But this cat isn’t IN a shelter. He’s in a home that has the funds to do renovations, surely the owner can take a little more time and money to figure out how to reduce his stress & make him happy? Heaven knows there have been a lot of good suggestions here.
Would you pull the teeth of a cribbing horse?
[QUOTE=jherold;8600298]
And how many other cats were left in the shelter. I get my barn cats from the shelter too and they beg me to take more. Is declawing ideal. No. But, in my opinion, the alternatives may be worse. Only the OP can make the decision. We can agree to disagree.[/QUOTE]
Who is telling the OP to put the cat in a shelter?! Rehoming can be done through networking. This isn’t even a feral/barn cat so not nearly as hard to place. It might just need a different environment
It’s a false alternative to claim the only choices are declawing or a shelter. Those are hardly the only 2 options.
http://www.petsmart.com/cat/nail-care/kitty-caps-cat-nail-caps-zid36-12758/cat-36-catid-200092
also handle his feet a lot, trim his nails… if you declaw, you won’t be able to handle their feet again. My SIL’s cat is declawed… she bites… is terrible, I refuse to pet her because I know she will turn and bite.
My DD 's cat is still a kitten but she handles his feet all the time and trims the nails… never a problem, he uses the scratching posts and has never touched any furniture.
The caps work if you can handle their feet.
I would never declaw because it does not just involve the claws…
Also after Jan. 1, it will be illegal to declaw in Quebec (or cut ears/tails)… it says something!
Forty years ago in the city a neighbour had a Siamese cat declawed - it seemed pretty prevalent thinking in those days. This cat was kept solely as an indoor cat and appeared to have no untoward problems- everybody was happy, owners kept their nice stuff, cat was not getting yelled at…but that was then.
I like the idea of a wire mesh kitty condo that went outside so the cat can see birds and feel the fresh air.
Disclaimer I have not read all of the replies.
Declawing should be the LAST resort to keep the animal in the home. The easiest thing is to keep the cats nails trimmed short. This can be difficult if the cat won’t let you handle their feet. I have one of those. I’d talk to your veterinarian about some sort of feed through sedation that you can hide in a treat to take the edge off kitty so you can trim their nails. This of course can be tapered off as you teach your cat to let you trim his nails. But every 3-4 week sedation so you can lop off those claws in a healthy cat should be relatively no big deal.
Put scratchers EVERYWHERE. Find your cats favorite spots and stick a scratching post in it. Get a variety of them, everything from cardboard, to sisal, to carpet, place both vertical and horizontal scratching surfaces heck even some at an incline. If her likes corners you can even make your over corner covers with plywood and sisal rope or carpet. The key is wherever he scratches to put an acceptable scratching surface in that spot. Heck if he loves scratching that roll of carpet he ruined I’d cut that into a suitable log and let him have at it. Its better if he keeps scratching something he’s already ruined then moving on to something else.
I would also discuss controlling OCD type behaviors in cats with your veterinarian including pharmaceutical intervention. Your cat may just need something to take the edge off while you introduce him to his new acceptable scratching surfaces.
All cats can benefit from more play time.
If you do declaw your cat find a place that uses a laser, there tends to be less trauma, pain and bleeding than the traditional method. Travel if you must. Declawing an adult cat is not a benign procedure and there are serious risks associated with it. Talk to your veterinarian at length.
I an not opposed to declawing if it keeps a cat in their home. Turning an adult cat into a shelter is just passing your problem on to someone else.
[QUOTE=vxf111;8600225]
She now has a home that fits her rather than one that tried to make her into something she’s not[/QUOTE]
So since my striped cat is unhappy as a house cat, and I live in town where she would be subject to all sorts of trauma outside, will you take her?
[QUOTE=Altermyne;8600988]
So since my striped cat is unhappy as a house cat, and I live in town where she would be subject to all sorts of trauma outside, will you take her?[/QUOTE]
I will network for her if you send me info and we’re geographically nearby
I have/had an indoor cat that is/was a terrible clawer upper of stuff. Here’s the weird thing: he won’t claw leather furniture, only fabric furniture.
Anyway, I also adopted some barn kittens about the same time husband’s co-worker gave us indoor kitty (her new baby was allergic, and my old indoor cat had just died). I thought I had 4 female barn kittens, but there was a male in the bunch. I had all of the kittens fixed ASAP, but the male is aggressive to the females and roamed, even though he was fixed really young.
