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I'll Be Your Huckleberry
Posts: 1488
  
Location: Arizona | I was surprised with an 8 week old, doll faced Persian, for my birthday  I'm not a cat person...really I'm not, my husband is even less of one but he fell in love and brought him home and he stole my heart too. Now, I don't want him clawing up my furniture but after doing some research don't think declawing is a route I want to take. Do any of you cat owners use the soft claws or soft paws claw covers? They seem like the perfect solution. I just want to know of any pros/cons of them and also pros and cons of declawing if the soft claws are not a good option. Thanks! |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | i dont declaw mine and i have 3 in the house......if you give them a good scratching post and get after them for scratching anything else, they learn..............:)
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 Stinky Cat Owner
Posts: 4097
Location: Oregon | mruggles - 2014-05-02 1:35 PM i dont declaw mine and i have 3 in the house......if you give them a good scratching post and get after them for scratching anything else, they learn..............:)
m
Ditto. And a squirt bottle works great for getting after them. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| Get them a scratching post and they'll leave other things alone. Squirt bottle is your friend and their nightmare!
Edited by FlyingJT 2014-05-02 3:41 PM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 356
| We have used the soft paws on one that absolutely would not be deterred from scratching and had great luck! They can be a pain to put on but definitely worth it to save the furniture! |
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 BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25352
Location: Bastrop, Texas | I tried those glue-on caps several years ago and couldn't get them to stay on. I even tried clipping the claws...half the time they bled all over hell, plus if you've ever tried that you know what it's like! I ended up losing a half unit of blood and had to get a tetanus shot to boot. |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | Get a scratching post and catnip the sh!t out of it. And really get after it if goes for the couch. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 209
| We had to declaw one of our cats, no matter what we did he was going after furniture. Our vet did declaw using Laser Surgery, they said it was a lot nicer and easier for the cats and he was his usual self within a day after the procedure. |
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | I just buy cardboard scratchers, we have a post, and I trim his nails with human nail clippers from time to time. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | We got my cat a scratching post and get after her and now she is 9 and doesn't even think about doing it anymore. |
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  Rebel Without a Cause
Posts: 2758
Location: Adopt a homeless pet - www.petfinder.com! | Definintely get a scratching post. Imagine cutting off your finger at the first knuckle, that's basically what declawing is. I didn't know that until we took in a stray that had been declawed and her paws felt soft and mushy at the edges. I asked my vet about it and he told me what they do to declaw. He wasn't a fan of it.
Edited by Calangelo 2014-05-02 10:02 PM
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | FlyingJT - 2014-05-02 3:40 PM
Get them a scratching post and they'll leave other things alone. Squirt bottle is your friend and their nightmare!
Quite right... but it would be most unfortunate if you have one of those cats that love water...
signed: Kitteh Master.. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1718
Location: Southeast Louisiana | You might get lucky with the Persian breed. I've only ever had one cat in the house and it was a Persian. He never showed any interest in scratching much of anything. He never showed any interest in anything for that matter. He was lazy and just didn't want people touching him, because... how dare we. lol. I don't know if it's just the breed. But, I'd wait until he gets older to see what his personality will be like. You might not need to declaw. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| I have 3 indoor/ outdoor cats. They have 2 cat trees in the house and have never touched the furniture. We are building a new house, ugly cat trees are going to go in the mud room so I bought this little tree to put in the living room. Found it on Woot for 1/2 price.
Design Banana Leaf 3-Shelf Hangout Furniture- 52008
Design Banana Leaf 3-Shelf Hangout Furniture- 52008
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 448
Location: lone star state | My son got a cat for Christmas. I'm with u not a cat person but this is a pretty cool cat so....I trim his claws weekly it helps. I'm opposed to reclawing in case he ends up outside later.... |
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 Expert
Posts: 1482
Location: on my horse | I finally got some nice furniture and went crazy and put a scratching post by every couch and dumped catnip all over them all lol |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
Location: USA | Definitely make sure you have anough scratching posts! Mine have a few set up and they scratch the heck outta those but not the furniture =) |
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 The Vaccinator
Posts: 3810
Location: Slipping down the slope of old age. Boo hoo. | Congratulations on your new kitty / new family member!! When we married my husband was a totally non cat person and now he has TWO of his own (that's why we have 3 indoor cats). He was won over and has two rescues. The most recent is a black female, Tara, whom I think he would just about lay down his life for! They are totally bonded. It's pretty amazing how much we enjoy our cats and how much they interact with us. They bring us toys to play with them. And we play! (We are very well trained people).
