I've soooo had it with Kitty! I don't want to do this but...

[gritsar]

Quote:
Kitty has this thing about human hands, in particular my husbands. She loves to lick his hands, will do it for hours if he let her. Beware of trying to pull your hand away before she's done licking. She will simulataneously grab ahold of your hand with her claws to hold onto it and bite you for having the nerve to try and remove it in the first place.

 

[mhwc56]

rather than declaw why don't you try the claw covers that you can buy for dogs and cats ? Declawing IS "barbaric" as you said . I've known people who used this product with great success,including my ex boss why owned a Pet grooming shop and sold it there. Just a thought.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Make sure you go to a vet that uses the laser method of declawing.... it's much less barbaric... they recover quicker and have less problems.

 

[mhwc56]

far too often i have heard tales about someone's sweet tempered cat who ,when declawed, has a thorough personality change...NOT for the best i might add!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
If you'll read through you'll see that I have ordered the soft claws for her, though getting them on her is going to be a challenge.

No worries about her personality changing for the worse. Kitty is not exactly what you'd call a sweet cat as it is. She takes the world on her terms or not at all.

 

[OtterCreekRanch]

You can make a homemade kitty muzzle pretty easily to protect yourself from being bitten when trying to put claw covers on. We made one for our rescued Himalayan years ago because he would not allow you to brush him and he would get terribly matted. We basically just took a plastic drinking cup. Poked two holes opposite each other at the top and then some air holes on the bottom so he could breath. Then we used a elastic band ran through the holes in the top across the top of the cup to secure it behind his head onto his face. He did not like it but it protected us from being bitten when he fought us to avoid being brushed. Cat bites can get a NASTY infection. I know someone who was hospitalized due to an infection she got from a cat bite. They literally talked about amputating her hand. Avoiding being bitten is serious business.

On that note here is our girl with her little pink nail caps.

Luckily she is very good and will sit on the counter without even being held and give me her paw for me to put them on.

 

[watchdogps]

You can also use a large binder clip and put it on her scruff. Not one that is super tight, but firm enough to stay on. Just clip it there and she will stiffen and fall over as if mezmerized! Learned that from my vet.

Declawed cats have a higher rate of litterbox problems too. The theory is that when newly declawed, the scratching hurts and they associate it with the box. When I was working in a shelter I was curious about this and while I wouldn't say more declawed cats had litter issues than clawed cats, I did note that among cats who had litter issues, most wrre also declawed. Does that make sense?

 

[dewey]

All my strictly indoor cats over the years have been declawed. Most I've adopted that were older and already declawed by previous owners, others were by my vet. They've all been happy and healthy and recovered quickly, and the biters have been those with claws.

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
If you'll read through you'll see that I have ordered the soft claws for her, though getting them on her is going to be a challenge.

No worries about her personality changing for the worse. Kitty is not exactly what you'd call a sweet cat as it is. She takes the world on her terms or not at all.

I always had my vet do it for me. I know I was lucky he only charged for the covers..... Much less painful for the human!

 

[spiritdance]

Quote:
Yeah, but I bet euthanasia makes them a whole lot worse! I love animals as much as anyone, but I also work hard for my money and can't afford to replace furniture every time I turn around. If I had a cat like Kitty that couldn't be trusted outside around the chickens but kept destroying my things, it would be declawed so fast its head would spin because I could never justify in my own mind rehoming it without being honest with the new owners. How many people do you know who would take in a cat that destroys furniture?