Cat Declawing from Schmeg.com

   

We live in Ormond Beach with our cat and had a bit of a problem with it occasionally scratching our 4 year old daughter. My daughter can get a little rough with her so for the most part our cat was just trying to squirm out of her grasp and my daughter would invariably get scratched. We had to find a solution, fast.

We considered declawing as the first, obvious choice. Didn't really know a lot about it but figured it was a relatively simple procedure, pull the nails off of the cat like nails off of a human. Little painful but the cat would recover, right? Well, after further research we discovered that is actually more of an amputation than anything else. A cat's paw has more than just a nail at the end of a joint. It is an integral part of its foot structure. Also, cats & dogs are digitigrade - they walk on the tips of their toes as opposed to humans and bears, who walk flat-footed. These are removed during declawing, thus causing the cat to walk unnaturally. This often results in premature arthritis, due to the unnatural wear on the joints.

Declawing a cat can cause a cat to compensate for it's sudden loss of it's main defensive weapon by biting more and becoming more aggressive. The annoying scratching that cats do serves to work its front muscles, keeping them strong. First off, wean the cat from the furniture by buying a nice, tall (mine's 4 feet high) cat scratching post. With a little work, they will use instead of the sofa. Bottom line, we didn't like this alternative. My sister in law's cat is declawed and it does bite more and is a lot more aggressive. We thought about socks, but after 30 seconds that idea was tossed.

While surfing the web, I came across a site that sold these little rubber tips that could be placed over the cat's nails, thus instead of a sharp pointy nail there would be a smooth, rubber surface. I purchased a kit. Tried them, they work great. They last a few weeks and then fall off and we simply replace the missing ones. No more scratches now. They seem a bit expensive for super glue and some rubber tips, but I can't find them anywhere else and they surely work!

Please reconsider declawing, as these tips work great!