I'm so mad..

So we recently adopted a kitten, and I told mom I don't want her declawed, and I've been looking for scratching posts and soft claws.. and now all of a sudden she's all like, "There's nothing wrong with declawing.. Lucy and Sassy are declawed, and they're fine." I told her that Lu still doesn't like her paws touched, even though she was declawed years ago, and she's like, "Stinky's not declawed, and he doesn't like his touched." and I told her I've seen plenty of places online that were against declawing. Can you guys link to some of the TCS threads? I'm so mad right now.. I told her it's mean, and I'm not doing it to Clover (Sassy was declawed by previous owners, and Lucy was declawed when I was too little to really understand). I can't wait until I can have my own place and not have to worry about other people wanting to do things like that.

Just put "declawing" into Google and you'll get heaps of links. Try not to get angry with your mother, just ask her to sit down with you while you do the search so she can see that every top search says why declawing is bad for cats. Go to the graphic sites, so she can see what it's about.

Show your mum this link that we have in the health forum

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41954

Get hold of information (websites, threads on here) then sit your mum down and go through all the reasons against declawing calmly and rationally. Then explain what can be done to prevent inappropriate scratching. Hopefully when she understands what the procedure involves and why you're so against it she'll agree that declawing is not an option, and you can work together to ensure kitty doesn't scratch the furniture.

I agree with everyone!

Maybe it would also be a good idea to select information and threads about training cats to scratch the appropriate furniture. This will also let your Mum know that it can be successfully done!

Soft paws are a wonderful alternative. You are deffinitly on the right track there.

Ask your mom to let you try the soft paws for 6 months. Keep them up and let her see how much better it is for your kitty!

Deffinitly show her the sights about de-clawing and help to educate her.

Come from a space of love and education, and your mother will be more open, I am sure.



good luck, keep us informed

yarra has some a great option there. Ask her to give you 6 months. Show her all the links and threads about declawing too! Good luck getting her to change her mind!

My Dad basically compared declawing to Medievel torture tactics when I first got Luna and wasn't cat trained yet.
Just tell her if its inhuman to purposely remove a human's nails (and chopping off the tips of your fingers so they don't grow back) for vanity reasons, then why would it be OK for a cat?

I think the thing that scared me off 100% on the idea of declawing (I was never FOR it, btw) was seeing pictures of a declaw procedure.

Maybe you should show that to your mom. *shrug*

Thanks guys. I'll show her the link. I actually brought up the idea of soft paws when we were leaving PetSmart the other day, and she said she saw some, but she tried them a long time ago, and the cats just tried chewing them off. I'm thinking of going back today and seeing if I can get any.

And to be honest, I've never even seen pictures of declawing myself, but after hearing stories, I know I wouldn't want to have it happen to me. I'll e-mail her the link and tell her I'm going to see about getting some soft claws, and we'll see what she says.

Good luck! I hope everything works out for the best.

I made a deal with my mom when she got Chloe...I told her I wouldn't lecture her about feline nutrition if she promised she would NEVER declaw Chloe.

I use soft claws for my LuckyGirl, and we never have any problems. Perhaps your mom tried using them on a cat that was already used to not wearing them... with the kitten, it would be 2nd nature because it is still so small that it will be used to wearing them. And they do wear off, but not all at the same time. I'll notice that she'll be missing 1, so I do kitty mini-manicures to keep them updated. Here is a pic of her with her soft claws on:

Attachment 11521

I think you should do your research, then sit down and calmly talk to your mom like an adult. The $17 it costs for soft claws is way cheaper than declawing, and the pack I bought had 4 sets of 10 nails in it, I bought them in May....we're almost in August and I still have some red nails left, and 2 whole sets of blue nails, I think they last awhile. Oh, and she still tries to scratch her scratching mat even though it doesn't get worn down.... silly kitty, she doesn't even realize they're on! She does hate getting them done though.... she just doesn't like her paws touched too much. So I do one nail, then let her run around a bit, do another one, and so on... this way it's not so traumatic, and she doesn't have to sit for a long period of time. Good luck.