Cat scratches baby - get soft paws?

My cat isn't very sensible with her claws. She scratches me by accident all the time. It's not that she's mean, she's just a little... scratchy, what can I say? Anyway, I have a three month old baby and she's scratched him a couple of times, even though I don't leave them together and try to keep an eye on them. I was thinking I might try and get those soft paws. Would they work? Also, I have a dog and they like to wrestle with each other, which is all well and good, but sometimes when the dog goes a little too far, she lets him know by scratching him and the play stops and they take a break. It hardly ever happens. They usually just mouth each other, but anyway, should I worry about her defending herself against the dog? He's never actually hurt her... what do you think?

I'd trim the cat's nails, then get Soft Paws.

You've got to clip the nails before putting on soft paws anyways...But, Yes, I think it would be an excellent idea. We used soft-paws to help the introduction of Mushi to Kipper, because Mushi was so much more smaller, and Kipper is a Raptor when it comes to his claws.
I LOOOVED them. Although...Kipper would'nt let me clip his nails for nothing, so I ended up taking him to the groomer so they did it for me, and put the soft-paws on too. It only took them 5 minutes to do something that would have took me an hour to do.
Good luck, I recommend Soft-Paws.

You didn't really say what the circumstances were when the cat scratched the baby. Whatever they were, that situation needs to to be avoided because a cat could really hurt a baby that tiny.

I think a better path is to somehow get the scratching to stop or for family members to avoid putting themselves in a situation where they could be scratched. I have two young kids and I know at 3 months I would have been very nervous about my cat being near the baby if this happened. Softpaws may work but do you want to have to commit to using them every 6-7 weeks for the rest of your cat's life?

She jumped into his carseat and then jumped out again. I don't know why.

Originally Posted by meow meow

You didn't really say what the circumstances were when the cat scratched the baby. Whatever they were, that situation needs to to be avoided because a cat could really hurt a baby that tiny.

I think a better path is to somehow get the scratching to stop or for family members to avoid putting themselves in a situation where they could be scratched. I have two young kids and I know at 3 months I would have been very nervous about my cat being near the baby if this happened. Softpaws may work but do you want to have to commit to using them every 6-7 weeks for the rest of your cat's life?

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6-7 weeks is a long time. It's not like your putting new ones on every day, or even once a week. Don't worry about that...

We kept soft-paws on Kipper for a while. No problems..
Your cat will gain respect for your baby after a while. I swear cats and little toddlers/kids speak the same language. Just the "at home" cat though, because they are always together, spending hours a day with them close to the thier hieght on the floor.

After a while (especially with soft-paws), your cat will just learn to keep claws AWAY from baby. Baby is special person in the family, and so is kitty. They keep that respect going for each other.

Definitely clip those claws. If she's hurting you accidentally, they're too long... she should have them withdrawn unless she's climbing, jumping, pouncing, or scratching, and if they're sheathed but still poking and scratching folk, they're too long. Does she use her scratching post regularly?

What she did sounds like an accident--non-agressive. I agree that shielding the claws is the best idea for now. Later on, baby will be old enough to push the cat away if she's being "scratchy".

I highly recommend soft paws for this situation. I would have loved to have had em before, but back when my last cat was declawed they were not known much if they existed. I bought them today for Kirra (look at petco for the clerance x-mas ones, i got red/green for 5 bucks as opposed to 21 bucks for clear) i take a med that makes my skin easy to cut/bruise and kirra's nails tear into me (easy like a baby's skin) now she has them on, it took 5 mins to do the front and 10 to do the back(hub helped hold her) and i dont even notice her claws now at all. Here is her's. I would try soft paws for baby saftey , every 6-7 weeks is worth it in my eyes.

Thanks for the advice! I'll get those softpaws and trim her nails, too. Do I need a special cat nail trimmer or can I use my dog's?

I will not ever go without the soft claws and we've just put them on our kits!!I used baby nail clippers,as I don't have cat nail clippers.

Softpaws may work but do you want to have to commit to using them every 6-7 weeks for the rest of your cat's life?

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It is more humane to use them than it is to declaw them and it doesn't cause lasting effects.