Declawing Cats Should I declaw my cat? If I do, should I have just the front paws or all four paws done? How is a declaw procedure performed? Will declawing my cat change his/her behavior? What is
the best age to declaw my cat? What alternatives are there to declawing? If I choose not to
declaw my cat, what type of scratching post is desirable? These are some of the questions most
people have about declawing cats. With this article, we hope to answer most of your questions!
Why do cats claw? Cats claw for three reasons. The first reason is to prevent their nails from
overgrowing. Cats can also perform this function with their teeth. Many cats keep their rear nails
the proper length by chewing instead of scratching. As a matter of fact, a sick cat may stop
chewing their back claws, which is a sure sign the cat isn’t feeling well. The last two reasons that
a cat claws have to deal with territorial marking. All animals care about territory. People build
fences and establish property lines, while animals use scent and visual marks to maintain their
territory. Cats claw in order to leave a visual mark. The scratches cats leave are clear signs to
other cats that this is their territory. Even if you only have one cat, it still has a deeply rooted
instinct to preserve its territory. This is one of the reasons why the cat most often chooses the
living room as the place to claw. The couch or easy chair is usually out in the open for all to see.
The last reason for clawing is to leave a scent mark. Cats have scent glands on the pads of their
feet, and during their clawing they are leaving a scent for other cats to find. This is why
declawed cats will still go through the motions of clawing. Humans, with our weak noses, are
oblivious to these scent marks our cats leave on us and around the house.
Understanding the cat’s motives behind clawing helps you to understand a few things
about their behavior. First, it is important to note that serious clawing behavior does not start
until the kitten becomes psychologically mature. Psychological maturity in cats is reached at
about one and a half years of age. This is important in your decision about when to declaw your
cat. The recovery time is much shorter for a kitten than for an adult cat. This leaves us with a
tough decision; do we declaw the kitten as soon as possible, or do we try to train the kitten to use
a scratching post and hope they will use it reliably? If the kitten does not use the scratching post
reliably, we may then be faced with the decision to declaw an older cat, which requires a much
longer recovery time.
Another important point is realizing that cats are not likely to be satisfied with just one
scratching post or area. How many places have you seen a cat rub his/her face against furniture
or someone’s leg? Did you realize the cat was marking the object or person? Cats have scent
glands on their faces just like the glands on their paws. When they rub their faces against objects
they leave a scent mark that other cats can smell. If you choose not to declaw your cat, you will
want to provide more than one scratching space in well trafficked areas in the house.
Should I declaw my cat? This is a personal and somewhat philosophical question. I will give you
my personal opinion about declawing. I view it as a trade-off. In exchange for being declawed,
the cat gets a good home, veterinary care, and good food for the rest of its life. You get the
enjoyment of having a cat, and you get to keep your furniture in good condition. Often clients
will mention that they do not have good furniture anyway and don’t mind if the cat scratches it.
It is important to remember that a cat’s life expectancy is 10-16 years+. If you plan to get new
furniture within that time span you probably won’t want the cat to scratch up the new furniture! I
feel that if it is important to you that your furniture remains un-clawed it is worth it for the cat to
be declawed, providing the procedure is done properly to minimize pain and complications.
If you or anyone in your household has any health conditions, you may need to take that
into account when deciding whether or not to declaw. Elderly people often have delicate skin or
are on blood thinners and bleed more easily. In this case a small scratch may be a big deal.
Similarly, diabetics and people who are immune suppressed can’t afford to be scratched and risk
an infection. In these circumstances it might be worth it to have your cat declawed to minimize
the risk of scratches to you and your family.
How is a declaw performed? Before we will perform a declaw procedure, or any procedure
requiring general anesthesia, we run blood work to make sure that your cat is healthy enough to
undergo surgery. On the day of surgery, your cat will be dropped off in the morning and we will
perform the procedure in the afternoon. Under general anesthesia, the entire claw is dissected
back to the joint using a scalpel. The incision is then glued shut with tissue glue, leaving the pad
intact. The paws are then kept bandaged until the following day. By removing the entire claw
back to the joint there is no possibility of the claw re-growing. After your cat is awake, we will
call you to let you know how the procedure went. S/He will have strong pain medication the
night of the procedure and the following morning. After the morning pain medications we
remove the bandages and observe the cat for a few hours before sending him/her home. Your cat
will not need any pain medications after s/he gets home. A study by the American Veterinary
Medical Association indicates that using pain medications the evening of and morning after
surgery is satisfactory for pain management. You will need to use Yesterday’s News recycled
newspaper litter or shredded newspaper instead of regular kitty litter for about a week until
healing is well on its way. Regular litter can impact and irritate the incision, which can slow
healing time or cause infection. Your cat must be kept confined to a small room, such as a
bathroom, for about seven days to help speed healing. We give a long-acting penicillin injection
at the time of the surgery to minimize the risk of infection because there is no way to perform a
sterile surgical preparation on paws like there is for other surgical procedures, such as a spay.
These steps minimize the incidence of complications. Kittens will often be using their paws to
play the day after surgery. Adult cats can take two to four weeks to fully heal.
