Help.. thinking of getting Neka declawed and I don't want to, but don't know what else to do... - Page 2

Interesting though, JTbo, but it is not only moms who are taking by scruff ("neck").  Revire holders who do want to teach who is the master cat here are also doing this...  :)

so I dont think so, but - the though is well worth to proceed to think about.

What I have observed from my three young ones, there is one at cat bed, other that comes to cat bed is grabbing from the scruff of one that is already in bed, anyone can do that to anyone and after bit of that they cuddle happily together. I know also that it is also used teaching who is master cat and also as you mention mother cats use it, I think mostly move kittens around, there might be other ones too.

So as there are variety of uses, what is then telling the cat which kind of scruff grab it is, is it sheer force used or events after/before grabbing? That is something I have not yet found out actually.

Also is this cat biting hair comparable to what I have observed with my little ones doing when one is at cat bed and other comes there?

Maybe moving cat will work just fine and when cat is trying to get back to unwanted action one thing I have learned to work is put one finger top of cats head and gently push down, my three seem to understand that to as stay put, has been much easier than trying to keep cat on place when cat does not understand why movements of his/hers are being restricted by human hands.

Cats are however quite intelligent and they figure out quite quickly why, when they are kept moved away constantly after some action.

I would first attempt to trim your kitty's claws before you resort to declawing.    Chacho isn't the easiest to trim nails on but if I catch him when he's sleeping or in a snuggly mood its a lot easier.

 

If you do resort to declaw I would find a vet that does the laser declaw and just have the front delawed only.    The laser procedure is alot safer and gentler on the cat and usually doesn't have the lengthy recovering time afterwards.   I would not get the oldschool surgical declaw procedure. Its cruel and very very painful for the cat and can often result in lasting emotional damage.  My family had a cat (this was before the laser procedure) but we got her front claws declawed. It was done at our own vet which we had a very great relationship but for some reason her recovery after surgery was horrible. Her paws kept bleeding and she could walk for almost 2 months and she became very mean and hostile especially towards our other cats. She also ended up gaining a bunch of weight and became pretty obese.  We never declawed another cat after that. We didn't want to see another beloved pet go through what Toonsit went through.

My Grandma Freeman got her cat, Mitzi delawed after she adopted her.  She had the Laser procedure done. Her cat had pretty much no recovery time after it was done. There was no bandages, no bleeding, and unless Mitzi got too crazy running around, it seemed like she wasn't in very much, if any, pain.  Mitzi is a mean cat...but she was mean before the surgery so it wasn't the laser delaw that made her cranky lol.

 

Still despite laser declawing being much better thanthe surgical way, it should always but the very very last option.  I would try everything else before turning to declaw.

With letting out a loud OUCH or NO, you may scare her and cause her to do more damage to you than she would.  That has been my experience.  My thing is just to put them down or turn away from them when they are getting too clawsy with me.