Presented by Lincoln County Humane Society
Declawing your pet cat may seem like the obvious solution to prevent unsightly scratching on your furniture. But declawing is a terribly painful process that removes a portion of a cat’s bones, rather than just its claws. Declawing can also have a negative impact on various aspects of your cat’s behavior and its health. But before you have such an extreme surgery done on your cat, there are many alternative options to consider.
Scratching is a natural behavior for cats and they enjoy scratching because it provides a way to establish their territory, is a good form of exercise, and it feels good to them. You can’t make your cat understand through physical punishment. Follow these simple steps to have better looking furniture and a happier kitty!
1. Provide your cat with a scratching post
2. Never try to show your cat how to scratch on a post, it will make kitty wary of using it.
3. Have a rough surface on the post that the kitty can work on happily shredding.
4. Make sure the post is tall enough for the kitty to fully extend its body (at least 28 inches) and it must be secure. Often if a post tips over, cats will refuse to try them again.
5. Sisal textile material is a perfect texture for the cat to shred (these posts can be ordered at www.purrfectpost.com)
6. Keep your kitty’s scratching post even when it’s shredded, cats enjoy having a “broken in” scratching area
Initially, put the post near the areas your cat goes to scratch and keep it in an area that the family is in, not hidden away. Feed your cat and play with her by the post to encourage more comfort with the post. If you cat enjoys catnip, rub dried catnip leave or powder on the post. Try to ensure every experience with the new scratching post is a happy one. You can hang toys from the post or drag a piece of yarn over it while your kitty attacks it (never leave kitty unsupervised with yarn or string for safety reasons). If your cat has a special sleeping spot, you may want to add a second post in that area. Cats love to scratch and stretch right after they wake up.
If your cat is still hesitant about the new post but thrilled to destroy furniture, you can discourage scratching by covering the area with aluminum foil or double-sided tape that your cat won’t want to touch. You may want to purchase a scent remover from a pet supply store to encourage your cat to stay away from that area. Cats usually do not like citrus odors, using lemon-scented potpourri or sprays will make former scratching sites less appealing.
The younger your cat is when you start teaching it appropriate places to scratch, the better your chances of success. You may decrease your cat’s destruction of furniture by carefully clipping the clear tip of its nails, making sure to never clip into the quick of the nail, which is very painful. You can ask your vet about the best way to clip nails or find information through a grooming salon or cat care book. You can also put Soft Claws on your cat’s nails. They are a plastic cover which slip over clipped nails to prevent scratching. The covers fall off as the nails grow out and can work up to five months to prevent scratching. Soft Claws are available at any pet supply store or by calling 1-800-989-2542.
The best alternative to declawing your cat is to adopt an already declawed cat. You can ensure that you have a declawed cat that won’t be able to destructively scratch, you will prevent an unnecessarily painful and expensive surgery on a cat, and you will provide a home for a homeless pet.