If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#31
|
|||
|
|||
Best Method for Declawing a Cat?
Looking for a clue. If none of the stories on here have given you a *clue* by now, then I will depart and give you a final one or two. 1:Have the wife declawed whilst your at it! 2:Learn to read like I did..... Seriously, I mean it-If your wife is all for it, then make sure she has it done before the cat's, then if she still feels it is the best option, then I would to conceed to you.Somehow, I think that you will find the problem will disappear S. |
#32
|
|||
|
|||
Best Method for Declawing a Cat?
I really think that the OP is a troll. If not, the obvious solution is
a heavy plastic cover for the couch. ---MIKE--- In the White Mountains of New Hampshire (44° 15' N - Elevation 1580') |
#33
|
|||
|
|||
Best Method for Declawing a Cat?
"eDog" wrote in message . .. Although I am against it, a new and rather expensive leather sofa has raised the possibility of declawing my 3 cats. If I have to get them declawed what is the best way to do it? What kinds of questions should I ask the vet? What kind of equipment should he have/use? Simply declawing their front paws may not accomplish much with regard to protecting the furniture. Also, I am going to ask in a separate thread: If I keep my cats nails trimmed short will they still be able to (unintentionally) damage my leather sofa? -- Looking for a clue. Best method is not to. Get a heavy throw to place over the couch and use soft paws. I'd also complain to the couch manufacturer that the leather is too easily marked and perhaps isn't the same quality that you saw in the store as you said you tried scratching it there and couldn't W |
#34
|
|||
|
|||
Best Method for Declawing a Cat?
Now that you mention it, I am reminded of a cat that my mother had which
developed issues with the litter box later in life. The problem seemed to start when another cat was brought into the house. This cat bullied my mothers cat and would attack her when she was in the litter box. But now that I think about it, even when the cats were finally separated "Cassandra" would still bolt out of the litter box in a sort of panic without burying her business. Perhaps it was an issue of pain in the claws. But in her case I think it was more likely an exagerated fear of being caught making feces by a predator or bully. I know my cats will miss their claws if they are declawed. They have a 30 inch scratching post which they love to climb upon and man handle with all fours. It will break my heart every time I see that they are no longer able to do this. As I said in another post in this thread, I tried to find leather that would hold up under minor scratching much as another piece of leather furniture I own does. Unfortunately I failed in this. I also was unable to steer the missus to a cheaper sofa. Now I am faced with the delemma that if my wife feels she can never have anything nice because of the cats, she will become UNHAPPY. If I am to save the cats claws I am going to have to find a way to touch up the surface scratches, make a visible effort with the soft paws and convince my wife that she is not going to have to live with a sofa that is under a blanket 24/7/365. It feels like a long shot. "MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in : Yes, I realized after I sent the message that I should have asked you not to let your wife (not your "husband") talk you into declawing. Please, though, -- Looking for a clue. |
#35
|
|||
|
|||
Best Method for Declawing a Cat?
eDog wrote: Now that you mention it, I am reminded of a cat that my mother had which developed issues with the litter box later in life. The problem seemed to start when another cat was brought into the house. This cat bullied my mothers cat and would attack her when she was in the litter box. But now that I think about it, even when the cats were finally separated "Cassandra" would still bolt out of the litter box in a sort of panic without burying her business. Perhaps it was an issue of pain in the claws. But in her case I think it was more likely an exagerated fear of being caught making feces by a predator or bully. I know my cats will miss their claws if they are declawed. It's not a matter of them "missing" their claws - it's a matter of them becoming maimed. Declawing removes the last section of the toe - not just the claw. 4-paw declawing is so cruel most vets won't even do it. Also, your cats are likely to become biters and urinate inappropriately once they are declawed. Those are the two most common after effects of declawing. If wifey doesn't like scratched furniture you can be assured she won't like pee-soaked furniture any better. Here are some reports of problems assocated with declawing (from one of my old posts): 1. "Four percent of the cats began to defecate out of box and 12% began to bite after onychectomy." ref: Bennett M, Houpt KA, Erb HN. Effects of declawing on feline behavior. Comp Anim Pract 1988;2:7-12. 2. Retrospective survey of 887 cat owners from private practices. Clients were asked to fill out a survey on the incidence of aggressive behaviors in their cats. "Twenty three percent of declawed cats bit family members; 2.3% of each seriously enough for medical attention." ref: Borchelt PL, Voith VL. Aggressive behavior in cats. Compend Contin Educ Pract Vet 1987;9:49-57. 3. "Twenty four percent of the cats had short-term postoperative complications including, two hemorrhage, one infection, and one change in behavior. Mean and median days until walking normally were 6.3 and 7 days, respectively, range 1-21 days. One cat did not walk normally for 180 days." ref: Jankowski AJ, Brown DC, Duval J, et al. Comparison of effects of elective tenectomy or onychectomy in cats. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1998;213:370-373. 4. Retrospective written survey of private practice clients. Owners reported that "34% had discomfort post-surgically, primarily tenderness (78%). Cats done 1 yr had more post-surgical discomfort; 41% were still allowed outdoors. 4% reported a possible increase in biting or harder biting." ref: Landsberg GM. Cat owners'; attitudes toward declawing. Anthrozoos 1991;4:192-197 5. Retrospective mail survey of veterinarians. 320/400 returned questionnaires. "78.4% of the vets did not advocate declawing. 47% veterinarians' recollections indicated no problems, 53% reported complications; 24.9% reported nail regrowth, 9.9% reported additional long term problems." ref: Landsberg GM. Declawing is controversial but saves pets. A veterinarian survey. Vet Forum 1991;8:66-67. 