People think I'm crazy for not declawing!

Even though I have always had declawed cats since I was a child, I made the decision to not declaw my new kitten several months ago. I was worried about him having problems later in life. Although most of my cats have never had any issues after being declawed, I did have a declawed cat that developed arthritis and what the vet called "drop foot" later in life and a cancerous tumor on his "ankle" area that eventually took his life (had to put him down at age 19). The vet told me that none of his issues were caused by the declawing, and she encouraged me to get my new kitten declawed at the same time that he was neutered. After much thought, I declined, but I wonder now if I made the right decision. A lot of my family members are making me doubt my decision and telling me how much I am going to regret it later. Every time my parents come over, they keep asking me when I am going to get him declawed and why I haven't already. My sister asks me the same thing, but she doesn't really count because she just gave away her two declawed cats because they kept peeing on her bed, piles of laundry, a chair, etc. I found out that they have already been given away by the person that she gave them to for doing the same thing. My sister's friend that happens to be a vet has always had her own cats declawed as well, which I have heard about MANY times, so that gives me more room for doubt.

My kitten does use his scratching post, but he has started scratching some of the furniture as well. I have not told my family this! He is now bigger than my four year old female cat, and he does jump on her a lot and tackle her. He is always playing when he does this, and he spends the rest of the time cuddling with her while she grooms him, but I fear that she could be injured during rough play. She does not seem to be hurt or in distress when he does this, but I worry about him hurting her as he gets older. The adult cat is declawed, by the way. I have brought all of this up on a previous thread, and I was feeling fairly confident about my decision to not declaw at that time. However, a few months later, some of the things I was worried about happening have come to fruition. Does anyone have advice about what to say to my nosy family members or how to manage in a household with one declawed and one clawed cat? Did I make the wrong decision to not declaw or should I stop worrying about it?


***I apologize if I posted in the wrong forum. I was not sure where this topic would best fit.

Honey, you are not crazy. I have never declawed any of my cats, and they are strictly indoors where they do scratch up furniture. I live with two older, declawed cats and my babies have never hurt them, no matter how rough they play. In my opinion (and only my opinion), I believe it is more harmful to get a cat declawed because there can be some problems (ie: not able to defend themselves if attacked, litter box issues, paw sensitivity.) They also use their claws for grooming. You might have a few accidents when clawed kitty might get too rough, but my babies have been around the older cats since they were born and they are now seven months, and there have been no serious injuries. Just encourage him to use the scratching post (maybe buy another one?) or in my case, I also let the brats use an old bed as something to scratch on. 

De-clawing him will not help with the bullying . Young males just seem to love picking on older females. Even if he does end up scratching her (keep his nails trimmed to help prevent this), it's just not really a big deal to cats. They don't fight each other with their front claws---any front-claw damage is incidental. Cats fight each other with their back claws and teeth. Front claws are for climbing. And, oh, walking on and all that :tongue2:. He would be just as capable of hurting her without his front claws.

One good thing to do when people tell you that you should de-claw your cat is to ask them when they're going to have their dog's teeth removed (if they have a dog). They're normally horrified by the thought, even though puppies frequently ruin furniture and bite people. Tell them that removing a dog's teeth would actually be MORE humane than removing a cat's claws. Ask them if they had foot surgery, removing half of each toe, would they want to dig in a box of sand/rocks after surgery? Would they walk normally afterward?

As for scratching damage, be patient, and continue encouraging him to use his post. He will outgrow the naughtiness eventually. Just like a puppy who chews everything.

I know that in many areas (like here), vets push de-clawing hard. And people think it's a normal thing to do to a cat. This is one reason I think it should be made illegal, because without actual laws I don't think vets are going to willingly give up the money. But stand firm. Someday people will wonder why Americans ever put up with such a barbaric thing happening to our pets.

Give them a smile and thank them for their opinion. Sometimes it is just not worth arguing about.

Growing up all my cats were declawed as well. When I had my own cats declawed, I knew I did the wrong thing as soon as I saw them. I swore that I'd never do it again and my new cats are not declawed. Only one of them picked at my recliner for a while, but she stopped once she got older.

As far as if your kitten can hurt your older cat, if she has back claws and teeth she can also hurt him. t sounds like they get along just fine though.

Yeah, I think you made the right decision.

It's quite amusing how attitudes can change from country to country. I was out walking with my cat and a couple of nice folk from Boston stopped to say hello to my cat. They asked why he wasn't declawed and when I explained that it's pretty much illegal here they were shocked and couldn't understand it.  Asked me why I didn't want to protect my furniture and that everyone in the USA declaws their cats for that reason.  I would have a hard time getting anyone to declaw the cat and would be seen as an awful person and here you are the other way around!

Anyway, I have never had an issue with my cat scratching any furniture. I can't take credit as I adopted him aged 5, so it's down to the previous owner. We do have plenty of scratching things tho! I have one large tree, one large post and several of those cardboard scratching boards/houses in different rooms. He did scratch the carpet for a couple of weeks but I realised only outside the room he likes to sleep in.  I noticed he likes to scratch whenever he wakes up so I placed one of those cardboard scratchers outside the door and he's not touched the carpet since.  He loves those cardboard things, loves to sleep on them and get carried around on them (like Lord Muck!) so they really are worth every penny in our house. 

