Declawing: glad I took the time

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.


First, good for you for not declawing.

Second, if you read that far in this group, you can read a bit
farther and learn how to TRAIN your cat. Every time we get a new
upholstered piece I pin foil to the corners for a couple of weeks,
then
spray one of those citrusy sprays cats hate ( cat repellents,try
Petsmart)
regularly. If I catch them in the act I pick them up, tell them NO,
and place
them by a nice scratching post (of a pad if it's a rug) and take their
little
paws and gently go thought he motion and say "Gooood girl! Good Girl!"
This is a great time to give a treat, too. Then PUT a scratching post
or pad
near the spot. Make sure it has catnip or bells or a toy so your cat
will
prefer it. Cats can learn! Remember, your baby wants to please you.
If the cat tends to scratch something in a room where you often sit,
you can
also keep a water gun or spray bottle there and give her a squirt when
you catch
her in the act.

Don't give your dear cat away. Train her!

wrote in message
...

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.

If you bring her inside she'll probably live a longer and healthier life.

Have you tried to teach her to use a scratching post? A little time, effort
and basic understanding about choosing scratching posts and where to put
them is all it takes.

Here're some tips from an expert:

http://www.maxshouse.com/understanding_scratching.htm


...and there's trimming claws:

http://www.maxshouse.com/Claw%20Trimming.htm


....and how to enrich her indoor environment which will significantly
decrease the risk of inappropriate scratching. Many cats scratch
inappropriately simply because they're stressed because they don't have
anywhere to play and climb and scratch.

http://www.maxshouse.com/Healthy+Happy_Indoors.htm




http://www.maxshouse.com/facts_about_declawing.htm

wrote in message
...

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.

If you bring her inside she'll probably live a longer and healthier life.

Have you tried to teach her to use a scratching post? A little time, effort
and basic understanding about choosing scratching posts and where to put
them is all it takes.

Here're some tips from an expert:

http://www.maxshouse.com/understanding_scratching.htm


...and there's trimming claws:

http://www.maxshouse.com/Claw%20Trimming.htm


....and how to enrich her indoor environment which will significantly
decrease the risk of inappropriate scratching. Many cats scratch
inappropriately simply because they're stressed because they don't have
anywhere to play and climb and scratch.

http://www.maxshouse.com/Healthy+Happy_Indoors.htm




http://www.maxshouse.com/facts_about_declawing.htm

On Sun, 2 Nov 2003 10:03:43 -0600, "MaryL"
-OUT-THE-LITTER wrote:


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")


Your posts are always informative and interesting -- I also admire
your patience. When Princess (RB) came to me as a stray, I covered
my couch and living room chairs with sheet plastic and left it there
until the furniture was no longer of interest. She wore out a
scratching post. TuTu has never bothered the furniture but she, too,
has worn out her post. I either need to recover it or get a new one.I
love to read about Duffy and friends. Good luck. MLB

On Sun, 2 Nov 2003 10:03:43 -0600, "MaryL"
-OUT-THE-LITTER wrote:


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")


Your posts are always informative and interesting -- I also admire
your patience. When Princess (RB) came to me as a stray, I covered
my couch and living room chairs with sheet plastic and left it there
until the furniture was no longer of interest. She wore out a
scratching post. TuTu has never bothered the furniture but she, too,
has worn out her post. I either need to recover it or get a new one.I
love to read about Duffy and friends. Good luck. MLB

"m. L. Briggs" wrote in message
...

Your posts are always informative and interesting -- I also admire
your patience. When Princess (RB) came to me as a stray, I covered
my couch and living room chairs with sheet plastic and left it there
until the furniture was no longer of interest. She wore out a
scratching post. TuTu has never bothered the furniture but she, too,
has worn out her post. I either need to recover it or get a new one.I
love to read about Duffy and friends. Good luck. MLB

Thanks very much. I appreciate the compliments.

I really have been fortunate. My cats have never caused damage. In fact, I
have only had 3 or 4 broken items in all these years. Each of my cats has
demanded lots of attention, but I enjoy that as much as they do. Right now,
Holly is busy marching back and forth in front of the computer monitor
(which she does with great regularity as soon as I start typing). She
instinctively knows where my attention is and is very adept at directing it
back to the "correct" place -- that is, to her!

MaryL

"m. L. Briggs" wrote in message
...

Your posts are always informative and interesting -- I also admire
your patience. When Princess (RB) came to me as a stray, I covered
my couch and living room chairs with sheet plastic and left it there
until the furniture was no longer of interest. She wore out a
scratching post. TuTu has never bothered the furniture but she, too,
has worn out her post. I either need to recover it or get a new one.I
love to read about Duffy and friends. Good luck. MLB

Thanks very much. I appreciate the compliments.

