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Cat question
Please no flaming.... :-)
Our kitty (2-3ish years old), Cash, is absolutely destroying a lot of my furniture by sharpening his claws. We have done everything we can think of to curb this: he has a scratching post, tons of toys, and we try to keep his claws clipped. He uses every piece of furniture we have (including 2 leather chairs) to sharpen his claws and it's driving me insane. We also bought some spray at PetSmart that was supposed to 'repel' him, which didn't do a thing! We are contemplating getting his front paws declawed. He is only an indoor cat, never goes out at all. I've never declawed a cat because part of me thinks it's really mean, but I also don't want my things ruined. We would leave his back claws in so he could scratch if he itched.
What would you do? Are your cats declawed/have you ever had a cat declawed? Is it just too cruel to do? We obviously haven't decided what to do...
Re: Cat question
There are plenty of other ways to deter a cat from scratching furniture. The sprays I hear don't work well, but orange scented supposedly does. All the things I suggest: start spraying the cat with water every time you catch him. Cats typically don't like water or it surprises them and they don't like it. Also, double sided tape on your furniture, where ever he tends to scratch more. They don't like sticky things on their paws. Also, they don't like foil, foil can be wrapped around certain areas of furniture.
I also suggest the lil' plug ins they have at PetSmart. I can't recall what it's name is, but it is in the cat section. It is too calm cats down and make them better behaved, it is just a plug in like those smell good products, but releases pheromones. I have used the plug in for some behavior issues and worked wonderfully!
Also, everytime you catch the cat you immediately say no grab him and put him on the scratching posts. Also, you can rub in catnip on the scratching posts, to make him more attracted to scratch there.
Okay, to break to up the post more...here is my thing about declawing...
I HIGHLY suggest you don't. Cats can be trained, but as you know cats are finicky and take awhile. But once you declaw doesn't mean the cat will stop trying to scratch. They will still mimic the motion on the furniture and may start chewing on it instead.
I dont know too many vets who would even declaw a cat. Vets do find this to be cruel and scratching furniture is not a reason to declaw. Have more patience and try everything in the book first before declaw becomes an option.
Although your cat is indoor, what happens if he ever gets out? You just don't ever know!
So, my personal experience. I have adopted a cat that was declawed in the front from the previous owner. She seemed to walk a little funny but I never thought too much about it. I took her for a check up and immediately my vet knew she was declawed.
She explained to me that when vets declaw a very common side effect is contractures to develop. Contractures are where the muscles/tendons draw up from they had to cut. This then causes alot of pain in the cat's paws and can't ever get better. The only way to fix is another surgery for the tendons to be released but is only a few year fix, before the contract again. We of course don't know that cats are in pain from it, because they can't express themselves, so they just live in pain. My cat also could NOT be touched on the paws, and it was from the pain she felt from being declawed.
If you choose to do this procedure, which I really hope you don't! Please contact a cat vet, not a general vet, this way if the vet even agrees to the procedure, if you have better chances of no bad side effects.
Have you thought about lasering the claws? We had it done to one of our cats years ago and it turned out great, they don't cut into the paw, just laser the nail bed so it doesn't grow and they just have a little nubbin of a claw at the root. She still makes scratching motions on the couch sometimes just for the hell of it I guess but it does absolutely no damage. Its a little pricier but I would never, ever declaw a cat the old fashioned way where they cut into the paw again.
I think I had a quote for $225 for front paws only at a vet in OKC.
Have you seen these?
http://www.softclaws.com/index.php?pet=cat
My grandma uses the dog version with a lot of success.
Please don't. It's cruel.
Are there consequences for your cats when they scratch? What type of material are they scratching on? Have you tried putting double sided tape on the furniture so when they scratch, their paws stick (that really annoys them)? Water bottle? Noisy can?
Once we got a leather couch, Anchovy stopped scratching my couch up. He only scratches on surfaces that are "nubby" like upholstery. Extra scratches on the carpet but over time, we will replace most of it with laminate, anyway. Tolstoy is easy to stop because he hates water. They all have consequences that are catered to what they dislike.
Sometimes, I just pick them up and remove them, gently, from whatever it is they are scratching on. We don't really have any problems with them and they all have their claws.
My cats scratch quite a bit too. I have bought a special kitty double sided taped and attached it to the areas of the furniture they tend to destroy - they no longer scratch now.
Also, our cats are indoor cats but we allow them to play in our backyard supervised. We have tons of trees outside and they often scratch and climb the trees - I have noticed that the amount they attempt to scratch inside decreases the more time they spend outside. It took a bit, but they are awesome at staying in our yard and we have arranged our landscaping so that it is very Cat Pleasing so that they WANT to only stay in our yard.
Only you know what is best for you! Good luck!