EmeryCat - big mistake
 

I decided to try the EmeryCat. My little cat's claws are very sharp
and tend to get stuck on things. Cutting them is a real ordeal that
requires one to cut and one to hold her down. We all end up
traumatized.


What the EmeryCat is, is just those regular corrugated cardboard
scratching boards with one side covered with a fine sand. The sand is
somehow glued on. When I opened the package, loose sand spilled all
over the floor. I shook off anything that was loose and put it down.

My cat tried it once and wouldn't scratch on it again. However, she
did sit on it and ended up with sand in her fur. I'm sure that
licking the sand it not a good idea. I brushed her and that was the
end of EmeryCat.

Here's the rip off: The two EmeryCat's were 19.95. Not bad, right?
But - the shipping was $15. If I return them, I lose the $15 and
whatever I have to pay for the return shipping.

I feel like an idiot, but I was really hoping they would work. I'm
sure there are cats out there that would love it, but I still would
worry about them swallowing the sand.

EmeryCat - big mistake
 

"YvonneD" wrote in message
...
I decided to try the EmeryCat. My little cat's claws are very sharp
and tend to get stuck on things. Cutting them is a real ordeal that
requires one to cut and one to hold her down. We all end up
traumatized.


What the EmeryCat is, is just those regular corrugated cardboard
scratching boards with one side covered with a fine sand. The sand is
somehow glued on. When I opened the package, loose sand spilled all
over the floor. I shook off anything that was loose and put it down.

My cat tried it once and wouldn't scratch on it again. However, she
did sit on it and ended up with sand in her fur. I'm sure that
licking the sand it not a good idea. I brushed her and that was the
end of EmeryCat.

Here's the rip off: The two EmeryCat's were 19.95. Not bad, right?
But - the shipping was $15. If I return them, I lose the $15 and
whatever I have to pay for the return shipping.

I feel like an idiot, but I was really hoping they would work. I'm
sure there are cats out there that would love it, but I still would
worry about them swallowing the sand.

Hey! - You're no idiot.....I am 74 and what happened to you has happened to
me many times throughout my life. There are some people who make their
living by these kinds of rip-offs. My house is full of junk that I have no
use for, but paid good money for. Mostly because the ads didn't tell me the
whole story. They are intentionally vague about certain parameters of their
products. Dimensions, for example.....Nobody uses dimensions anymore. I was
taught to describe things by giving their height, length and width in inches
or whatever. If they held a liquid, I was also taught to describe how many
galloons or cubic centimeters it would hold. but I see junk advertised all
the time that has no dimensions or volume attached to it at all. They don't
even put a dime or foot ruler in the picture of it so you would have some
vague idea whether it is bigger than a breadbox or a football field, or
whether it is too small for a flea's living quarters. But they expect me to
order it to find out, and pay the shipping back if I don't like it. I call
this part of the, "Dumbing down of America".

EmeryCat - big mistake
 

On Jan 28, 6:11*am, YvonneD wrote:
I decided to try the EmeryCat. *My little cat's claws are very sharp
and tend to get stuck on things. *Cutting them is a real ordeal that
requires one to cut and one to hold her down. *We all end up
traumatized.

What the EmeryCat is, is just those regular corrugated cardboard
scratching boards with one side covered with a fine sand. *The sand is
somehow glued on. *When I opened the package, loose sand spilled all
over the floor. *I shook off anything that was loose and put it down.
snip

I saw the infomercials for the EmeryCat. I didn't realize it
included sand, I assumed it was a cute marketing term for
cardboard. But I also saw in KMart the plain cardboard
scratching boxes were $13 and I passed on those too.

So I picked up a couple of discarded flat panel TV boxes and an
empty DVD player box at the local TV store, used a box cutter to
slice the TV boxes into strips, stacked those side by side until
I filled the DVD box, and my cat won't have a thing to do with
that either. When I sprinkled some catnip across it he did walk
over it on the way to the food. To be honest, I expected this
would happen and I'm not aggravated, I spent an hour's work and
the possibility of slicing off my thumb, saved $13 or $35 and
got the same result that you did, I think I got a bargain. So
passed it along to someone who says their cat loves these and I
haven't heard what happened.

