Declawing...some thoughts.

angelzoo

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Just out of curiosity. How many softpaws do they give you in a package. Because one of my cats is a poly. So that's 4 extra toes in front and 2 extra's in back. Would I have to buy 2 seperate sets for him?
 

pamela

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Hello! Couldn't figure out how to quote a comment so here is the comment I wanted to quote-How many softpaws do they give you in a package. Because one of my cats is a poly. So that's 4 extra toes in front and 2 extra's in back. Would I have to buy 2 seperate sets for him? I bought the softpaws in a pkg and I think there were about 20-30 caps in that so there's PLENTY of soft paws caps for cats with extra toes.

I also try to educate people regarding the cons of declawing. One problem I am facing and would WELCOME any advice is this- I have explained and sent some pics/info to my friend who's thinking of declawing her kitty and she has read them. HOWEVER, she has asked other people who have declawed their cats regarding personality changes, avoidance of litter, etc and ALL of them have said there were NO PROBLEMS with their cats declawed.

I REALLY want to get some kind of STATS or FACTS that I can use with her to clarify this. I noticed someone on this said they read an article with statistics of behavior changes after declawing. Could anyone tell me where that article is from and where I can get a copy of it??
THANKS!
 

hissy

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Pam,

Like any topic, it is dependant on what side of the fence you sit on as to what stats you can find. You can find websites with stats for declawing, and sites against. As if in a courtroom, each side needs to present their case as effectively as it can.

Plain and simple, declawing in the United States is a money maker for vets. It is a way out for Landlords to control the damage issue of their apartments, and it is a lazy way for a cat owner to take care of the problem of inappropriate scratching. I do rescue work, and I have seen a lot of declawed kitties with major problems. I do work via email with owners of cats they recently got declawed and I try to get them together to work out a solution. It doesn't always end pretty and it is an unneccessary surgery to put on a cat.

Here are some links that I have in my arsenal that might help. You will see some are pro and some are con:

http://hometown.aol.com/janatabbytalk/declawno.html


http://www.hdw-inc.com/declaw.htm

http://www.pawproject.com/HTML/faqs.asp




I have a lot of literature. I have an excellent article, a debate that I would be happy to send you the hard copy of- but it cannot be transmitted over the internet due to copyright infringement laws. But PM me your address and I will send you a hard copy of it.
 

lotsocats

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I know this is not statistics...just my personal experience:

We have 6 rescued cats: one is declawed and the others have their claws. The declawed cat, Khadija, is an angel and has no behavior problems. However, the way she tells us she is tired or hungry, or irritated, or just about anything else is to bite our hands. She rarely ever bites hard, but this is how she learned as a kitten to let the others know to leave her alone. Her biting is so mild that it is not a problem for us, but given how sweet and smart she is, I am sure that she would not behave this way if she had not been declawed.

By the way, none of the cats I raised from kittens has ever, ever scratched the furniture or rugs or me. I HAVE had to work hard with the adults I have rescued to train them not to scratch the furniture, but with a lot of work (and a lot of sticky-tape
), we have been very successful.
 

flimflam

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Living in the UK, I had never heard about de-clawing until I read about it on this site. I love the fact that my cats are fluffy bundles with razors on the end of each paw - isn't the slight danger part of the thrill of living with cats?

However, I do hate it when my cats sit and chew on their claws, probably just cleaning them, but it looks so horrible - but then I also hate seeing people chewing their nails.....

Sorry, nothing really to add to the debate.
 

tamme

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Flimflam, I believe they are trying to trim their own nails when they chew on them, that's a sign to me to get out the cat-clippers. Tigger doesn't mind so much, she just cries, but Roo actually attacks me! He bites and claws and cries - ANYTHING to get away. Sometimes, I need to get Darrell to help me because he gets so bad. I just need to do it when he's in a deep sleep that way it takes his senses longer to realize what I'm doing and react.
 

misha

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Tamme...do you have a product called Felifriend in your area? It's similar to Feliway, but you spray it on your hands. Calms kitty down. My vet uses it before seeing feline patients, and I've also had success with it.

If all else fails, stick to your chosen method, do them when they're sleeping. LOL.

Julia.
 

angelzoo

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The matter of cats chewing on the soft paws brings up another question.
What if a cat chews off enough and eats it, (a bunch of them.) Can this cause damage to them, like a blockage, are these digestible and degradable or are they just hard plastic?

I've never seen them in real life, and haven't read up about them too much cause I can't afford them at this time.
 

misha

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Hi Angelz00,

They're made of softish plastic, and don't have any hard edges, I don't think a few would do a cat too much harm. You have 5 toes on each front paw right? I personally never put them on the rear paws, didn't see the point. So, the maximum the cat would eat in one sitting would be 10 of them, and to be honest....I don't think the cat would eat that number. If it ate a few I don't think it would suffer any damage, I'm sure they'd just pass right through the cat.

Also, it does take quite a lot to for a cat to chew the Soft Paws off, with my Burmese, it would take him several days to remove them, so again, it would be highly unlikely that a cat would eat a whole lot of them in one go.

I initially got them for one cat in particular, and I tested the water by putting a couple of Soft Paws on each foot to begin with, just to see how he coped with them. They didn't seem to bother him, so I went ahead & put the rest on. If you're unsure of how your cat will react, I'd recommend testing the waters that way first. The Burmese was the least likely (in my opinion) to be bothered by them, so I stuck them all on, and he was the only cat who seemed to dislike having them on. Murphy's Law!!!

Julia.
 
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