When is it safe

[railntrailcwgrl]

to assume that a cat isn't going to scratch on 'inappropriate' objects? Storm is a year old now and she mostly scratches on boxes, a rug, our clothes basket and one dresser (that I haven't seen her stretch on in ages). Right now she is wearing soft claws but with a possible addition in a few weeks I'm trying to tweak the budget and if I could cut out almost $30 every 6-12 weeks on soft claws that would be great! But I'll just be redirecting funds to the kitten, until I know that it won't scratch anything up, but this one will have 6 less toes so a pack should last a lot longer.

I'm just concerned because we rent and I would hate to quite using them and then her decide that all the wood trim in our house looks inviting.

 

[Willowy]

While I don't think cats with Soft Claws on display completely normal scratching behaviors (they seem to know that they can't damage anything), I think you can get a pretty good idea of her basic scratching habits by watching her now. If she doesn't scratch the woodwork now she probably won't if you let the Soft Claws fall off. And if she starts doing it you can always put the caps back on. Your woodwork won't be shredded the first time she puts claws on it

.

A new kitty! How exciting!

 

[railntrailcwgrl]

Originally Posted by Willowy

A new kitty! How exciting!

Thanks Willowy! I know, it's 2 weeks old right now. (I preliminarily picked one out today, hoping it's a female). I found her mother last summer outside the hotel I work at. She was small and lost (I think someone dumped her). DH said 'no' to a 2nd kitty and my very good friend had just lost his 'garage' cat of 13 years a few months before and was looking for another. Well they didn't get her spayed in time...4 kittens later I have been told I WILL take first pick of the litter...

(So much for DH saying no!)

Good news is they are taking Jezabelle to be spayed soon and the kittens all are going to come with gift certificates to cover part of their sputering. I think it's so awesome that my friend's father is doing that! I'll have to visit them again and take pictures next time. (PS-I'll be starting a name thread soon so be on the look out to vote!)

 

[goldenkitty45]

I've always just cut the nails (starting at 5 or 6 weeks old) on a weekly basis. We have very little to no damage from any clawing.

I show cats and we can't put the SoftPaws on them in the show rings.

 

[missymotus]

Have you got an appropriate amount of scratch poles and cat trees?

I clip nails regularly and have lots of cat furniture for them to scratch on.

 

[railntrailcwgrl]

She does have a tree that I made for her, but she doesn't really use that at all to scratch on, she's worn soft claws since she was little so I'm not sure if her habits will change at all after letting them fall off. I am planning on getting a few other cardboard scratchers (she seems to like horizontal surfaces more).