Cat Declawing

After 25 years of practicing veterinary medicine, I have still not heard the end of it – cat declawing continues to remain one of the hottest, most controversial topics in the world of companion animal welfare. Many pet owners have expressed dismay at how much damage their cats can do with their claws. Shredded shoes, clothes, torn drapes, scratched upholstery, snagged carpets. You get the picture? To some owners it seems like their pet has it in for them. Yet, to your kitty cat, scratching is a perfectly normal feline function! Cats need to scratch, for physical and emotional reasons, and we need to provide our cats with places to dig in with joy!

The surgical declaw procedure results specifically in an amputated “fingertip” on each paw. It’s pretty radical and many countries have outlawed it, claiming that even with adequate pain control post operatively, it is barbaric, unnecessary, and leads to even more behavioral issues. They claim that many of these same declawed cats eventually wind up euthanized or in the shelter. The very thing that good intentioned owners were trying to avoid. You see the dilemma.

We recommend that cat owners use avoidance and training. Here are some suggestions and tips:

Nail trimming. If you are at all unsure of how to correctly trim nails, it would be good to observe an expert. Ask your vet, a pet groomer or someone with experience to demonstrate. You want to be certain that you know how to do it correctly. Specifically, extend the claw without causing discomfort to your cat by pressing too hard. It's also useful to be able to locate the vein inside the claw. (You want to stay well away from it to avoid great discomfort to your cat and a shower of blood!) When in doubt, trim only a tiny bit from the very tip. File the tips with an emery board.

Provide alternatives for scratching. Give your cat his own place to scratch, one you can reasonably hope he will find more appealing than your carpet or couch. Vertical scratchers usually prefer posts and poles, horizontal scratchers use scratching pads. Posts are pieces of wood vertically anchored to a flat base (to imitate a tree) and are covered with carpet, rope, cork or woven fabric. Scratching pads are rectangles made of corrugated cardboard, usually around 18 inches long and either 6 or 10 inches wide. Place these in prominent areas of the house where your pet likes to frequent! Teach your cat to use the post! Once he or she knows what it is for, you can slowly move it to the part of the room where you'd like it.

Invest in a trial of “Soft Paws.” They are easy to apply acrylic nails that stay on for one to two weeks (small learning curve taught in veterinary clinics).

Keep anxiety and boredom to a minimum. Pheromones like “Feliway” act as a mood stabilizer and calm cats in multiple cat households.

Make home furnishings less desirable. Place strips of aluminum foil across your couch or chair (most cats dislike the crinkly feeling underfoot). Use “Sticky Paws,” strips of stickiness that you may place on problem furniture. Cover the side of a chair with a plastic sheet. Of course, these are all temporary until you can train them to scratch the “cool” stuff you just made or bought. Be patient during the training period, don't remove the props too early! Spray off limit areas with bitter orange or apple repellant (available in pet stores).

Declawing shouldn't be the first strategy for solving a scratching problem. If you can, start early, when you first get your kitten. Give your felines a chance to learn and to follow the rules. You'll be surprised at how well it works out.

#homeessentials