I started bringing male barn kitty indoors during the day because indoor kitty (also male) is bigger than he is, and doesn’t take crap off him. That way I didn’t have to scour the neighborhood for him at night, when the coyotes come out (I shut the barn kitties in the barn at night … and yes, they have a climate controlled tack room to sleep in!), and he couldn’t attack his sisters all day. Male barn kitty has to go out to the barn at night because he is too nocturnal… he wakes me up with his meowing or jumping on me (he likes to smack me in the face with his paw at 3 am), and I have a hard time falling back to sleep… so out he goes. He’s twice as big as his sisters, and he will take on pretty much anything that digs or tunnels its way into the barn, so he earns his keep killing rodents at night.
After I started bringing male kitty in the house, I noticed something almost immediately. Both cats were pooped when I got home, usually sleeping on the back of the couch together. I will say there are generally large piles of ripped out hair around the house, but no blood. They both wake up when I get home, we play laser pointer or feather toy for a half hour, then they go back to sleep. Furniture has been left alone.
I know you don’t want another cat, but somebody to play with might be helpful. These cats tear around like crazy, jumping up on top of the kitchen cabinets, up and down the stairs, chasing and wrestling, and they wear each other out. If that doesn’t work, maybe if you play with him hard for 15 minutes morning and evening, that might take the starch out of him?
You are not at the last resort as everyone else has pointed out. The constant renovations have likely played a role in the destruction. Can you say STRESS?
I agree with all the suggestions above to contact a veterinary behaviorist or truthfully if you haven’t then start with your vet.
Our clinic’s policy is front paw digital amputation only and 6 months or under unless absolutely when all else fails if an older cat. We require an exam for the kittens and present the cold hard truth about what declaws actually are and all the possible side effects. We also tell them that if they are doing the declaw because their cat scratches them than the cat will likely BITE after the declaw as it is their only defense. We tell them about nail trims and soft paws and that we will apply them, etc. We talk most people out of them.
If you are getting it done at our clinic then it isn’t cheap at all as we do not want to do it and would rather encourage the owners to seek other options and not see it as the easy way out. Our price for a neuter/spay/declaw on a kitten is around $500-$700 and if already neuter/spayed than around $400.
Now, if you do go through with the digital amputation than please either have it done with a laser or a practitioner who uses a scalpel to disarticulate the p2/p3 joint. Do NOT let it be done with the guillotine method where a nail cutter is used. It is horribly inhumane. Also make sure the vet uses proper analgesia(pain medicine) so that the cat is not in pain.
Also please watch The Paw Project: https://youtu.be/yihVLIkVRzo
I own 4 fully clawed felines. They all use their main cat trees, scratching posts, etc… They do not destroy my furniture. The only time they did was when my boyfriend(now husband) kept them while I was in vet school. My female cat tore up the leather arm on one of the couches. Since I’ve been back, she hasn’t touched the furniture.
Cats usual have a reason they are scratching areas other than their scratching posts, etc.
To clarify a few things…
My house was initially torn up about 8 years ago by my well meaning parents, then it sat. I moved in here four years ago. We are just within the last couple of weeks getting around to finishing everything that was left unfinished. It is during this time that we are getting a full scope of the damage the cat has done.
My cat has been this destructive the entire time I have had him. Almost lost the deposit in the apartment I had before. Thankfully we were able to blame the ripped up carpet on the carpet being cheap apartment carpet. :lol: And we painted over where he had clawed the walls.
He has lots of toys, and a dog buddy. They do play. A lot. I also play with him a lot.
He has several scratching posts of various materials, styles, and sizes, all of them untouched.
He is not in danger of being dumped at the shelter, or given away. He is my baby, and I would never do that.
I worked for a vet for 20 years and the absolute most barbaric procedure I can think of is a declaw. I am definitely in the put the kitty down rather than get a declaw club. It is by far and beyond the kinder thing to do. I also do not think it should be called a declaw because it is and should be called a toe amputation. We only call it a declaw to not face the facts of how terrible the surgery really is. If you do not think that it is so bad perhaps you should witness it 5 days a week for 20 years and perhaps your opinion and reality would change.
I agree that a working with a professional with the cats behavior would be far more beneficial than getting a declaw. I am not coming down on you OP, I just want you to be fully aware of how absolutely awful this surgery is, and how devastating and debilitating it is to a cat, so you can very hopefully avoid this mistake.
I have had up to three cats in our house and have not had a problem with any of them scratching inappropriate items. I kept tree stumps in the house. One was in the kitchen next to a chair and it doubled as a table to set items on. The other was down in the basement where the litter boxes were located. The cats went to the stumps as well as a carpet covered scratching post in the basement.
