Declawing, your thoughts.

[studio224]

Originally posted by Melissa
I must say, when I visited thew declawing site mentioned in the first thread and saw those pics, I was ill.

Melissa, I did feel sick too that's why I posted these links, I think that people should see and understand exactly what declawing is... My 3 kitties have all their nails and occasionnally they may scratch furniture but that's the way cats are... Most of the time they scratch the post i maide for them: the trunk of a pine tree with a sisal cord around it. And I even built a little platform on top of the post. They love it!

Anne-Claire

 

[melissa]

My dad helped me build a small cat tree for my kitties and it includes a length of pine tree wrapped in sisal rope too. My cats love it!!! So much better than resorting to declawing. And you know, I think I'd rather sacrifice the most beautiful and expensive furniture than do that to my babies. They shouldn't pay that kind of price just for being themselves..people ought to realize that cats don't think like people and shouldn't be punished for natural behavior in such a painful way as declawing. Thats my opinion anyways.

 

[nightsowindy]

I didn't look at the pics - I've seen soooo many cruelty pics, it really only takes one. And pain is pain - you know that the animal is in pain and that it doesn't have to go through it! so why do it? Just so you can think you "saved" your furniture? Sorry, but my furniture is not as important as keeping all the toes on my kitties.

 

[regina]

JacquieFaith,

I bought a horizontal cardboard scratching pad for my cat here in Hong Kong, so it should also be available in the States. It is like a bunch of pieces of cardboard stuck together so that all the rough edges are lined up, if that makes any sense. It took a while for my cat Ebony to get used to it, but I finally put it next to his food and water dishes. Now when he goes for a drink or snack he also has a scratch. You can also just try a regular cardboard box with something heavy inside. Ebony just loves to climb up on these and scatch.

My cat still does scratch a bit on the furniture but less than before. If you have anything you really don't want damaged, try keeping that room inaccessible to the cat.

Regina

 

[jacquiefaith]

Thanks Regina. I will look for a cardboard post. I think that when it comes down to it, my husband would not even have the heart to declaw Jinxy. I think I can control him, but we just bought a new house and my husband is nervous with all of the new furniture at the moment. I'll do my part and keep trying to find a scatch post that will work. The problem is that with our last cat, we clipped his nails with no problem, bur since Jinxy is a Persian, his paws are sooo furry that it is extremely hard to clip his claws. I'll figure it out though! Argggh!! Thanks again.

-Jacquie

 

[illusion]

What's the new laser technique? Is it a tendonectomy?

By the ay, we ordered SoftPaws for Gus, but the size chart is off, so we have to send them back for a larger size. I even compared the soft Paw itself to their size chart and there was quite a difference. So if anyone orders these, they may want to go with the next size up.

 

[chrislbud]

how come vets dont tell you or try to stop you from declawing your kitties? We had our two kitties declawed when I was 6 years old, i thought they just cut thier nails off and it was simple surgery. Not untill just a few weeks ago did i realize how horrible it really is. My mom had no idea eitehr, i dont blame my mom for the decision, we jsut asked the vet about it and he was like ok we can do that, gave us no alternatives. They hurt for the week

but then were fine and lived long wonderful lives

We did it mostly not because of furniture or anything but my mom and i are really severely allergic to the little guys and take medicine so we can have them. My mom even used to take shots untill the severity of her alleriges diminished over the years of having them, though there are lots of sneeizing days if we snuggle our faces into them too much when they havent recently been brushed

I'd have 3 shots a day forever if it was between having my kitties or getting rid of em. Luckily my allergies have subsided to. If they scratched us, even just a little one it would incredibly puff up and itch for a long time. But this isnt about allergies, this is to why vets dont tell you! Its like getting a boob job and them FORGETTING to warn you that you wont be able to move for 2 weeks. Even now if you brought it up to some vets its just looked at as pulling a tooth. I dont understand.

 

[regina]

Hi JaquieFaith,

Congratulations on the new house!

Just a suggestion, if the nails are hard to trim then perhaps you could take him to a groomer once and watch how they do it? Even if you don't want to pay for regular grooming, you could see how it's done and then try to follow the same procedure.

Is your cat Jinxy named after the one in the movie Meet the Parents? If so, do you plan to have him trained by an ex-CIA operative?

Regina

 

[jacquiefaith]

You guessed it Regina, Jinxy was named after the Meet the Parents cat. He looks like him (but way cuter!!!) and me and my husband really get a kick out of that movie. As for being trained by a CIA operative, I'll get back to you...

That is a pretty good idea about taking him to a groomer to see how it is done. I'll think about that because he is so furry and we bathe him about once a month and it takes forever and a day to dry him. So a groomer is probably not a bad idea in general and they can take care of it all. I'll talk with my husband about that one tonight!!! I guess I didn't really think of it becasue we had had a kitty for so many years who recently died and he never needed a groomer.

In the meantime, if anyone has any ideas about how you clip a Persian's claws, I would love to hear it!!! Thanks.

-Jacquie

 

[sandie]

It's easiest if you get them wet first

 

[Anne]

Our vet just told me that Declawing has been officialy outlawed in Israel. The Knesset (our parliament) outlawed declawing along with the chopping off of dogs' tails and ears!

He says it's very effective, although some vets will still do it if the client insists and is willing to pay. But... he says that if I ever hear about a vet doing this I can file a complaint in the vets association and that vet will lose his lisence!!! Isn't is great?

By the way, out vet is an

who is very much against declawing and has never performed the operation himself! I am so proud to have such a great vet! His only "flaw" is that he hardly charges us any money because he knows we take care of strays and ferals

We sometimes have to insist on paying and then he asks for a ridiculous small sum

 

[studio224]

Well that's a great news! One less country to do it!

Anne-Claire

 

[jacquiefaith]

Great idea!! That makes sense. I'll try it. Thanks.

 

[cleo]

In my home of 2 adult cats and 3 (4 until yesterday) kittens, we have the cat tree, a small vertical rope post, and 2 horizontal cardboard scratchers.
The cardboard scratcher looks like a honeycomb, kinda.

The big girls use all of them and never scratch anywhere else..lucky me!
But I love the cardboard scratchers, the kittens started using them at about 5 weeks old, and I have never caught them scratching the furniture!

I bought mine at either PetSmart or PetCo, and they were only about $4.00....also, for older kitties, you can sprinkle catnip in the holes in the box, Lily loves that!