I’ve never understood the big fuss about declawing cats. I had a cat that clawed so much that she was making my life miserable, and I was ready to drop her off at the pound. I had her declawed, she was a bit uncomfortable for a few days, but once it healed, she lead a happy healthy life until she dies of old age. I now have 3 cats who aren’t declawed, because they just don’t claw that much.
There are millions of cats out there who are put to sleep every year, and if only 1% of people who don’t own cats, would if they were declawed, then the lives of thousands of cats would be saved.
Declaw him! His claws are causing not only YOU (and your other cats, and anyone else who tries to handle him) pain and trouble, but him. It’s a painful surgery but he is a cat, your pet, you own him, and have to live with him. You’ll do all you can to make his recovery smooth and easy (hopefully it’s easier to administer pain medication than it is to trim his nails - I really like the liquid dispensers as opposed to pills, maybe you could request that) and your lives will all be better afterwards.
My cat is a bit wild and hates everyone but me, too, so I identify. But I really lucked out - she ‘trims’ her own claws and keeps them much shorter than most cats. I watch her do it as she’s grooming, she bites at the bottom of the nail sheath and pulls off the entire outer layer of each claw. Then spits a hollow claw shell onto the floor.
I have a lot of pet experience and mine are usually well-behaved and well-trained. With my crazy cat I did all this stuff (well, tried) but my cat has been bat shit crazy and human aggressive, since she was about 8 weeks old. The problem with mine, and probably the OPs, is that we found them at a young age (4 weeks in my case) and raised them without littermates. Apparently this is incredibly bad for the social behavior and sanity of a growing cat. If I had been aware at the time, I would have gotten another kitten, but by the time I was googling ‘INSANE BIPOLAR KITTEN’ it was too late.
I took both of my kitties to be de-clawed (front only) at the same time. One was about 1 year old, and the other was already about 7 when I adopted him. My cat-only vet did it, no questions asked. And when I got them home, I have never seen any adverse effect from it. The funny thing is, they don’t realize they’re de-clawed, so they do what they can to ruin the furniture, without damaging it at all.
To clarify a few things, the cat is not in any way vicious, although he is aggressive. He’s actually rather affectionate, if aggressively so (did I mention feral?). It’s not as though he’s all claws out all the time on purpose, it’s that even before they were overgrown he never really learned how to properly retract them (he’s not the world’s brightest cat), so when he touches you, he scratches you. And he gets stuck in stuff. Actually, come to think of it, one of the first days we had him he got his claw stuck in the side of a chair, gave up, and fell asleep that way.
Also, I’ve never actually had him knocked out for the purpose of trimming his claws, it’s just that when he’s had to be knocked out for some other reason they’ve taken the opportunity.
And finally, I am under no circumstances giving up this cat. Yeah, he’s a pain in the ass, but he’s MY pain in the ass. Things would have to be pretty dire for me to consider giving up an animal that I love and that I’ve accepted responsibility for, and this is not dire.
I probably won’t have him declawed. I was frustrated last night, but I recognize that there’s a possibility that particular solution could just create a bunch of other problems, and frankly I’m inclined to take the devil I know. I’m going to talk to my vet about whether there’s something I can give him that’s safe but will make him more, um, pliable. Maybe a bit of kitty benadryl could solve all my problems.
Just remember, if your cat is declawed, he/she has lost one of his/her primary defenses. And doesn’t know it. If he/she gets loose, he/she cannot defend her/himself adequately.
I’d rather have a few torn curtains than a dead or mangled pet.
This doesn’t surprise me - Chicago is fairly progressive, cropping and docking is harder to come by in this city, too. That said, there are some still around who will do it, or if a case is presented in such a way as the OP’s they may go ahead with it. The vets I know who will do it, use laser and fentanyl and do a fair bit of counseling before and after. I think it’s regional, too, and more rural areas may tend to still think it’s just a fine way to generate revenue.
You can try Benadryl (diphenhydramine) at 1mg per pound, so if he’s 12 pounds he would get 1/2 of a 25mg tablet, with some wiggle room up or down a couple pounds. Do be aware that some cats/dogs, just like some people, have the opposite reaction and it may make him hyper. It will wear off in 6 hours or so.
Sorry your silly dude is so difficult in this respect. I had one kitty that was very difficult and bonded to me at the shelter where I work. I was the only person there who could handle her without getting whacked. I still have no idea why she liked and trusted me so much. When I finally took her home, nail trims were an issue. I had to tackle her with a doubled-up thick blanket and just hold her until she stopped freaking out. Turns out, she was anticipating the pain of getting quicked - or even close to getting quicked. I guess her nails were extra sensitive to the pressure so even just getting a little too close without quicking her would still make her freak out. It took a few sessions with me tackling her with the blanket and slowly pulling one foot out at a time, trimming just the ends so there was no pinching sensation for her. Finally, she figured out I wasn’t going to hurt her and I was able to trim nails every couple of weeks with her on the kitchen table and me just holding her under my armpit against the table, kissing her head and telling her she was a good girl while slowly clipping the nails. A few treats for her to hoover up afterwards helped, she was pretty food motivated. Ah, I miss that little nut.
