re: Is declawing cats inhumane?

You must get scratching posts/pads. This alone helps tremendously.

Must. Put them in different spots. You can also take a piece of old furniture they already scratch on the new scratching post.

Certain furniture they won't mess with at all. I have faux leather recliners they never touch.. But they do get after an old leather computer chair I have but it was already ripped. Certain microfiber couches cats won't mess with or affect.. Like even their claws going into won't have an effect on appearance. Then other types they will rip up. Do some research on the types of furniture and pets.

There's also a scent you can buy that is for spraying furniture that deters them away from scratching it.

I only had one cat declawed, my mom did actually. He got out once and couldn't defend himself and got killed by a dog in the neighborhood.

It is inhumane.. but then again so is taking them to a kill shelter.

Keep your cats claws trimmed.. Often. They make specific pet trimmers but if you are careful you can use regular ones.

And you can also get soft paws also known as other things like soft claws. They glue on over their nails and last for a couple months or so before you put new ones on. These prevent them from damaging, but this does require checking. This is good if you have inside only pets who won't need to defend themselves.

But yeah the best thing I ever did was finally crack down and put stuff made to be scratched in our living room when we got new furniture. They never mess with my new couches in here. They go straight to the corner for the scratching pad.

Usually once they do start scratching stuff they leave a scent.. So it's good to prevent this early on and direct it elsewhere.

They also make a design cover for couches that prevents scratching. These come in different colors. Or you can get a full on cover that covers the entire couch when you aren't around and is more like a tarp approach.

Really try to get pet friendly furniture if you can but also prevent the scratching from the start.

Try a couple of different methods first before investing in expensive furniture and see how it goes..

Oh and you can use cat nip to encourage scratching where you want them to scratch and monitor them around new furniture like a hawk at first and discourage any possible new scratching. Once they learn where to scratch they will tend to go there..

Good luck

And finally, with these past two posts, OT regains control of a shitshow thread.

Is making them stand in their own shite humane? P-U

It's not ideal, but calling it inhumane for an inside cat is ridiculous.

It's like people don't understand words have meanings anymore.

Get rid of the cat and wife problem solved

We declawed our cat after she had already ruined a chair.




eta - it's in humane to declaw front and pack paws. I don't think you'll find a vet that will do both. We only had front paws done.

It's inhumane that any one should have to live with cats

Personally I think yes but cats are assholes

Geez they have some sick assholes on this board.. yes its inhumane.