6. Assessment of complications seven days and six months post-surgery, in a clinical setting. Two techniques for onychectomy and two adhesives for wound closure were compared. "66% of the cats returned for both one week and six-month clinician rechecks. Lameness occurred in 21% of all cats. Dehiscence (opening of the wound) occurred in 34% of all cats." ref: Martinez SA, Hauptmann J, Walshaw R. Comparing two techniques for onychectomy in cats and two adhesives for wound closure. Vet Med 1993; 88:516-525. 7. Cross sectional internet survey. "19.6% cats in the study were declawed. Complication rates after declawing were not reported. Declawed cats showed more house soiling (25%)." ref: Morgan M, Houpt KA. Feline behavior problems: the influence of declawing. Anthrozoos 1989;3:50-53. 8. Case-control study of owned and relinquished cats involving a random digit dial (phone) survey of cat owners. "Prevalence of declawing was 45%(476/1056) in the owned cat population. Among 218 cats relinquished to a shelter, more (52.4%) declawed cats than non-declawed cats (29.1%) were reported by owners to have inappropriate elimination". ref: Patronek, GJ, Glickman LT, Beck AM, et al. Risk factors for relinquishment of cats to an animal shelter. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1996;209:582-588. 9. Retrospective phone follow-up of clients. "39/98 owners whose cats underwent elective onychectomy or tendonectomy were contacted two months to five years (median 11.5 months) after surgery. 80% had more than one medical complication. 33% developed at least one behavior problem; 15.4% would not use the litter box and 17.9% had an increase in biting habits or intensity". ref: Yeon SC, Flanders JA, Scarlett JM, et al. Attitudes of owners regarding tendonectomy and onychectomy in cats. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2001;218:43-47. And mo 1. Veterinary Surgery Journal: 50% post surgical complication rate (Vet Surg 1994 Jul-Aug;23(4):274-80) 2. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association: 19.8% long-term complication rate (J Am Vet Med Assoc 1998 Aug 1;213(3):370-3) "high complication rate for [declawing]" (J Am Vet Med Assoc 1998 Aug 1;213(3):370-3) Declawing is 100% preventable. "The most common reason for considering declawing is to avoid damage caused by the cat scratching household materials", which can be dealth with by less invasive measures (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2001 Jan 1;218(1):43-7) 3. World Small Animal Veterinary Association - 2001: Greater incidence of inappropriate elimination problems: More "(52.4%) declawed cats than non-declawed cats (29.1%) were reported by owners to have inappropriate elimination problems." Greater incidence of long-term behavior problems : "(33%) developed at least one behavior problem." "(17.9%) had an increase in biting habits or intensity." "(15.4%) would not use the litter box" "Where possible legislation should be enacted to prohibit the performance of non-therapeutic surgical procedures for purely cosmetic purposes, in particular; d. Declawing and defanging." 4. Canadian Veterinary Journal: Declawing puts cats at risk for leg fracture (Can Vet J 1998 Jun;39(6):337-8) And, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Furthermore, The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, a group of over *60,000* veterinarians are completely against declawing unless there is a medical issue (avulsued nail, etc.). In addition, there are many, many lisenced veterinarians who have spoken out against declawing in public forums and published journals. The Cat Fancier's assosciation is against declawing. I can provide references for unsubstantiated statements in this paragraph, if anyone is interested. We (multiple posters) have posted numerous ways to curb scratching behavior and redirect it to appropriate scratching surfaces. The links provided in this thread provide multiple soultions. If you have not found them yet, you either don't care or don't read very carefully. So, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and list a few here (off the top of my head): 1. Sticky Paws 2. Frequent nail trims 3. SoftPaws 4. Feliaway 5. Large, substantial cat trees/posts that have multiple scratching surfaces available 6. Catnip on the trees, above 7. Throw rugs turned inside-out, and rolled up and secured, which serve as scratching toys 8. Turbo mouse scratching pad The scenarios/solutions are endless. http://www.stopdeclaw.com, http://www.catscratching.com/, and http://www.maxshouse.com have many solutions. Declawing is the lazy person's way of dealing with scratching "problems". With a little effort on the part of the owner, cats can be trained to scratch appropriately, and/or scratching can be made into a non-issue. But one must be motivated to make these methods work, and not simply say "he won't use the post, I'll declaw him". That is the coward's solution. They have a 30 inch scratching post which they love to climb upon and man handle with all fours. It will break my heart every time I see that they are no longer able to do this. Well then tell your wife to get over her fixation on the material. Sheesh! A 30 inch scratching post isn't sufficient. Multiple cats in a househole require a cat TREE with multiple, different scratching surfaces. As I said in another post in this thread, I tried to find leather that would hold up under minor scratching much as another piece of leather furniture I own does. Unfortunately I failed in this. I also was unable to steer the missus to a cheaper sofa. So you knowingly bought a piece of furniture that the cats would damage, and now you are whining that the cats are damaging it. Not real bright. Put your foot down and stand up to your wife. Declawing is NOT a solution. Now I am faced with the delemma that if my wife feels she can never have anything nice because of the cats, she will become UNHAPPY. Too bad. You should have put your foot down when wifey insisted on furniture that the cats could ruin. If I am to save the cats claws I am going to have to find a way to touch up the surface scratches, make a visible effort with the soft paws and convince my wife that she is not going to have to live with a sofa that is under a blanket 24/7/365. It feels like a long shot. Buy a cat TREE, and some Sticky Paws, trim the cat's nails, follow the links I provided and find a solution. Do not declaw your cats - it's barbaric and inhumane. And if that fails (which it won't if you are persistent) tell wifey to get over it. Maiming another being for aesthetics is unconscionable - a fact you already know but won't admit. -L. |
#36
|
|||
|
|||
Best Method for Declawing a Cat?