While at KMart I got a package of five large sheets of medium
coarse sandpaper, I wish it was coarser, for about $3, am going
to attempt gluing that to a board I fished out of the dumpster
and see if he will scratch on that. I am expecting he will have
nothing to do with this and I'm ok with that too. I only wish I
could find something he would do to wear down his claws, and
that I could get the sandpaper back off the board to use for
something else later. Note: Some web pages claim cats cannot
stand the texture of sandpaper, others are selling cat
scratching devices made from sand paper. Who knows.

If anyone has any other ideas for something to get a cat to wear
down his front claws I'd appreciate the information. But he is
a very old cat now and "start getting him used to having his
claws trimmed eighteen years ago" isn't an option anymore.

The only time he has had his claws trimmed was while he was
sedated for dental surgery. I don't call him Slasher for
nothing and one vet has a blood stained note in his chart saying
"Do NOT try to touch cat's feet!" I did warn the vet as he
started to reach, but he ignored me.

EmeryCat - big mistake
 

On Jan 28, 8:09*pm, bill wrote:


If anyone has any other ideas for something to get a cat to wear
down his front claws I'd appreciate the information. *But he is
a very old cat now and "start getting him used to having his
claws trimmed eighteen years ago" isn't an option anymore.


Actually, scratching won't dull a cat's nails. It helps to pull off
the outer sheaths to reveal new sharp claws underneath.

EmeryCat - big mistake
 

"bill" wrote

If anyone has any other ideas for something to get a cat to wear
down his front claws I'd appreciate the information. But he is
a very old cat now and "start getting him used to having his
claws trimmed eighteen years ago" isn't an option anymore.

The only time he has had his claws trimmed was while he was
sedated for dental surgery. I don't call him Slasher for
nothing and one vet has a blood stained note in his chart saying
"Do NOT try to touch cat's feet!" I did warn the vet as he
started to reach, but he ignored me.

Good job, Stud.

EmeryCat - big mistake
 

On Jan 28, 11:09*pm, bill wrote:
On Jan 28, 6:11*am, YvonneD wrote: I decided to try the EmeryCat. *My little cat's claws are very sharp
and tend to get stuck on things. *Cutting them is a real ordeal that
requires one to cut and one to hold her down. *We all end up
traumatized.

What the EmeryCat is, is just those regular corrugated cardboard
scratching boards with one side covered with a fine sand. *The sand is
somehow glued on. *When I opened the package, loose sand spilled all
over the floor. *I shook off anything that was loose and put it down.

snip

I saw the infomercials for the EmeryCat. *I didn't realize it
included sand, I assumed it was a cute marketing term for
cardboard. *But I also saw in KMart the plain cardboard
scratching boxes were $13 and I passed on those too.

So I picked up a couple of discarded flat panel TV boxes and an
empty DVD player box at the local TV store, used a box cutter to
slice the TV boxes into strips, stacked those side by side until
I filled the DVD box, and my cat won't have a thing to do with
that either. *When I sprinkled some catnip across it he did walk
over it on the way to the food. *To be honest, I expected this
would happen and I'm not aggravated, I spent an hour's work and
the possibility of slicing off my thumb, saved $13 or $35 and
got the same result that you did, I think I got a bargain. *So
passed it along to someone who says their cat loves these and I
haven't heard what happened.

While at KMart I got a package of five large sheets of medium
coarse sandpaper, I wish it was coarser, for about $3, am going
to attempt gluing that to a board I fished out of the dumpster
and see if he will scratch on that. *I am expecting he will have
nothing to do with this and I'm ok with that too. *I only wish I
could find something he would do to wear down his claws, and
that I could get the sandpaper back off the board to use for
something else later. *Note: Some web pages claim cats cannot
stand the texture of sandpaper, others are selling cat
scratching devices made from sand paper. *Who knows.

