wrote in message
...
Well, I posted here many months ago regarding a stray that we decided
to spay and keep. She turned into a beautiful cat with a nice shiny
coat.

She's still outside, and she sleeps on the deck in a nice little
shingled house that I built for her. She's a good mouser, and we live
next to a cornfield, o she get alot of hunting in.

People keep telling me I should just make the leap and bring her into
the house.

I had always just assumed that declawing was a "normal" part of owning
an indoor cat. I'm glad a sifted through the many posts and opinions.
I didn't realize that so many people consider it to be a horrible
mutilation. I was also interested to read the data regarding the
effect on behavior (soiling, etc.)

Now I'm not sure what to do. I absolutely will not tolerate
destruction of our carpet or furniture. We already raised two babies
that vomited on or marked with markers everything we own. We finally
have a nice house now, and I won't stand by and watch a cat shred it.

Should we try to find her another home?
We tried before, and failed.

Mitch,

I have had indoor-only cats for 40 years. Only one of them was declawed
(and that was done before I adopted her). I also have some very nice
furniture. None of it is damaged on scratched. Some of it is furniture
that goes back to my parents' wedding (literally! -- my grandparents'
wedding gift to my parents) or to my childhood. Some of it is antique
furniture that I bought over the last 35 years, and some of it is relatively
new. You can see some of it if you will look at the links to my cats below
(although I was trying to show off my cats and not my furniture). The point
I am trying to make is that you can have *both* clawed cats *and* nice
furniture. It is not necessary to give up either one. I have found that it
is easy to train a cat to use a scratching post, although you will need to
be vigilant and consistent for the first couple of weeks. You should also
have a selection of scratching posts of different types and textures until
you learn what the cat likes (sisal, carpet, even cardboard -- and possibly
a mounted tree trunk/limb since your cat has been an outdoor cat). Place
the scratching posts in various rooms in the house, and you may even want to
have a good cat tree. All of these can be attractive and do not need to be
"eyesores." An indoor cat probably will throw up a furball occasionally,
but that can be cleaned.

I trained each of mine to use a scratching post by the use of positive
reinforcement and by making it somewhat of a game. I would watch carefully
to see any sign that the cat was going to scratch, then would say "no," and
either go to the scratching post and tap on it while calling my cat or would
even pick up the cat and carry him or her to the post. I would frequently
pull a string up the sides of the post (sometimes with a toy tied to the end
of the string). Sometimes I would even scratch with my own fingernails
until the cat did the same. As soon as the cat would begin to scratch on
the post, I would praise excessively. Some people have found it helpful to
rub catnip into the post, but it has not been helpful in my experience (in
fact, I had one cat that would simply rub his head on the post if it was
embedded with catnip). It never took more than a couple of weeks for my
cats to be completely trained to a scratching post -- it is really almost
"second nature" to them, and the primary need is to find the type of post
that is to their liking. Some cats prefer upright posts (which is what all
of mine like), while some prefer horizontal. Some like sisal (again, I
would say this seems to be the "preferred" substance), while others will
like other surfaces. Make sure that the posts are very sturdy (especially
uprights) because a cat could become frightened and refuse to use it if one
topples as the cat scratches vigorously. Many of the commercial scratching
posts are much too short and lightweight. PetSmart has some very good ones.
It is also a good idea to trim your cat's claws occasionally. Get
good-quality trimmers that are made especially for this function. Some
people even use "soft claws," but I have no experience with them.

Good luck! And thank you for making the decision not to declaw.

MaryL
(take out the litter to reply)

Photos of Duffy and Holly: 'o'
http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (Introducing Duffy to Holly)
http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in")