(Full disclosure - I’m also the one they come to get at the animal ER when a cat is difficult, or in a trap, or otherwise needs to be handled in a way that keeps everyone from getting shredded.)
Their tear ducts are infamous for needed cleaning - it only takes a minute to put a fingertip on the crud and pull down and toward the nose - I had this problem with a siamese years ago.
Can you get it to increase it’s water intake? Try a fountain? Get enough water in it to keep the eye moist and ready to tear.
Can’t hurt
Everyone does know the capture-the-beast-with-a-bath-towel trick, right?
If you have a cat that never got socialized to humans, it beats slipping it a mickey
(diphenhydramine is also the active ingredient in OTC sleeping pills - they usually come in 50 and 100 mg dosages).
The idea is to lay the towel over the cat, then, very quickly, wrap it around kitty very tightly. Trust me - it will work its front paw out - press down on the center pad, and the claws extend.
Cut 1/16" (1 mm) out from the pink part at the base. The pink is the quick, and is quite sensitive.
Expect hissing and flattened ears, if the cat is a total bitch - a light tap on its nose will establish who is whom’s bitch.
One side bene of having cats - they keep your reflexes up to speed
Bull. You saw the word “declawed” and swept in to scold me for caring more about my curtains than my cat, which you’d have known wasn’t the case had you read, which you would have had you cared.
My mom had a cat, seemed to have allergies. Snotty, would sneeze and blow boogers on the wall, hence her name, “Booger.” Well, Mom was possessed of poor judgement, so she thought she’d give her a benedryl without checking dosage, or even if it was an appropriate medication for a cat. According to your dosage info, she gave her about 3x what she should(25mg for a 8-lb cat), and Booger just flipped the hell out. Really crazy, into the area of Exorcist-type possession. Hung off drapes, parkour’d off the wall, pissing as she went, crying those angry, psychotic howls like only a cat can. Hours later, she ran out of steam, crashed for the night, and was better in the morning. Sweet cat, glad she was OK. “Hyper” doesn’t quite cover what happened to her though. :eek:
Eep. Yeah, one of those reasons why it’s always recommended to contact a veterinarian before giving any OTC meds. I’ve heard people who have the adverse reaction say it can feel like they have nerve pain, or “buzzing” nerves, or even skin-crawling sensations. I can only imagine what a 3x dose would feel like with those symptoms, if animals get the same sensations! Benadryl is really one of the only OTC meds we will tell people to give their pets without already being a client, it’s usually that benign aside from doing what it’s supposed to for hives and drowsiness.
I knew a vet who said that he didn’t like declawing cats, but if it was a choice between someone having the cat put down because it was destructive, or declawing, he’d gladly declaw.
Not every owner is going to accept that “cats will be cats” and climb drapes, scratch the hell out of kids, etc. Declawing is bad. Death is worse.
I’ve seen cats paw their eyes - they use the SIDE of the paw - the damage is done by the dew claw, which is not normally removed.
Most procedures do the 4 front claws, which the cat can extend and with which it damages people and things.
Specifically tell the vet about the eyes - kitty won’t be as nearly upset about losing a claw if can’t use. And, if this is the only reason you want to declaw, you can leave the important (to him) ones.
As to the issue of litter - I’m guessing there is little bleeding - the use of cement means the wound is closed instantly and without sutures.
My guess is a layer or two of paper towel over the current litter - it provides a clean surface with no chance of it sticking to the paw.
When it goes to cover, it will shred the towel and find the same stuff it’s used to,
I have not known this to be true. Merlyn the elder came to me front-paw declawed (he’d been abandoned, outside, by a previous owner), and ALL front claws were gone.
(And actually, most cats do realize their claws are gone after an adjustment period. They continue to “scratch” because it’s a behavior that stretches and exercises the muscles in their back and limbs.)
I can’t really parse this. If the cat shreds the paper towel, the clay litter will indeed stick to paws, and since they dig with toes this is a bad idea for a healing wound.
DianaG: I suspect your vet has probably already tried this, but what about a cat bag for claw trimmings? It’s like kitty towel burrito, but better. Sounds like you’d need one with good strong velcro around the neck, but at the very least he wouldn’t be able to run or claw at you, and you could possibly just wait for him to wear himself out before swooping in for a quick trim. Or perhaps the bag in combination with a light dose of kitty valium to mellow him out.