If anyone has any other ideas for something to get a cat to wear
down his front claws I'd appreciate the information. *But he is
a very old cat now and "start getting him used to having his
claws trimmed eighteen years ago" isn't an option anymore.

The only time he has had his claws trimmed was while he was
sedated for dental surgery. *I don't call him Slasher for
nothing and one vet has a blood stained note in his chart saying
"Do NOT try to touch cat's feet!" I did warn the vet as he
started to reach, but he ignored me.

Hmmm. My cats actually love those cardboard scratching boards. The
only problem is you end up with cardboard confetti all over the floor.

Anyway, the EmeryCat is supposed to help shorten the cat's nails. I
assumed it would be similar to sandpaper but more durable. Wrong! It
was just plain sand.

So here's a question for others - would sandpaper glued to something
work? I don't want to do anything that would harm the cat.

EmeryCat - big mistake
 

On Jan 29, 1:17*pm, YvonneD wrote:
On Jan 28, 11:09*pm, bill wrote:



On Jan 28, 6:11*am, YvonneD wrote: I decided to try the EmeryCat. *My little cat's claws are very sharp
and tend to get stuck on things. *Cutting them is a real ordeal that
requires one to cut and one to hold her down. *We all end up
traumatized.

What the EmeryCat is, is just those regular corrugated cardboard
scratching boards with one side covered with a fine sand. *The sand is
somehow glued on. *When I opened the package, loose sand spilled all
over the floor. *I shook off anything that was loose and put it down.

EmeryCat - big mistake
 

wrote in message
...
On Jan 28, 8:09 pm, bill wrote:


If anyone has any other ideas for something to get a cat to wear
down his front claws I'd appreciate the information. But he is
a very old cat now and "start getting him used to having his
claws trimmed eighteen years ago" isn't an option anymore.


Actually, scratching won't dull a cat's nails. It helps to pull off
the outer sheaths to reveal new sharp claws underneath.

One of the funniest photos I ever saw was a stuffed chair in the home of a
couple of guys in San Francisco who kept a pet lion in their apartment. This
lion had reduced this huge overstuffed chair to unrecognizeablity......It
was nothing but a pile of mixed up springs, wood and chair stuffing.....:^)

EmeryCat - big mistake
 

On 29/01/2010 01:11, YvonneD wrote:
I decided to try the EmeryCat. My little cat's claws are very sharp
and tend to get stuck on things. Cutting them is a real ordeal that
requires one to cut and one to hold her down. We all end up
traumatized.


What the EmeryCat is, is just those regular corrugated cardboard
scratching boards with one side covered with a fine sand. The sand is
somehow glued on. When I opened the package, loose sand spilled all
over the floor. I shook off anything that was loose and put it down.

My cat tried it once and wouldn't scratch on it again. However, she
did sit on it and ended up with sand in her fur. I'm sure that
licking the sand it not a good idea. I brushed her and that was the
end of EmeryCat.

Here's the rip off: The two EmeryCat's were 19.95. Not bad, right?
But - the shipping was $15. If I return them, I lose the $15 and
whatever I have to pay for the return shipping.

I feel like an idiot, but I was really hoping they would work. I'm
sure there are cats out there that would love it, but I still would
worry about them swallowing the sand.


I started to file my Burmese cat's nails with an emery board from 3
months, so this does all the layers at once - now he expects it in the
bathroom in the morning - after I cross my legs and wait for my master
to finish his morning pee in the toilet bowl he pops up on to the chair
and waits to be brushed and nails attended to. LOL I will post a video
sometime - who said you can't train cats... it's all a battle of wills..

EmeryCat - big mistake
 

"YvonneD" wrote in message
...
I feel like an idiot, but I was really hoping they would work. I'm
sure there are cats out there that would love it, but I still would
worry about them swallowing the sand.


I learned from friends long ago never to order anything you see on TV. I'm
just curious; didn't you know how much the S&H would be before your ordered
it?