I really have been fortunate. My cats have never caused damage. In fact, I
have only had 3 or 4 broken items in all these years. Each of my cats has
demanded lots of attention, but I enjoy that as much as they do. Right now,
Holly is busy marching back and forth in front of the computer monitor
(which she does with great regularity as soon as I start typing). She
instinctively knows where my attention is and is very adept at directing it
back to the "correct" place -- that is, to her!

MaryL

"m. L. Briggs" wrote in message
...

Your posts are always informative and interesting -- I also admire
your patience. When Princess (RB) came to me as a stray, I covered
my couch and living room chairs with sheet plastic and left it there
until the furniture was no longer of interest. She wore out a
scratching post. TuTu has never bothered the furniture but she, too,
has worn out her post. I either need to recover it or get a new one.I
love to read about Duffy and friends. Good luck. MLB

Extending the theme of this thread, it suddenly occurred to me that I should
have mentioned one cat that caused damage. As I said in my earlier message,
I have always been very fortunate in that none of my cats broke things or
were deliberately destructive. The one cat that caused damage to the
carpeting was also the only cat that had been declawed (four-paw declawed,
before I adopted her), and I always attributed the problem to the fact that
she had been declawed. Starting at about the age of 13 years, she began to
urinate outside the litter box. UTI was ruled out, but this was also
approximately the same time that her blood work first began to show signs of
liver damage. I felt that her failure to use a litter box was probably due
to the fact that she did not have claws. That, in combination with the
onset of arthritis, probably caused pain when she would try to scratch in
the litter box. I searched for the very softest litter I could find, and
that helped -- but did not cure -- the problem. For awhile, I would cover
areas where she would urinate outside the litter box. When it became clear
that this was going to be an ongoing problem, I just let her use the spot
she preferred and I cleaned it as best I could. She was a dear, sweet cat,
and I did not consider this to be a deliberate or malicious act. I
considered it to be a medical problem brought on by age, illness (advancing
liver disease), and pain when trying to scratch in the litter box. After
she died, I had that portion of the carpeting and padding replaced. We also
sealed the concrete floor underneath and even replaced some carpet tack
(strip) where the urine had seeped into the wood. I had a great
veterinarian, and I gave her the best care I could. She lived for another 3
years, although she had originally been given only a few more months to
live. I will forever be grateful for those extra years, and it was well
worth the odor and damaged carpet. That little angel should never have been
exposed to the brutality of declawing.

MaryL

"m. L. Briggs" wrote in message
...

Your posts are always informative and interesting -- I also admire
your patience. When Princess (RB) came to me as a stray, I covered
my couch and living room chairs with sheet plastic and left it there
until the furniture was no longer of interest. She wore out a
scratching post. TuTu has never bothered the furniture but she, too,
has worn out her post. I either need to recover it or get a new one.I
love to read about Duffy and friends. Good luck. MLB

Extending the theme of this thread, it suddenly occurred to me that I should
have mentioned one cat that caused damage. As I said in my earlier message,
I have always been very fortunate in that none of my cats broke things or
were deliberately destructive. The one cat that caused damage to the
carpeting was also the only cat that had been declawed (four-paw declawed,
before I adopted her), and I always attributed the problem to the fact that
she had been declawed. Starting at about the age of 13 years, she began to
urinate outside the litter box. UTI was ruled out, but this was also
approximately the same time that her blood work first began to show signs of
liver damage. I felt that her failure to use a litter box was probably due
to the fact that she did not have claws. That, in combination with the
onset of arthritis, probably caused pain when she would try to scratch in
the litter box. I searched for the very softest litter I could find, and
that helped -- but did not cure -- the problem. For awhile, I would cover
areas where she would urinate outside the litter box. When it became clear
that this was going to be an ongoing problem, I just let her use the spot
she preferred and I cleaned it as best I could. She was a dear, sweet cat,
and I did not consider this to be a deliberate or malicious act. I
considered it to be a medical problem brought on by age, illness (advancing
liver disease), and pain when trying to scratch in the litter box. After
she died, I had that portion of the carpeting and padding replaced. We also
sealed the concrete floor underneath and even replaced some carpet tack
(strip) where the urine had seeped into the wood. I had a great
veterinarian, and I gave her the best care I could. She lived for another 3
years, although she had originally been given only a few more months to
live. I will forever be grateful for those extra years, and it was well
worth the odor and damaged carpet. That little angel should never have been
exposed to the brutality of declawing.

MaryL

If the choice is mutilating the cat or finding her another home, then
absolutely find her another home.

I'm not saying that I strongly feel declawing is "WRONG!!!!!" :-),
but I am going to look into it more before doing it.

After all, animals are animals. Maybe they were never meant to be
domesticated at all. Maybe getting her declawed is better than having
her sleep out in the rain and snow. Roy sure thought his tiger was
"trained."

All the cat owners I know have a very casual attitude towards it, like
it's nothing. So I was ready to follow suit, but decided to research
it.

Poor cat is looking at me through the sliding door: "Make up your
mind, ya freakin' jerk!"