Should I have just the front paws done, or all four? The only reason we recommend an all-four
declaw is if you have leather or vinyl furniture, or someone living in the house has a health
condition that would make a scratch a serious problem. If a cat has its back claws it can still
shimmy up a tree if it happens to get outside by accident. Additionally, a back claw declaw
seems to be harder for the cat to recover from than the front.
Will declawing my cat change its behavior? Some people argue that declawing leads to
increased biting and a failure to use the litter box. I have not found this to be true when using the
above method to declaw cats. I think the key is to perform the surgery properly, and minimize
complications. I encourage you to follow the discharge instructions given when you pick up your
cat from surgery as closely as possible.
When is the best age to declaw a cat? In my experience, the procedure is much easier for a
kitten than an adult cat. Kittens will often be using their paws to play the day after the procedure,
and will usually be almost back to normal in 7-14 days. Adult cats tend to bleed more, and will
commonly take 14-30 days to be back to their normal selves. I suggest adult cats stay with us for
a few additional days. They can rest quietly in their cages, and the healing gets well on its way
before they go home.
What alternatives are there to declawing? •
Train the cat to use a scratching post. This involves taking the kitten to the scratching
area several times a day, placing its feet on the post and encouraging him/her to
scratch. (Pam Johnson-Bennett’s book How To Think Like A Cat has very good
information about training a cat to use a scratching post.) You should keep the kitten
confined to a room away from your furniture when you are not home to supervise it
until you are certain the cat is using the scratching post. Many people are advised to
spray the cat with a water bottle set on stream whenever they see the cat clawing
where it shouldn’t. Unfortunately most cats are smart enough to figure out that a
spray bottle doesn’t work when you aren’t around to use it. If you choose to use a
spray bottle, try to do it so that the cat does not see you using the bottle. When
training your cat or kitten to use a scratching post it is important to have a scratching
post that meets their needs. The next section of this handout gives some tips to
finding a desirable scratching surface.
•
Allow the cat to go outside with the idea that the cat will do all of its marking outside.
This may be a quality of life vs. quantity of life decision for you. Cats that are
indoor/outdoor have to figure out what the hazards outside are, and they can be killed
or seriously injured before that happens. It may be a good idea to try putting your cat
on a harness and leash outside so s/he will stay by you until you know how s/he will
handle being outside, and try to supervise his/her first few excursions outside off
leash. I feel cats that can safely go outside have a better quality of life than the
average strictly indoor cat. Indoor/outdoor cats handle new situations (such as trips to
the vet) much more calmly than do strictly indoor cats. (Pam Johnson-Bennett has a
section in her book about enriching your strictly indoor cat’s environment.)
•
SoftPaws, a vinyl nail cap that you glue over your cat’s claw, can be used to minimize
damage from any scratching they may do. I have tried this product on my own cats
and have been disappointed. More often than not, the cat would pull the caps off the
nail with its teeth shortly after they were applied.
•
Sticky Paws, a clear adhesive that you place around the corners of your furniture, can
be used to deter scratching. The idea is that when the cat starts to claw the stickiness
makes him/her stop. I do not have experience with this product.
•
Shields. There are various shields that you can purchase and install on the corners of
your furniture. I do not have experience with any of these products.
What makes a desirable scratching post? You can consult Pam Johnson-Bennett’s books for
other ideas, but here are a few things I have learned over the years. The standard post that is
about 18” high and wrapped in rope will work for the first few months, but it is not tall enough
for an adult cat. Too often I have had clients complain to me that their kitten used that type of
post very well when they were little, and then stopped using the post when the kitten got bigger. I
don’t think those posts are tall or sturdy enough for the cat to prefer it over the furniture. A good
scratching post must be similar to your couch—tall, sturdy, and made of some desirable
materials. A popular scratching area available at many pet stores consists of a corrugated
cardboard rectangle that lies on the floor or in an angled frame and is catnip scented. Once the
cat uses up one side, it can be flipped over to the other side. It is inexpensive, and many cats will
use it pretty reliably. The only problem I have found with these surfaces is that they are very
light and if the cat does not stand on the board they may drag it around the room instead of
actually making any progress scratching. It may be necessary to wedge it somewhere to limit
how far it can be moved when your cat is trying to scratch. You can also buy or build cat trees
which provide climbing opportunity as well as a scratching area. It is also important to note that
the material should be something the cat is always allowed to scratch. Many cat trees covered in
carpet lead the cat to think all carpeted surfaces are okay for scratching.
Deciding to declaw your kitten is a tough decision. Most people who plan to keep their cat
strictly indoors do decide to declaw their cats, though many clients do have indoor cats that
reliably scratch at posts and not furniture. I usually declaw my own indoor cats. In my
experience and opinion, furniture is too expensive, the damage done is too severe, and cats are
too unreliable to do otherwise. This is my decision. If you feel otherwise, I respect that. In a
perfect world, I would never have to do another declaw, and I wouldn’t miss it at all. I am
willing to learn new things and explore new options, but as of now I declaw cats.