declawing cats

[julie]

I live in brick nj and I need help finding someone who is charging a whole lot less than a regular vet to have my cats declawed. The first one that HAS to be done is 4 yrs old and they are quoting me 4- 500.00 dollers per cat. There is no way being a single person I can afford that price. SO, could someone advise me to an alternative to contact! thank you

[tbt]

Julie, why are you declawing your cats?

[Vonnie]

declawing your cat is your choise. but have you thought about "soft paws"? they are a little plastic cap, like fake nails for women, that you glue onto your cats nails. you do have to change them every now and then, but i've heard they're a really good alternitave to declawing. please look into the soft paws before you declaw. and the probable reason your vet is charging so much is because lots of vets are now finding the whole declawing inhumane and unsafe for the cat, because its removing the cats main line of defense.
like i said, declawing is your choise, but please look at all your options first.

[April]

Soft paws works great!! No offense, but imo, declawing a cat is extremely inhumane. They are actually starting to ban the practice in some cities in the United States. Have you exhausted every option before deciding to declaw? If not, please consider the soft paws like Vonnie suggested. Trimming your cat's claws is also an inexpensive, humane alternative to declawing. You could also try providing your cat with ample scratching posts. If one post doesn't work, get a second one, and experiment with their locations. You could also try spraying the forbidden areas with feliway. Although Feliway is not marketed for anti-furniture shredding, some behaviorists believe it may be useful to curb undesirable scratching. Good luck. And I hope you consider the alternatives before you actually go through with the declawing.

[James scotto]

Julie,

Sorry to mingle in your business, but declawing is very cruel. Cat's need and want their claws for many reasons that are vital to their happiness and well being.

[Gina]

Hi Julie

I am against declawing cats but you have to understand it is painful and especially at that age in their life it is VERY VERY VERY painful for an adult cat to go through that. and there are lots of complications that can arise from it. When I didn't know all the facts about declawing I wanted mine declawed too but I read up and researched it and decided against it. and there is a lot of complications that could happen when they put the cat under anesthesia too.

http://www.declawing.com/htmls/declawing.htm

If you keep cutting the cats claws about once a week and leave ample scratching posts they really won't cut up your furniture. there are alternatives

http://amby.com/cat_site/declaw.html

also you can also get those cute claw press on nails almost that they wear so they won't scratch. they are called soft paws

http://cats.about.com/cs/declawing/fr/softclaws.htm

I hope this helps. it will save you a lot of money too because declawing is super expensive!

[Rita DiGaetano]

Don't declaw your cats! Why do you feel that you need to declaw them? If you get a cat a scratching post they will use it...I have had cats all my life, and as soon as they were kitten, I would take them to the scratching post and rub their paws on the post and they get it right away. None have ever scratched on anything but the post. Even an old cat can learn to use a scratching post. Cats instinctively have to scratch and if you don't give them an area where its okay for them to scratch they will do it anywhere. If your cats like catnip then buy the spray kind and spray on the post. There are so many different kinds, most cat trees have a scratching post.

Good luck please reconsider the declawing..it is awful, they remove the entire bone, and they will have problems and pain forever, not to mention that it is a cats only defense.

[Belles]

Obviously Julie has never bothered to return and if she's read any of our posts pleading with her not to commit such a callous and heinous act against her animals.. she doesn't care.

Is it just me or do people like this make me want to crawl through my computer screen and slap the wind out of them. I'm generally a very non-violent person, but it's posts like this that chaps me!

Sorry, but you don't own animals if you can't afford for veterinary care (what if this wasn't declawing and it was an actualy animal emergency?) - being single is NO EXCUSE!!

Declawing is a nice term for AMPUTATION and has been banned in some communities in America.. it should be banned everywhere and any vet who performs it for the convenience of their client needs to have their head examined and probably shouldn't be in practice anymore!!

There, off my soap box!

[Michael William Shea]

Belles and everyone else against declawing is absolutely correct. I will not do it in my practice and either will the rest of my staff. It is not necessary, and there are other ways to correct there behaviour problems. Mine, scratch on the trees, and scratching posts, they have never scratched on my furniture.

[Jenny Wilkie]

I couldn't believe what the declawing process entailed when I read about it. I felt so bad that we'd had our cats declawed in the past (one in the 1970s and two in the early 90's)...had we known what it was all about, we never would have done it.
My cat now isn't declawed, but I am curious about the soft-claws product...has anyone used them and do they work?

[Delilah]

I haven't used them but saw them in the store and they look kind of like the little plastic tip you sometimes get on a new push pen. I plan on trying them with my kitten if I need something. She is 3 months now so I am still just shooing her away from the furniture. If she attempts to use the couch as scratching post I just put her on one her posts or toys. I, too, declawed my previous cats and felt so bad about it when I found out what it entailed.

[julie]

MEAN PEOPLE SUCK!!!!!! (BELLES)

[Lisa]

Being single, I agree, is NO excuse. Seeing as when I was single I had way more extra money than after getting married and having kids!!

I did not grow up with cats though I do have two cats now. They are declawed, but they were declawed as kittens 10 and 12 years ago basically. If I were to ever adopt another cat/kitten, declawing wouldn't be an option. And I especially think for a 4 year old cat it would be very difficult and painful.