I think it's great that you're sticking to your guns. It's just their opinion and it doesn't make them right or your opinion any less important. If you're fed up with hearing it, just tell them outright once that you are not going to declaw the cat and then ignore further conversations about it from them. It can be dull hearing the same old and please don't let them doubt yourself. You're doing the right thing!

We have had six cats and never de-clawed any of them    I had never even heard of anybody doing this maybe its an 'american' thing, it just sounds so cruel.  If you can teach your cat to use their scratch posts when they are young it should not be so much of a problem with clawing the furniture etc, none of our cats have  been guilty of this. This is just my opinion of course  well done for not de-clawing.

I have never declawed any of my cats. All learned at an early age to use scratching posts. The one cat I do have that is declawed(she was a rescue) has behavioral problems like crazy. Also she uses her teeth a lot more because she doesn't have claws.

No declawing here, it's illegal, but read posts on this site with interest.  My furniture is not damaged, I clip my cats' claws reguarly, and when I had two cats they bit each other as much as they pawed and batted.  If they want to hurt they hurt, and like jentigercat says, there are a whole load of posts on TCS that say biting becomes a big problem so your other cat would probably have at least as hard a time. 

I'd go for the 'ignore your family' line, and if they keep pushing give them the realistic protrayals that Willowy suggests and ask how they could do that to any creature.  I'm sure your cat is the most important thing to you here, not other people being happy or criticizing the decisions you make.  Ask them if they want you not to be able to sleep at night because of the hurt you have caused your cat.

If your cat shows no interest in scratching posts but likes some types of furniture, have you tried different textures and positions of scratching furniture? Sometimes carpet is preferred to sizal, or flat / curved surfaces rather than upright posts.  Position can influence things too.  If you put sticky tape or something your cat doesn't like over the preferred scratching surface and leave an OK scratching item infront or close by then hopefully your cat will think about swapping over.  You can always hope. 

He does use his scratching post, which has an upright sisal post, with a feather dangling from it to entice him, and a carpeted area at the bottom. I guess he just gets bored sometimes and wants something else to scratch on. My declawed cat loves to "scratch" on the carpeted portion. The kitten usually stretches and scratches at the same time after he gets up from a nap. The scratching post is beside one of my recliners (which he sometimes scratches as well). There have been a few times that I have been sitting in the recliner and one of my legs has been used as the scratching post! Maybe my legs look like scratching posts because I have not shaved in a few days. It does hurt, even though it is a little funny. He yawns and purrs while he does it.

Anyway, I have found a cat tower with several different scratching surfaces on it that I would like to buy, and I would like to know what you guys think of it. It is only four feet tall, but hopefully that is tall enough. I cannot tell how sturdy it is from the picture. It looks like it could be entertaining for both the cat and the kitten, and it does seem to be reasonably priced. A lot of cat towers that I have looked at are $100 or more. I could not figure out how to link to the picture directly, but this is the website: http://www.lakeside.com. If you search for "cat tower" on the website, the picture should come up. Let me know what you think! I really could use something to keep his claws busy, and I think my adult cat would like the higher perch as an escape.

Dear you are doing right by your cat not seclawing him. Parents, like mine, tend to think of the the furniture and the way it looks and the costs and all that... but at the end of the day, what kind of care takers would we be if we take an entire joint out of the kitten's palm. It is an abise of their rights and wellbeing.

I have lived with a cat thag ruined the arms of all the sofas (which is fine by me but not by my parents) and she continues to give me scratches... but I still tolerate her, because that's what we cat people do. I found that having a small rug...just a regular rug, laying next to the furniture like it is part of the living room helped...
And for the rough playing, just make sure you cut or tri his nails omce a week amd get him used to it. So no harm will be done.

Every cat has hrr or his own way...you just need to go around that...

Good luck

Had a quick look at that cat tower:  it looks quite good fun with the tunnel and platforms, and quite good height but I'd want to look at attaching it to a wall or something to stop it tipping.  It's similar in height to the one I've got and my boy managed to tip it over pretty quickly when he was only about 6 months old by leaping on the top platform. I have an anti - tip strap screwed to the tree and the window suround it stands next to and that keeps in safe.

Don't work in dollars here but it looks a good price to me. See what others think, and ideally maybe someone's tried it. 

Here is a site by a vet who is against declawing,  and has a lot of information on the site about what is involved in it,  as well as other ways of dealing with scratching.

http://www.declawing.com/

 I don't know if you will change any minds of people who are so set in their ways.   but maybe it will help you with some tips,  and may help reinforce your own beliefs that you are doing the right thing.

One way I look at it is that many humans who have had amputations say they experience pain  even years later.   So why would that not also be true for a cat?   but cats hide  their pain so we might never know.

And with a human it's usually one or two amputations ..  With a cat , even if it is "just" the front toes, it is TEN amputations.   TEN chances  to hurt.  

Also it DOES change their gait.  and that CAN lead to arthritis.

