Cats rank as second best among man’s homely friends. Domestic cats are known to be very subtle and playful. They hardly turn violent except on rare cases of provocation or danger. Cats have an incredible instinct to study, read and understand the mood of their owners.
Though, they have peculiar characteristic of using their claws to cause some damages and discomfort in the house. This habit has prompted people to ask if cats should be declawed. Read on to find out an in-depth perspective on this subject.
Table of Contents
What Is Declawing?
Claws are the little growths at the end of the paws of the cat. They depict nails akin to the nails of a man. Claws are essential to cats. They use them for hunting, grabbing, clutching, scratching, and supporting the body weight.
Declawing then means removing the claws thereby limiting them from effective use of their claws for some of their normal activities.
Declawing of cats is a painful process. It involves schematic removal of the claws. There are several techniques on how to achieve declawing. Basically, all the methods aim at removing the claws and the little bones that grow the claws.
Otherwise, there will be a re-growth. There is another technique that does not touch or dissect the pad. Here, you can use special tiny curved scissors. These scissors just cut out the claw and the small piece of bone. This way, you do not tamper with the pads and the small tissues. In this case, the cat heals fast. The cat recovers quickly and can generally walk within a short time.
Laser declawing is the best and the less painful technique to declaw a cat. But this technique has a limitation on its high cost. In Laser declawing, the cat loses less blood during the exercise and heals faster than the other processes.
What Are The Reasons For Declawing Cats?
There are several reasons that prompt cat owners to think of declawing their loved pets. Some of these are discussed below.
Safety For Cat Owners And Others
Because cat claws are sharp and spiky, they can cause bodily harm to the owners. When your cat tries to get intimate with you, she spread out the claws to have a good grip on you. In this process, she can inadvertently cause some bodily injuries to you with some noticeable marks on your body.
When this persists, you may become frustrated and look for a way to stop this discomforting and unpleasant stress. Even better, you could consider two alternatives. Ideally, you have to choose between giving the cat out for adoption or to declaw the cat. In essence, the emotional attachment between you and the cat is high, you may opt to declaw it.
Correcting Undesirable Social Behavior
If the social behavior of the cat is not pleasant and fails to conform to that of the household, the owner may have to choose between declawing the cat and letting it out for adoption. In many cases, declawing stands out as the best option. Cats like to scratch on furniture fabrics and damage them after a prolonged scratching.
They enjoy scratching the leather cover of your sofa or settees, thereby leaving it with marks. Cats also enjoy scratching on the carpets and pull out some woven threads out of them. To them, scratching comes naturally. Some cats like vertical scratching, some like horizontal scratching while some like both.
In A Bid To Conform To Trend
A funny reason why some a cat owner may want to declaw his cat is that someone he knows has done it.
This is a rash decision, he may never have considered if his cat has the same discomforting traits that call for declawing.
Does Declawing A Cat Affect Its Personality
Yes! Declawing of cats is akin to a man losing some fingertips. When you declaw a cat, the pain slows down her activities for weeks afterward. This depends on the techniques you use. During the healing period, the pain moderates the movement and other activities of a declawed cat.
Also, when you declaw a cat, she loses the ability to defend himself. Cats can square up boldly in a fight with snakes. Remember, their power to fight back lies in their claws. This means a declawed cat is highly vulnerable to attack.
How To Help A Declawed Cat
Remember that the claws are the fighting and defensive tools of cats. When you deny a cat this tool, she becomes highly susceptible to attack and less defensive.
Therefore, the owner must put in extra efforts to make sure that he keeps his cat remains. This is to shield him from external aggressors. More affection must be shown to declawed cats.
How To Shield Cats Away From Scratching And Declawing
As clearly stated above, one primary reason that makes some cat owners to declaw their cats is the scratching tendency. You can curb this excuse decisively by training your cat to overcome her scratching behavior.
This will be a perfect alternative to the painful declawing of your feline friend. Before you finally decide to declaw your cat, why don’t you consider these alternatives?
- Make the scratching object or surface less attractive for scratching. You can smartly cover those surfaces with vinyl or aluminum sheets. This will discourage further scratching on the delicate surfaces.
- Create a distraction near the vulnerable scratching areas. You can place a toy that your cat loves to use near the place. Each time she comes for a scratching hobby, the toy she so loves will catch her attention more than scratching.
- Cats like to stretch, and they achieve that mostly by scratching. Scratching is really natural for cats. Don’t deny your cat this pleasure. Provide alternative ‘field’ or surface for her to exhibit her natural behavior. There are several alternative scratching surfaces out there. Provide one instead of the agonizing and painful process of declawing. I’m sure you will like to lose the tips of your fingers!
- Feel free to occasionally ‘trim’ the nails of your cat. All you need is to gently cut the end tips of your cat nails with a sharp blade. This is painless, and no blood is split.
- And the most convenient option is to buy a vinyl nail cap for your cat. This item is readily available in the shops. All you have to do is replace them when they show signs of weakness. This is an excellent alternative option.
Conclusion
Finally, discourage declawing of cats. You did not fix your cat with claws. So don’t take away what you did not put there. Allow your cat to enjoy the use of her claws as much as you enjoy the use of your own fingers.
You May Also Interested In: