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I was told today by my husbands transplant doctors that if I want to keep my cat I have to declaw him. They said if hubby is scratched by the cat he could get a nasty infection that could kill him. I’ve always been so against declawing a cat because I don’t feel I have the right to do that to another living animal. My cat has always been very playful and yes he does scratch alot. I’m just so upset at the thought of putting him thru such an operation and the emotional trauma it will cause him afterwards. Am I a bad person for doing this? I know the kitty claw covers will not work on him and he will just chew them off. He never goes outside and is an indoor only cat. I just don’t feel like I have a right to put him thru something like that.
Oh that’s really a hard thing 🙁
Here is a site that gives some information about declawing cats. It might give you some insight.For the record I am totally against doing that to cats 🙁
I am sorry but I really feel that declawing is inhumane. 🙁 so sorry you’ve been put in this situation.
Of course you’re not a bad person!! Take that back right now, missy!!Of course you want what’s best for your husband. He’s health has to come first. What I don’t understand is that the doctors may want you to declaw the cat but that still leaves the hind claws (no vet in the world would take both front and back). And they can’t tell you that there is no risk of your cat clawing with his hind paws…in fact he is more likely to do that if you take away the front ones.
I’ve always been against declawing cats. My parents did it to one of our first cats and I freaked. But they did it out of selfish reasons…they didn’t like him scratching the furniture when all they needed to do was buy a scratching post. Unfortunately I can’t find a single website that advocates such a permanent procedure. If your cat is still a kitten, it has a better chance of surviving the surgery without risking creating behavioural problems as a result. But that’s about all the good news I can give you about the surgery.
If this is just until your husband is healed and mobile, my recommendation would be to ask if a friend or family member would be willing to keep him for a little while. But if that is to be a permanent thing, I’d look at giving him away, even to a shelter if need be. Look around for non-kill shelters in the area if you have to.
Of course this is only my opinion but if you’re like me, my cats are my kids and I wouldn’t want to do something like that to them. I’m really, really sorry this got dumped on you with everything else that’s happening. I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through but please know that there are people (I’m one, even if we never meet in RL) who care about you and are sending you their best thoughts and tons of *hugs*
One option is clipping your cats nails so they are not as sharp. I do mine about once a month, this does not hurt them and makes sure indoor cats nails don’t get to long and start to curl under.
The only thing is if you cat is very active, it might be a challenge 😛
Also make sure you don’t cut to short or it will hurt them and then they will resist next time.I belive declawing a cat is inhumane as well. My cat is over a year old but he loves to play and most of the time will use his claws. When he gets too rough we stop playing but I do get scratched alot. I’m going to talk with his vet and see what they recommend. There has to be some other alternative to having him declawed. I just don’t know what to do. I had to give away one of my cats 3 years ago because of medical reasons and I’ve never gotten over it. I feel like part of my soul was taken from me when I had to give him away. I really don’t want to give this one away too and I don’t know anyone that I would be comfortable with giving him to. Back when we first started this whole transplant thing the only thing they said about my cat was that hubby would not be able to clean the litter box. They never said anything about having to declaw my cat.
They are probably worried about Cat Scratch Disease. It is most common in out door cats and young kittens. I wouldn’t declaw the cat over this. They can spread it though bites also and I am sure you won’t defang your cat. They are worried because your husband will have a weakend immune system…
Here is an article:
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/healthy/firstaid/bites/024.html
Does anyone have any experience with soft paws (caps for over your cats claws)? I think I may try these this week and see how it goes. I have a feeling he will chew them right off but I’m going to give it a try anyway.
maybe clipping the nails regularly will help. With three small kids around that’s what I’ve ended up doing. You may have to lightly squirt him/her with a water bottle when they scratch as well to perhaps stifle their urge to scratch playfully. let us know how it goes. 🙂
Well, they’re put on with a bit of adhesive so they should not come off easily. The first time you should really do it with your vet to make sure you do it properly. After that, you can just buy them and use a tiny bit of crazy glue. They wear off in about 4-6 weeks but you have to be careful because they don’t wear off evenly, so you might have one come off, then another a week later. But it does really help. Before I had to trim their nails every other week.
I’ve always trained my cats to have regular nail trimmings. He is really good about it but he still scratches pretty hard with trimmed claws. I think the soft paws may be my only alternative. If they don’t work then I will have to look into declawing him but I don’t think I will be able to live with myself if I do that. Oh and the squirt bottle doesn’t work, he likes to get wet (he is a crazy cat).
hehe…I met a cat once who liked swimming of all things 🙄 . I hope the softpaws work for you, sounds like kitten mittens! 🙂
Is it possible to make sure that your husband and the cat are separated at all times (i.e., make sure that the cat never comes into your husband’s room or put a screen around your husband if he’s in a common area)?
mimitrek wrote:Is it possible to make sure that your husband and the cat are separated at all times (i.e., make sure that the cat never comes into your husband’s room or put a screen around your husband if he’s in a common area)?
No the cat loves him to death. I think he would die of a heart attack if he knew my husband was just beyond the door. As it is now he has a fit every time I come home and hubby isn’t with me. I put my husband on speaker phone so the cat can hear him.
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