I had an Ethan Allen piece that is normall covered in fabric covered
with one of their available selections of leather. It's a burgundy color. Scratching the hell out of it with my own nails did little to reveal how it would fare under the cats nails. I would suggest two things about leather: (1) Black is the easiest color to match as far as inexpensive touchup techniques. A magic marker might do, but they make polishes for restoring the color to leather and black is black. (2) If you look at the underside of the leather you can get a feel for whether or not the suede absorbed the dye as well. If the underside is light like untreated suede the scratches will reveal the suede underbelly. It's still a mystery why my old cheaper sofa has held up so well. If I knew what kind of leather it was I would recommend that to the group. Lynne wrote in : I plan on buying a new set of leather furniture when my basement is finished. What brand and what type and color of finish did you buy so I can avoid it? -- Looking for a clue. |
#37
|
|||
|
|||
Best Method for Declawing a Cat?
I have heard there is a new form of declawing, although I am not for
declawing unless it is an absolute need but it is done by laser and the recovery time is almost immediate, a day or so. eDog wrote: Although I am against it, a new and rather expensive leather sofa has raised the possibility of declawing my 3 cats. If I have to get them declawed what is the best way to do it? What kinds of questions should I ask the vet? What kind of equipment should he have/use? Simply declawing their front paws may not accomplish much with regard to protecting the furniture. Also, I am going to ask in a separate thread: If I keep my cats nails trimmed short will they still be able to (unintentionally) damage my leather sofa? |
#38
|
|||
|
|||
Best Method for Declawing a Cat?
Thank you. This is helpful.
"Wendy" wrote in : complain to the couch manufacturer that the leather is too easily marked and perhaps isn't the same quality that you saw in the store as you said you tried scratching it there and couldn't |
#39
|
|||
|
|||
Best Method for Declawing a Cat?
Yup, that's alrady not allowed.
What happens when the cat wants to sleep next you in bed? At least it's not allowed when she's in the bed. I regularly get to nap with all three of them in the bed. We have different schedules and that works out pretty well. I can see her point at night. There is always some kind of antics going on between the 3 of them at 3 in the morning. We lock them out of the bedroom at night. When I used to live alone and had a different pair of cats (deceased now) they frequently woke meup at night. If I tried locking them out of the room they would cry at the door and tear up the linoleum in the hallway. It was less trouble to allow them into my bed and just send them packing when they started to misbehave. The three cats I have now do a pretty good job of keeping each other company at night, but they do love those daytime naps with daddy when they get a chance. |
#40
|
|||
|
|||
Best Method for Declawing a Cat?
If I were *personally* in favor of declawing my cats, I would have
already done so. I have been doing nothing but reading websites about cats and their claws for the last three days. I trust very few of the sites. They are all reading off the exact same set of "quotes" like the talking points on Sunday morning TV. I am leaning against declawing the cats because I think that even if I assumed a front declaw was something they would "get over", and it probably is, a four paw declaw is really tempting fate that something will go wrong. I didn't get these cats so I could hurt them. I got them so I could pamper them and make them the happiest luckiest cats I know of. By simply owning a cat in an apartment which you never let outside of the house (like I can't) you are asking an awful lot from it. Over time the cat will become less active and give up hunting for luxuriating around the house. It will trade darwinian stresses for security and boredom.."a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage" so to speak. Nobody ever asked them if that's the choice they wanted to make. At least we humans can blame Pink Floyd. And I do hope you are a vegan and that your cats are vegans too. There is probably more animal cruelty in every chicken breast than there is in a typical declawing operation on a cat. "-L." wrote in news:1169233234.073470.286300@ 11g2000cwr.googlegroups.com: Declawing removes the last section of the toe - not just the claw. - |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|