Kitty advice, please

I work at two different veterinary clinics.

1 clinic will not even perform the surgery any more as the Doctor thinks it is not worth the pain and potential complications to the pet. The other clinic I work at still performs that procedure (which I have assisted in). If this caused the animal no pain or discomfort, why do we put a Fentanyl patch onto the cat before surgery to help control pain? Why are the legs bandaged so well and why do we require the cats stay with us in hospital for 3 days after the procedure? It is not a simple spay or neuter. The nail and first joint (bone) are taken right off.

We had a couple bring their 2 cats in for declaws. The cats were very uncomfortable in hospital and required additional pain medication on top of the pain patch that delivers narcotic through the skin. 4 days after going home, their one cat had the surgical site on each toe open up. He had to come back in, put back under anesthetic, and have them repaired. Fast forward 2 weeks, their other cat developed an infection in his feet from using the litter box after surgery. The owners regularly come in and say they shouldnt have done the surgery. Their cats wont even jump up and down off the couch due to pain.

Soft paws actually work. I would get your kitten used to playing with his feet and trimming his nails. Do that and the spray bottle route and that should work. If not, you can move to the soft paws.

im a vet tech- please try sofy paws and scratching post etc before declawing- they actually extract the whole nail from the paw
also since it is a kitten- start doing your own kitty pedicures at home - you can get the cat used to doing it and sometimes with cats less is more meaning you dont have to forcable hold them esp if you begin training them early

So... I have not read through any of the responses... just a disclaimer.

I have a kitty. He is indoor (he has to be... he is blind as a bat!!!) We considered De-clawing him because he accidentally put a claw through our bunnies ear... BUT ultimately we opted not to. I cannot speak to the morality or humanity of De-clawing, but... since the incident, we regularly clip his claws, and have had no issues if we keep up with this. Some cats may be more difficult to clip, but with ours, if you catch him mid nap, he barely notices. If you can keep up with the maintenance, and the kitty allows, this may be an option...

We also just got a new kitten in our house (four weeks in our home, 12 weeks old). It's the first non declawed cat we've had.

Things I have found: Provide scratching posts of adequate height in a central area where the cat can access it when ever he/she feels the urge. Encourage the use of this scratching post by playing near it and having the cat claw it in play to introduce them to it.

Make it clear that this is the only object that is to be clawed... and finally cut your cat's claws! I touch, squish, and generally won't leave my kittens feet alone every day so that the process of cutting his claws is simply a matter of holding still.

I'm no expert, but I can clip my kitten's claws without trouble and he uses his scratching post for his clawing. If he starts messing with something else, I reprimand him and find him something to play with. (it seems to have more to do with boredom than anything else, in this case). Good luck! Our previous cats seemed fine after their front claws were removed, but I do think it may cause them some level of distress. Either way, I do think leaving your cat with claws is a viable option and haven't had issue with it (yet).

PLEASE DO NOT DECLAW HIM!!! It's cruel

I'm on my third indoor cat and have never had a problem with scratched furniture. I keep their claws clipped regularly using an ordinary nail clipper. If you train them from an early age, they are happy to let you do that. Just be careful only to clip the end not the quick. http://www.catscratching.com/htmls/article.htm gives very clear instructions.

Only my current cat has used a scratching post and is very good at it, but the others weren't. If you catch him scratching something he shouldn't, squirt some water at him using a small spray bottle - he'll soon learn.

I'm not reading through everyone's advice, just giving my own...forgive me! LOL

I have four cats, I do not believe in de-clawing, all of mine are indoor only. I trim their nails myself once a week. We also have several inexpensive cardboard scratching posts around the house. All of our furniture is fine. :bigsmile:

I'm not reading all the responses, but I am going to school to hopefully become a veterinarian. I have seen this procedure done once and I do not believe it is humane. Although the cat was under anesthesia, the veterinarian cut the claw which is an actual bone completely out. He said its rarely done any other way because they usually wind up growing back if you just clip them down. So instead they remove the entire claw. It is awful to watch, the one I did see there was a ton of blood and he said it wasn't as bad as he has seen. After the cat woke up later on it looked absolutely miserable. I can't imagine how much it must hurt.

Just from seeing the one operation, I would never do this to a cat. The unfortunate part is I will most likely be required to do it once in vet school. Hopefully if I land a job with the SPCA like I want it wont be a frequent operation....it breaks my heart.

Water bottle + water= spray him/her when she claws!!! My cat used to claw the wood in our house, and now she doesnt!!! Declawing is awful.

Yes - please don't declaw - it is removal of an entire digit of the toe. There are side effects of removal.

Better option - in addition to keeping claws trimmed, get the inexpensive corrugated cardboard scratchers. Cats LOVE them. They won't claw furniture if they have something they like scratching on better. If you see it starting to scratch on something, place it on the cat scratcher. It will learn. Get several - one for each room that the cat likes to hang out - so there is always one near by.