimming their claws, but not shit on me -- you must have been one pissed off motherfucker when you were handling that cat and it was freaked out, shitting is basically a fear response.

You had a negative experience but if that was the first time you owned cats it's not fair to go around telling everyone cats are assholes, that's all I'm saying.

 

[Mr. dB]

I posted about my new kitty. I'm facing a big decision on whether to have her declawed. I know it sucks for the cat and I honestly would feel guilty but then there's the practical reasons to do it. I have a new leather couch that she scratches and she keeps climbing my legs, LOL. Seriously, should I have her declawed or not?

It's cruel. Declawing a cat is the anatomical equivalent of amputating a human's fingers at the first knuckle.

 

[Fitguy308]

Just declaw the god damn thing and get on with your life it's like cropping a Great Danes ears its just something you do it's not cruel it doesn't hurt and they get over it

 

[Fitguy308]

It's cruel. Declawing a cat is the anatomical equivalent of amputating a human's fingers at the first knuckle.

It's not the same thing in reality

 

[Mr. dB]

It's not the same thing in reality

Yes it is you ignoramus. Exactly the same. They clip it off at the first joint, that's the only way to keep them from growing back. Vets in most civilized countries refuse to perform the declawing procedure.

 

[Fitguy308]

Yes it is you ignoramus. Exactly the same. They clip it off at the first joint, that's the only way to keep them from growing back. Vets in most civilized countries refuse to perform the declawing procedure.

il take nice furniture over a cat with all it "fingers"

 

[WoodyO]

il take nice furniture over a cat with all it "fingers"

I'm willing to bet you have neither.

 

[AFeedz]

il take nice furniture over a cat with all it "fingers"

Wow, you're a terrible human being.

 

[Mr. dB]

Wow, you're a terrible human being.

Indeed.

Kittens usually grow out of the "clawing everything" phase on their own, and it can help to give them something else to claw. My cats have preferred those cardboard clawing strips:

 

[javaguru]

Yes it is you ignoramus. Exactly the same. They clip it off at the first joint, that's the only way to keep them from growing back. Vets in most civilized countries refuse to perform the declawing procedure.

This

It isn't a humane procedure for cats, they rely on those claws.

However, I'm not against giving kitty a dose of water from the spray bottle when they jump on the counter; Give them something to claw and spray them when they go after furniture; they learn quickly.

 

[muscleaddiction]

I posted about my new kitty. I'm facing a big decision on whether to have her declawed. I know it sucks for the cat and I honestly would feel guilty but then there's the practical reasons to do it. I have a new leather couch that she scratches and she keeps climbing my legs, LOL. Seriously, should I have her declawed or not?

No...give them the tools and training to claw the right things, it is inhumane and selfish IMO.

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