Soft Paws opinions

[datagrrl]

Good Afternoon,

I have two soft paws questions.

First what are your opinions and experience?

How early have you used them effectively.

We are building her a nice tree today, it isn't so much her scratching the furniture and climbing I have an issue with. She is a scaredy cat. We can hold her and pet her, but if anything startles her I get horrible scratches from her running away.

She is a recovering feral. We have made some progress.

I was going to have her spayed at the low cost clinic next week, but since they won't do soft paws I am thinking of paying more to have her spayed at my vet and have them apply the soft paws.

Will they even stay on at 12/13 weeks? I can probably apply them when she is older.

 

[red top rescue]

I have never used them but know a few people who have.  Personally, I think keeping the claws dull with simple claw clipping is preferable, especially since your main complaint is that she scratches you when scared, which she couldn't do too badly with dull claws (you might get welts but no bloodshed).  You can take the sharp tips off as soon as they get sharp, even more than once a week.  I never heard of soft paws staying on more than about 4-5 weeks because by then the cat's claws have grown quite long and often they bite them off, so it's a constant battle to cut claws and then apply the soft paws. One person eventually gave up after a year of using the soft paws and got their cat declawed.  (SAD!!)  The other gave up the soft paws and just trims the nails frequently.  Both cats seem fine, and fortunately the declawed one doesn't seem any the worse for his procedure.  He was already an adult when they adopted him too.

 

[datagrrl]

I think I need to practice clipping more. I am probably not going down far enough when I clip.

 

[red top rescue]

Why don't you go ahead and have her spayed and have them also clip her claws.  When you get her back, you will see exactly how far down to go when you clip.  Also, I always urge people just learning to clip claws to not clip much but just clip very frequently until they get a feel for it.  Better to clip too long than to clip too short and cause pain and bleeding!!

 

[datagrrl]

Actually they clip as part of the spay at the LCC, so I will go that route.

 

[stormi71]

Most vets will clip their claws for you. It is very important to not clip too far down, as they have the part called the "quick" that is essentially a vein that runs into their claws. It is easy to see in cats with light or clear claws, and it's important to have good lighting when clipping so you can see this part.
I also use normal nail clippers rather than pet ones, as I find I have better control and can see easily where I am clipping. I find it easier to do with my kitten on my lap, facing outwards, so I'm over the top of her. Although sometimes I do it when she's sleeping/tired, and I get myself into awkward positions to try and clip them. Kittens claws are very sharp and pointy and feel like pins, but you really only need to clip the point to get rid of that pointy bit. As the other poster said, it's better to clip just a small bit and do it more often. I also focus on the front paws more, and do her back ones less often. Sometimes I miss one claw, and I can definitely tell if she accidentally scratches me that I did miss one!

 

[quiet]

Hi,

I have had great luck with using the soft paws for a 94 year old woman with very fragile skin who is owner to a very large calico cat that showed up in my garage as a pregnant kitten (didn't know) the day after the woman's cat was put to sleep after a very long battle with lymphoma.

Anyway I use the soft paws on the cat who is 4 years old now. There are some tricks to doing it. You need to buy the original soft paws (clear) that have the little gripper guys inside them. You need to use the right amount of glue inside the tip. To much and it will get on the fur and make a mess and to little it doesn't stick. So you fill the cap to about 1/2 way with the glue. You wait about 15 seconds and then you extend the claw and squeeze the plastic tip to make it open a bit and slide it on to an unclipped nail. The big mistake people make is that they clip the nails first and then there isn't as much nail to be glued to the plastic tip. the other trick is that you don't do all the nails at once. Just a foot a day or even a nail a day so as not to stress the cat. My applications usually stay on about 3 months at which time I have to remove them in order to apply new tips.

The above being said, I don't think I would do this for a feral or ex feral cat. It will be to much stress. You don't want to take a cat that is starting to be used to their surroundings and freak them out. The glue stinks and cats are more sensitive to smells than we are. I am sure it also must burn their eyes.

The only reason I do the calico cat's nails is that there is no other choice. Well, could declaw but I will not do that to a cat. Clipping wasn't enough to keep her from shredding the lady. Just with normal cat like activity. No aggression towards the lady. I will say since I have been doing the cats soft paws (have to do both fronts in a visit) the cat progressively dislikes me more and more each visit.

Can I ask why you are holding the cat? This is when you get scratched right?

 

[datagrrl]

I hold her and pet her a lot. I thought that was part of socializing her.

Going forward I will make an effort of letting her go when I think she will be startled.Often I don't realize what is about to happen either.

 

[samnmag]

When I got my little girl a couple of years ago, I purchased some soft paws to  put on.  I never did use them instead, I zip her up to a boarding/grooming place and they trim them for me.  In addition, I have several scratch posts and a couple of scratch pads for both my cats.  In addition, the large area mats I have in my tv room and snack kitchen are bean mats and the little claws can hurt them.  As a result, I have had no issue with scratching.  The only issue I once had was when a breeze came in and blew my sheers (drapes) around.  Miss Emily thought this was great and pulled a thread so damage was minimal.  I was also concerned that with the soft paws she would chew them off and I didn't want her eating them.  So, it is so simple to just take her for a ride for a five minute nail trim.  It will get to a point as the cat gets older when you might be able to trim them yourself and the nail trimmers are easy to use.  I do my older cat and when he fusses, I just wait for a bit and go back to it even if I have to do it one nail every half hour.  It saves stressing him out to much.

 

[gimli]

I've never used soft paws personally, but my close friends (who I got both my kitties from haha) have used them multiple times on their cats as well as their dog. They say it's a really great alternative to declawing and that it REALLY helps lessen scratch marks on the furniture and such. However, the only downside (which I've witnessed lol) is that it can be a little hard to get your kitties to sit still to put them on. You might need more than one person if your cats don't like to have their paws touched!

I agree with the others above who suggested having your vet clip your kitties claws. I learned from my friends, so I can do it with no trouble (and I also do it for my grandparents hahaha), so it's not too hard to learn. You can ask your vet or look up videos on how to do it if you're not too sure. Or, you can just ask your vet to do it if you're more comfortable with that!

I also suggest having a scratching post, maybe more than one. That is definitely one of the best investments we've gotten since my mom and I decided not to declaw our cats. They use it all the time, every day, and we haven't had much of a problem with them scratching anything except when they want to scent mark -- and that's not even that bad. We just point the squirt bottle at them and they bolt without us even having to use it. If you're still really worried, I suggest maybe trying to spray lemon juice on your tree to help deter the cat, as many cats aren't particularly fond of the smell. If the scratching DOES become a problem, definitely try out soft paws and if you have any difficulty putting them on, I'm sure your vet would have no problem helping you out.

Remember! Cats respond better to positive reinforcement, so if you see your kitty checking out the tree but she doesn't scratch it, praise her! Good luck!