I have had indoor cats for many, many years with no issues with them scratching my furniture. You MUST provide them with other options, i.e. the flat cardboard scratchers... the uprights and provide them with their own "tree" to scratch on and to "get up high" as cats' natural instinct is to go high. I also bought a S-curve looking thing several years ago that has a sisal scratch area on it. That thing is the bomb. My cats love that thing. I'm don't know why, but it's the best $15 I ever spent for them. Also if they attempt to scratch on your furniture, scold quickly with a loud NO and clap your hands. Reward them when they use their cardboard or post... a stroke and good kitty -- Yes, cats can be trained and work well off reward. (I actually have trained cats to walk on a leash and bathe my cats.) My cats come to me when I whistle (trained them to do this by giving a treat each time -- now they come to me when I whistle and just get a nice stroke / petting and are happy -- I began wondering years ago if the same principles of horse training -- rewarding good behavior would work on cats. It does! It's been pretty fun training them and certainly amazes visitors.)
We just moved into our new home a few weeks ago. We placed a pet door in our laundry room that opens into our garage -- that's where our kitty litter boxes are and also they are fed in the garage. I keep their water dish in the laundry room by the laundry sink so I can refresh it several times a day. So I had to teach the cats to use that door - had to teach them to push through the flap. They have learned and learned pretty quickly. One cat is 14 and one is 11 and one is 2. They all learned just fine. We had "training" every night after dinner -- for about 15 minutes..... they got brushed and petted for good behavior, i.e. going through the door when I whistled / called.
I declawed a cat about 30 years and swore I would NEVER do it again. It was terrible. The cats suffer so much.... I decided I would learn what to do to avoid it and I did and have. It takes a commitment to provide your cat with options -- the things they naturally need. Do that and they will be fine. But that - in my opinion - is the responsibility of having a pet - providing them what they need. |
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Expert
Posts: 1482
Location: on my horse | also pics of your new little fluff ball or it didn't happen  |
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | For the most part our cats never claw at anything, but one of ours was kind of acting like she wanted to claw the new couches (usually when she was being a hyper maniac...she'd run hot laps, stop and scratch at the couch, take off again) and my mom got this clear tape that you stick to the couch. You honestly could not see it at all and it made the cats not want to scratch the couch. |
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I'll Be Your Huckleberry
Posts: 1488
Location: Arizona | Thanks everyone! He is an awesome kitty, very friendly and playful. We got him a 3 tiered cat house/scratching post today. He doesn't seem interested yet because he is so young. I'm going to order the soft paws when he is 3 months old and try them out. I've heard Persians are very laid back but this one is so affectionate. I will attach a picture of my little Simba.
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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | how precious! we always had our barn cats (that obviously had claws) come inside in the super hot and super cold weather. Squirt bottles and we gave them plenty of things to keep them busy and we never had a problem. and I had to squirt them a maximum of 5 times before the figured out what unwanted behavior was. |
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Expert
Posts: 1482
Location: on my horse | omg!!     I want to kiss his little head!!! |
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Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| He is so cute!!! |
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I'll Be Your Huckleberry
Posts: 1488
Location: Arizona | Thanks guys! |
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The Vaccinator
Posts: 3810
Location: Slipping down the slope of old age. Boo hoo. | He is adorable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Expert
Posts: 1255
| I got some cats from the pound and wasn't sure if they would get furniture so I bought a scratching post and put cat nip on it and they love it there's also a spray in pet dept at walk mart that keeps them from scratching tho I haven't used it. |
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7268
| Well, I am giving in and taking 2 in to be declawed this week. I tried the Soft Paws - they do work but they are a PAIN to put on and hard to keep on. My cats have destroyed my leather furniture and now have started on the walls - they are strictly indoor cats so they are going to have to be declawed - they could care less about a scratching post. |
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I'll Be Your Huckleberry
Posts: 1488
Location: Arizona | Griz - 2014-05-05 5:56 AM
Well, I am giving in and taking 2 in to be declawed this week. I tried the Soft Paws - they do work but they are a PAIN to put on and hard to keep on. My cats have destroyed my leather furniture and now have started on the walls - they are strictly indoor cats so they are going to have to be declawed - they could care less about a scratching post.
I'm sorry to hear that Griz! He is going to be strictly an indoor cat as well mainly because of his breed. I am deathly afraid he is going to tear up my furniture so I'm going to try the soft paws asap. If they really don't work out and he starts scratching what he is not supposed to his fate will be the same. Keeping my fingers crossed he doesn't! I've had several cats growing up and none of them were "scratchers" I wonder what predisposes one to do it? I'm hoping since Persians are supposed to be so laid back that he won't even want to scratch. |
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