Rory is front declawed.... Ella is not.
I caught her scratching the rug in Hudson's room this morning. We've never had a cat with front claws so I'm not sure what to do.... do we just get a scratching post and that will keep her from scratching the furniture and carpet... or should we just go ahead and get her declawed?
in my experience it depends on the cat. i have two cats with front claws and one scratches EVERYTHING and one doesn't, regardless of what kind of scratching posts i buy. she has ruined two sets of furniture because i can't bring myself to declaw her (as mr. google claims it will change her temperment and scar her for life). ha.
ReplyDeletegood luck. i love cats and the two new ones are adorable!
scratching posts won't guarantee anything... we've had cats that scratched a lot and some that didn't. from research I'm not a fan of declawing... especially when they're adults I think it's more difficult for them.
ReplyDeletewe got these cat nail caps for our last cats...
http://www.softpaws.com/colors.html
we loved them! they're easy to put on and last a long time. you hardly notice them (we got colors that blended in with their coats -black white or clear- but you can get them "pretty" if you want), the cats hardly notice them, they can still make the stretching and clawing motions they need to and it doesn't hurt your furniture or floors.
Please don't declaw! None of our four cats are declawed and scratching isn't a problem because we have scratching posts up in several places around the house
ReplyDeleteHeather has a good idea for the cat claw caps. I think Ive been around 6 cats while growing up, and we had them all front declawed. Mainly because they were always inside cats, never outside. Think about if you are letting your cats outside, you might want to one keep their front claws to defend outside if needed. I will saw that scratching posts generally dont work though, they will just use that in addition to whatever else they want to scratch. With the 6 cats we had declawed, I never saw a temperment change in them, but that could be because they were declawed as kittens. They also suggest to dont declaw them after 1 year of age. Harder on them to recover and retrain themselves.
ReplyDeleteI just got my 2 cats declawed, and it cost me a whopping 250.00 because they have to be up to date on shots, ect. However, that is for 2 cats. I saw a temperment change in my friendly kitty, but not my mean kitty. My friendly kitty is a lot more skiddish now. They tore the heck out of my leather couches. Scratching posts did not work!I just got new furniture and I'm not taking any chances.
ReplyDeleteI've heard from humane society people that declawing cats is like cutting our fingers off at the knuckle...nice picture, right? Regardless, we had our kitten declawed. Vets say it's ok primarily when they are younger...they can have personality changes if you do it when they are older. Scratching posts with some cat nip on it should attract kitty. They sure are cute!!
ReplyDeleteWe have a scratching post but it didn't help with our cat. Zoey still likes to scratch the carpet at times. Although, I think they do it more out of boredom than anything.
ReplyDeleteAs for declawing. I have heard good and bad but most of the vets I have talked to are all for it so it's up to you. We didn't with our 1st cat Zoey because we liked to let her outside every now and then but now I wished that we had. And then Ty (our new kitty) is the dream cat and doesn't really have any bad habits other than purring so loud he sounds like a washing machine.
Don't declaw!! Our vet has told us that it is the equivalent of cutting off your fingers at your knuckles! We have 2 cats, and use a large scratching post...one of those that they can sit in and play on, which they love. A good investment. I'm sure it depends on the cats, but you can always resort to using a spray bottle with water....
ReplyDeleteWe just wrapped rope around a 4 X 4 and screwed it up to the wall and when they were little every time we saw them start to scratch something we would grab them and move them over to it and make their aws scratch the post we made for them. Now they go right over to it. My mom works with animals and she said they need something that is theirs to scratch and they will leave your stuff alone.
ReplyDeleteI just got a cat too. Anyhow, my fiends clip their cats front claws. It takes time to get the cats used to this. Start with gentle touching and move up to being able to cut there claws.
ReplyDeleteOr, my family SWEARS by one scratching thing in particular. It's like 16"round and sits on the floor. The scratching cardboard is in the center and a ball in a track that spins around is on the outside. The cat I got turns out not to be a scratcher though.
Your two are adorable. Ella is sooo pretty, and Rory has the coolest face. Its shaped so uniquely...I just love it.
We are stuck on our naming. Harley or Levi. Hmmm.
http://wherelifebecomesart.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/a-new-addition-to-our-family/
Oh I should add: The last cat I had was sooo sweet and so friendly...till I got her declawed. She came back all skittish and kinda mentally challenged. It totally ruined her. Also it took me a year to realize her feet were sensitive. She would never put her weight on both when possible. She had to be put on pain killers and anti-inflammitories for a LONG time.. So sad. It's a horrible thing and I would NEVER do it again.
ReplyDeletei have only ever had 1 cat that would use a post. the rest just scratched on everything till i had them declawed...which i have to say i was against until they ruined EVERYTHING>
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