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soft claws questions

post #1 of 12
5/25/09 at 10:09am
Thread Starter 
i am one of those who refuse to declaw. My furniture is paying the price. My cats do not scratch inside (Thank God!!) But I have leather furniture that they use as a launch pad and have scratched up. Has anyone tried those soft claws? I was thinking abut taking mine to the vet, having them groomed and allowing th vet to put them on as I am terrible at that kind of stuff.
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post #2 of 12
5/25/09 at 10:13am
I use soft paws with Jake. I live at my parents house and they are definitely not willing to give up their furtniture for Jake's sake, which I don't blame them for..I mean furtniture is expensive. But yea they took a lot getting used to but I'm happy to say that now after I put them on Jake no longer tries to bite them off!! They are extremely easy to put on, you probably don't need a vet tech to do it, it's not longer or more difficult than nail clipping IMO, but if your cat isn't used to that it might be a little hard.
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post #3 of 12
5/25/09 at 11:25am
Soft Paws are such a great invention! After asking above poster ut0pia a million questions about them (thanks!!), I decided to try them for my cat Genever. I'm more concerned about the carpet than the furniture since we rent...

When they came in the mail, my bf was out of town, and I thought it'd be a 2 person job to get them on her, but I was too anxious so tried it on my own, and she was SO GOOD through the whole process, which really didn't take very long. Less than 10 minutes I'd say, but she was so well behaved, so witha normal cat it might take longer. I did just the front claws, one paw's worth of claws at a time with a minute or 2 of a break in between, and of course used lots of treats and praise. When I was done, I totally expected Genever to freak out or try to chew them off, but she didn't! She didn't act like anything was different. Hooray!

So yes, i highly recommend them, and I wish you lots of luck!
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post #4 of 12
5/25/09 at 9:32pm
We had them on one of my moms cats and he managed to chew them off. I decided not to get my cat declawed I think that is just mean, I havent had to use them yet as she knows where and what she is allowed to claw. But when they did stay on my moms cat they did work good.
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post #5 of 12
5/27/09 at 6:18am
I used them for Lola for the last month and a half we rented. We had just adopted her, and were training her to scratch the "right" things. We were worried she'd destroy the carpet before we moved into our house. They worked for the short time we used them. She did figure out how to pull them off, so watch for that. She didn't like them on her toes. Even when she pulled a couple off, they still worked well enough that she couldn't damage anything.
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post #6 of 12
5/28/09 at 8:59pm
I used them on my cousin's kitten when he lived with my grandma. He's not so wild now, and lives at my parents' house, so I don't use them anymore. But they really are great. I hear they've been improved recently, to stay on better.
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post #7 of 12
5/31/09 at 5:14am
I just got mine today in the mail, and already applied on Lucky and Hope - I am debating if I am going to apply on Bugsy - probably so, but not 100% sure yet.
I needed to put it on Hope because she uses her claws a lot for anything she does - kneading, playing, eating, whatever! I have a lot of scratches from her, and so do the kitties.
Lucky I got because she scratches the carpet too much, and I rent, so I don't want to damage.
Bugsy is pretty good with his claws, scratching on the proper place, etc; he also uses his claws to climb the cat tree, instead of jumping... Since this is a great exercise, I am going to hold a little on him...
Anyway - VERY easy to put on... easier than clipping their nails - much easier than clipping the nails... I clipped their nails the day before, to not traumatize them too much, and today I applied the SC. Following the instruction, I filled all claws with glue at once, before starting to apply them. The whole process probably took a couple of minutes...
Very Very easy, and I LOVE not being scratched by little hope!

Hope doesn't even notice it at all! Lucky has been trying to take them off, but they are holding on pretty well... I think it is just the time for her to get used to them.
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post #8 of 12
6/18/09 at 9:18am
Great posts guys. I was debating whether or not to get soft claws / paws for my cat and this is what a UK forum had to say.

Quote:
Vets aren't gods. IMHO if cats possibly clawing furniture is a problem, then don't keep cats. I think that these are yet another vile idea from across the water where they cut kittens toes off, slice puppies ears, cut off tails, devoice dogs and parrots.
I have 12 cats and have to say that because they have loads of scratch posts, logs etc, they don't claw the furniture. Even when I had posh indoor pedigree Siamese show cats I wouldn't have dreamt of using these. Mine never wrecked my furniture anyway as I alsways had stuff for them to use to get the claw sheaths off, exactly what these things prevent.
Next thing we'll hear about are little rubber knickers to prevent them peeing in corners or making nasty smells in litter boxes.
There is a practice called 'training' whereby you stop your dog scratching or jumping up and if it scratches at doors then address the reason for it by not leaving the dog shut in a room for hours on end?
Cats can also be trained not to scratch furniture without sticking bits of plastic on them.I have 12 cats and my furniture isn't shredded. A water pistol and a dab of olbas oil on the part where they want to scratch is all it takes.


Ummm... thoughts?
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post #9 of 12
6/18/09 at 9:56am
From that post you quoted:
Quote:
Originally Posted by cattypolly View Post
Quote:
Mine never wrecked my furniture anyway as I alsways had stuff for them to use to get the claw sheaths off, exactly what these things prevent.
Well that's just not true. Soft Paws come off with the nail sheath when the cat sheds its claws, that's exactly why it's not cruel and why they come in packs of 40. They don't stick on forever like people fake nails do.

Heh, that said, 2 nights ago I decided to cut the tips of Genever's Soft Paws because at least half of them have been on for 2 months and are growing out too much. I guess my cat's a freak and doesn't shed her claws as often as most cats. Cutting the ends is supposed to break up the adhesive. Most of them fell off yesterday and I'm hoping the rest will in the next day or 2 so I can reapply.

Hooray for Soft Paws!!
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post #10 of 12
6/18/09 at 5:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cattypolly View Post
Great posts guys. I was debating whether or not to get soft claws / paws for my cat and this is what a UK forum had to say.



http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/other...cratching.html

Ummm... thoughts?
My opinion on that is that what works for one person does not always work for others and that is why we have a world full of safe, humane alternatives like Soft Paws.
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post #11 of 12
6/18/09 at 7:22pm
I don't use Soft Paws, because I've been blessed with cats who *mostly* scratch the cardboard scratchers we've placed in the house. Yes, they sometimes have a go at the couch or an area rug, but not often enough to do serious damage.

That said, I've seen friends' cats who really do wreck not only the furniture, but also the carpet, which is a problem for renters, as previous posters have noted. I've even seen posts here in which members say their cats have damaged their woodwork (there but for the grace of God...). In those cases, using something like Soft Paws makes perfect sense to me, and it beats the heck out of declawing or re-homing.
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post #12 of 12
6/26/09 at 11:24am
I used to use soft paws when I rented and they worked really well. I would put on 10 and have to replace 1-2 a week. If you keep up on them you won't even really use that many up. I also just used regular super glue instead of what they included. It helped them stick better and I didn't have to use that weird funnel thingie.
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