cats, declawing and terriers

Circumcision stops a man enjoying having a foreskin!

Let cats keep their claws, let baby boys keep their corndogs. Mmm...I could run for office with a slogan like that. 

too late! but i'll resist the urge to comment on either subject

Have you talked to your vet? I know they give cats who pee on the carpets valium therapy. Maybe they can suggest something? Chewing could be a sign of a vitamin or mineral deficiency perhaps?

Just thinking off the top of my head here...

Yep talked to the vet...she said some cats just like to chew. She had suggested putting another cat of mine on prozac at one point (she chewed her own hair out until she was bald all but her head) but I told her if anyone in my household was getting prozac it would be ME.

He doesn't have any deficiencies that I know of. He's 20 lbs. Not all fat though....he's big boned...really. hehe

Circumcision stops a man enjoying having a foreskin!

Let cats keep their claws, let baby boys keep their corndogs. Mmm...I could run for office with a slogan like that.

     

  oh btw Mr McGraw*Nibbles ,give me back my Tim.You cant be having him,because he is allllllll mine!  LMAO

People do have housecats in the UK. I guess it's a bit safer to let cats out because there's no rabies and no raccoons, skunks or coyotes (foxes and cats tend to ignore each other). But certainly nobody would think you were weird to keep your cat indoors in the UK. If we had a cat we would keep it in too. For many reasons;

Less likely to get fleas, ticks etc
Won't get into fights with other cats
Won't get run over
Won't kill birds and rodents
Won't get poisoned
Won't get worms
Won't get pregnant (if unneutered female--not advised even for indoor cat)
Won't run away
Won't get tortured or killed by thugs (as a kid one of our cats was hung from a tree--very upsetting)

Won't get tortured or killed by thugs (as a kid one of our cats was hung from a tree--very upsetting)

Squirrel that's horrible!! Did they get the thugs? I hope someone hung them up on a tree too, how can people be so CRUEL?

Squirrel that's horrible!! Did they get the thugs? I hope someone hung them up on a tree too, how can people be so CRUEL?

Yes, very nasty for my sister and I when we found her. And it could have been just about anyone so nobody was caught. Don't know if my parents even reported it to the police. They should have, of course.

Cosmetic surgery is frowned upon here in the UK.  I would suspect de-clawing would fall into this catagory.

Also, I own a terrier, a Yorkshire Terrier, and I must say that if I left her alone with a kitten I shudder to think what I'd find when I got home.  Terriers are just that...terrors.  They are very territorial and unless they are *very* comfortable with the new addition, I'd not advise to leave one alone with the new baby.

But that's just my opinion...and you know what they say about opinions.  They're just like @ss holes...everybody has one and some of them stink.

Good luck.

There is a product sold called Soft Paws as well as some knock-off variants I'm sure.  They are basically little caps that glue onto the cat's claws.  They still allow the cat the stretch the claws and act like they are scratching and so forth, but the caps themselves are blunt -- so no furniture damage.  The cat won't even know they are there.

They are digestable if accidentally eaten (rare) and non-toxic.  They fall off naturally as the nail grows, so would need to be replaced every couple months or so.  You can apply them yourself.

A great alternative to declawing, drugs, sprays, vigilent training.

There is a product sold called Soft Paws as well as some knock-off variants I'm sure.  They are basically little caps that glue onto the cat's claws.  They still allow the cat the stretch the claws and act like they are scratching and so forth, but the caps themselves are blunt -- so no furniture damage.  The cat won't even know they are there.

They are digestable if accidentally eaten (rare) and non-toxic.  They fall off naturally as the nail grows, so would need to be replaced every couple months or so.  You can apply them yourself.

A great alternative to declawing, drugs, sprays, vigilent training.

I wonder if these would work for my cat since he chews his nails constantly.  He's the only cat I've ever had that chews his nails all the time. I think all he's doing is chewing off the outside sheathe that they lose naturally anyway because he's definitely still got claws. (like eagle talons ) I've never tried the nail caps because I figured he'd just chew them off. Does anybody have experience with them and could give me advice?

I've used the soft claws years ago in the US. They worked really well. You put them on with something like crazy glue and they are fairly thick so a chewing cat would have to work pretty hard to get them off. They fall off when the outter sheath sheds though you do need to watch them as one of our cats had one that wouldn't fall off and we didn't catch it. Her claw kept growing and it just curved and pressed into her foot pad. It didn't hurt her but we had to take her to the vet to get it off.

There is often an adjustment period. They walk funny sometimes but ours adapted quite quickly.

Why not just have the cat's claws trimmed?

Why not just have the cat's claws trimmed?

A lot of people are afraid to do this and it's really rare in the UK from what I've seen. I've done it to all my cats. The only reason we tried the soft claws with 2 of them was because trimming didn't stop them from trying to claw the sofa.

If you've never trimmed a cats nails, get someone to show you how to do it. There are blood vessels in their nails. If you trim too short, you can get those and have a real problem on your hands. And some cats are OK with it and others will fight you every time you go to do it. Sometimes you'll need a helper!

Why not just have the cat's claws trimmed?

I do trim them and believe it or not he's fairly cooperative....too fat and lazy to fight back. But then as soon as they're trimmed he heads for the furniture to sharpen them back up so the furniture still gets shredded and the claws are back sharp again in no time. I'm really leaning toward declawing if I ever get enough money. I've had a cat declawed before and honestly it never seemed to affect him (he's a cat so we never had the deep conversation on how he felt about it). He even would still scratch at things just as if he still had them and think he was doing a great job of sharpening them.

I'm really leaning toward declawing if I ever get enough money. I've had a cat declawed before and honestly it never seemed to affect him (he's a cat so we never had the deep conversation on how he felt about it).

I suggest you DO sit down and have that deep conversation with your cat.  My guess is that he'll say, "What?!  Remove my what, my claws!?  Are you mad?  That would totally not be cool!"

It also sounds like your cat is not a kitten.  I think a vet would only remove the claws before a certain age, so the whole issue is probably moot.  Just get the caps, here's the link: http://www.softpaws.com/ [nofollow]

Thanks for the link. I'll keep it in mind.