getting declawed?

[goldenkitty45]

You REALLY don't want to do that! Declawing is painful and inhumane IMO - the kitten goes in to the vet feeling fine, and comes home with painful feet. Your kitten may wind up not wanting to use the litter box and start peeing in other places, may bite more or hide more in fear, and lots of times keeps picking up one foot, then the other cause it hurts.

Its like cutting off the first joint of your finger - not just the claw. There is no reason to be declawing. Learn how to trim nails yourself and get a good tall sturdy scratching posts.

IMO if you care more about your furniture or afraid of a cat scratching you, then get a stuffed cat to sit on your bed. If you really want a declawed cat, then go to the shelter and adopt one that someone else declawed, rather then declaw another cat. But keep in mind the same problems - peeing in other places, fear biting or hiding.

If you love your cat, don't declaw him/her!


As far as wires - we use Bitter Apple spray on wires, phone cords and shoes. Stops our cats/kittens and dog from bothering all of it

 

[sarahp]

Originally Posted by Racn1320

She likes to play with the computer wires

We went to an electronics store and got convoluted cable which you can see here - http://www.connect-solutions.com/wire-loom.html

It's just heavy plastic type tubing with a split down one side, so you push it over the cables and it protects it. Bags of tubing were about $2-5 each depending on the size, and we got a bunch of cables in different sizes and our cat doesn't chew the cable anymore. She ruined a bunch of expensive cables before we found this stuff!

Just make sure you get extra tubing and as soon as you see her interested in any sort of cord or cable, you cover it - it'll help stop her from developing the bad habit.

As for your kittens claws, just remember she's a baby and needs some patience (and the same goes for all her training). Get double sided sticky tape and put that on your furniture or wherever you don't want the kitty scratching, your kitty won't like the feel of it on her paws, so won't scratch there - you do need to invest in good alternatives though. If you don't have much money, get the cheap cardboard ones to start with, and save up and look for a good tall second hand scratching post.

Good luck and good on your for researching declawing before doing it - if everyone did that then nobody would declaw!

 

[boog's mom]

It was already mentioned, but please look into SoftPaws (or some other brand name of the same product type.) My cats have worn these for years with no problems. They are relatively cheap, and don't seem to bother the cat at all. They are also good if you have two or more cats that like to wrestle agressively, as they keep the cats from hurting each other.

You can read more about the product at www dot softpaws dot com.

Besides...they also look super cute on the kitties.

 

[cata_mint]

Sometimes people don't always like the look of scratching posts, and where I live its not always easy to find a good one (that isn't neon pink and 8ft tall).
We have an old wicker chair that works fine, is tall enough for them to stretch on and they can sleep/play on it.
Basically, its possible you have something suitable, or can get cheaply secondhand that can be rubbed with a bit of catnip and voila- no clawed furniture!