 If a vet is pushing declawing and saying there are no risks from it,  I wonder what they would say if you ask them to sign a contract that they will pay for future paw problems , and will take the cat and keep it in their home forever if it starts to pee on things or bite.  

I have had cats with claws all my life. It has never been an issue. I am not willing to damage my cat's health out of a mistaken perception of my personal convenience. You have seen some of the problems declawing can cause, and really, I think it's your relatives that don't get it. It causes so much suffering for the cat. I don't think it's ok to make another creature suffer over furniture.

My Pia kitty just needs a box or a plank of wood. For some reason, she doesn't care for store-bought scratching posts. But she sticks to that. I have never seen her scratch anything inappropriate for more than a second or two, while she's worked up and doing laps. She hasn't caused any furniture damage in the 6 months I've had her.

My departed cat, Pearl, sounds more like yours. She needed to have multiple scratching surfaces. You may find that if you place a post near the furniture he wants to scratch, he will switch to the post quite easily.

If she did not have multiple surfaces, she would scratch my furniture. But quite honestly? I really didn't care. It just isn't a big deal to me. I don't really understand why furniture is so important. I'd get around to getting more posts when I got around to it. I never cared very much if she loosened some threads on the couch.

Cats do understand they can hurt other creatures, and they do not have their claws fully extended during play. If your female kitty doesn't seem distressed by his play, it's not necessary to really do anything. Her fur, and his caution with his claws, will keep anything serious from happening.

None of my clawed cats have ever intentionally taken a swipe at me. However, I have been bitten once (I was trying to pill Pearl, before I knew she had hypertension, and she started having an attack and panicked).

Like someone else said, if he really wanted to hurt her, he'd use his teeth, not his front claws. Declawing won't help with that. In fact, it would very likely make it worse.

I actually had a Siamese cat that died last year at 15 years old that when I got him as a kitten we had declawed. When I brought him home, I was like gee why are his back toes hurting too and sure enough, they had declawed all four of his paws! I called them complaining and they were like ma'am we do not do all four paws. And I said well I have a cat here that proves otherwise. While it never did seem to bother him growing up he did have issues scratching himself and I felt terrible when he would jump up on something only to fall off cause he had no claws to grip. When I got my other Siamese cat about five years later I did not declaw him and with proper training he only scratches the post and nothing else. And he and my other cat never had any real problems except a few minor scratches to the head. Also my current boy is so easy to cut his nails. I just started really young and now all I do is flip him over on his belly in my lap and clip clip done

I'm sorry about your Siamese kitty. My kitten is supposedly a Siamese mix. I have a real phobia about clipping his nails myself. I am terrified that I will cut the quick while he is squirming. I have been having the vet do it, but I know that I need to start doing it myself to avoid unnecessary vet visits.


If get the cat tower, I do plan to attach it to something, if I can figure out how. My kitten is a master at tipping things over. He is a big guy--8 1/2 months old and 10 pounds--so maybe not so much a kitten anymore. He is slightly bigger than my adult cat and has enormous feet.


The weird thing about my father is that he actually IS an amputee, so he should understand more than anyone. I just don't think that he regards animals very highly and sees them as an inconvenience. I guess that I will have to start telling my family to mind their own business. I do have to tread lightly though, because my mother sometimes helps with vet expenses (not for the nail trimmings though--my super expensive vet usually gives me a break on those). I just found out tonight that my sister's two declawed cats that she gave away have been given away yet again by a third owner. I would try to take them myself if it were financially possible.


On a lighter note, my cat and kitten are on my bed. My kitten is lying on his back across the cat's front legs while she licks his belly. All four of his legs are sticking up straight in the air. I wish I knew how to add a video to my post. It is quite funny!

YEAH, DON'T DE-CLAW YER CAT; ITS NOT GOOD FOR THEM.I NEVER DO THAT TO MINE. JUST HAVE THE CLAWS CUT OR RILED BACK, SO THERE NOT TOO SHARP
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On an another thread, someone mentioned rubber claws that you can fix on your cat's claws. If yours is still a kitten, it is the right time to start getting him/her used to it. 

My kitties let me cut their claws in their sleep! it is so wonderful! 

Ask your relatives if they would mind if someone amputated all their fingers at the first knuckle.  Declawing is so misunderstood.  It is not just removing the claws but it is amputation of the toes.  Please DO NOT do it.  It is cruel.

 We've had 3 cats during our marriage which in December will be 40 years. All had claws. Not one of them had ever scratched the furniture, the carpet or the drapes after they had been trained. Cats are pretty easy to train. All 3 of our cats didn't like to use a vertical scratching post. They all liked to scratch horizontally so we trained them to use a horizontal scratcher made out of cardboard.

During the training period, if they scratched the carpet, I took them over to the horizontal cat scratchers, gently extended their claws, rubbed their claws across the cardboard and they all got the idea to scratch there and no place else. After each successful scratch on the cardboard, they all got a small piece of deli chicken or roast beef, depending on their preference as a treat. Eventually, the treat was done away with and this is how we trained all of our cats to use a horizontal cardboard scratcher.

Once the cardboard scratcher is used up, we buy another one usually from Petsmart.