What about creating a “catio” for your kitty? Mine loved to hang out in our screened in porch in good weather.
Funny, when I was very little, all are cats got declawed. We had 4 (a mom and three of her kittens), and everyone got declawed. And they were all weird cats with behavioral issues. The kitten my brother found and gave to me when I was about 7 or 8 was the first one that didn’t get declawed, and he was pretty damn normal, as has been everyone else since. Food for thought.
I agree with giving him places to climb and possibly a catio. My guys can get up high in my house (by its inherent construction…they can literally climb the walls and not do damage, other than occasionally climbing the wrong wall and knocking a picture off). I’ve given them some cat caves up high, too, that they love. They are also indoor/outdoor cats, so lots of outside stimulation (they go for walks with me and the dog). They have each other as well as the dog.
Have ver you ever thought about training him to a harness and taking him out in the yard or for little walks? This seems to do a world of good for a lot of restless indoor cats. My mom’s girl is a big fan of going out in her harness.
And, this will get scoffed at by a lot, but have you ever considered a session or two with an animal communicator? My mom used one for both her dog and cat when she was having some issues, and found out some interesting things and was able to make some changes that WORKED. I also used one for my dog, and got big help from it.
Lots of ideas. I would definitely start by giving him somewhere to go UP. Cats love up.
I think there’s been a ton of good advice on this thread, but I’m just going to go ahead and say that sometimes even if you keep their claws trimmed short and provide tons of scratching surfaces of various sizes, heights, and materials and you get him a buddy…he might still scratch.
Mine sleep 20 hours a day, play HARD 3.5 together hours a day, and the other half hour?..they scratch.
Luckily mine seem to be mostly limiting themselves to one rug and one chair, so I just let them have the rug. It’s better than everything being destroyed. I’m less inclined to give up the chair so I cover the edges they scratch with double-sided tape, which works nicely.
Perhaps there is some similar accommodation you could make in your home? Is there something he really loves that you could either let him have or duplicate for him?
However, I’m talking about the normal scratching instinct here - and I still maintain that your cat sounds way too destructive for what I would consider normal cat behavior. I would really, really take him to get him checked out. It’s the least you can do before amputating part of his toes.
One of my cats is declawed. Long story short she showed up hanging around the house one day and we thought she was just another feral cat. After about a year she decided she wanted to come in and in she came when we opened the door to go out one day.
We were really surprised to find that she was declawed (front only) and amazed that she had managed to survive being outside for so long.
I do understand that declawing is a big issue and cats often develop problems because of it, but in this case we have had no behavior issues with this cat. She’s actually the only cat allowed in the bedroom because she’ll curl up on the foot of the bed and sleep, as opposed to walking on my head all night. She’s really a lovely cat and very affectionate. Not everyone may agree with me but I’m 100% sure her cushy life here is preferable to being put down.
We had a urine crystal scare back in December, that has since been resolved and he appears to be doing fine on the C/D diet. Other than that he has no other issue besides tearing my house to shreds.
I know it has been mentioned several times, but the OP has not commented on it so I am going to mention it again.
Trim the poor cats nails.
Can you put his food in a food ball? Or would you be willing to offer him raw turkey necks? Something he can really handle and have to put his mind to.
[QUOTE=trubandloki;8601660]
I know it has been mentioned several times, but the OP has not commented on it so I am going to mention it again.
Trim the poor cats nails.[/QUOTE]
We have, as short as we safely can. He still scratches.
[QUOTE=Draftmare;8598948]
He has a cat tree, about three feet tall including a scratching post. He has never touched it. The dog gets more use out of it than the cat. [/QUOTE]
The height of the cat tree is the determining factor in how much the average cat likes it, and 3’ is not tall enough for a cat to find it appealing. My cats never touch their small trees and never have, but they’re constantly in/on/using the 6’ one.
Truthfully, if his options were a giant roll of carpet in a back room, or a small cat scratching post in the middle of your living space, I’m 0% surprised he opted to destroy the carpet.
Have you tried placing Feliway pheromone diffusers in strategic locations around the house? A pheromone collar? The pheromone collars make a world of difference for my cat that sometimes pees outside his litterbox.
You say he has several scratching posts- are these placed strategically?
One of my cats will scratch the side of my mattress, at the foot of the bed, to wake me up. I tried EVERYTHING I could think of, including locking him out of the room (he just yowls loudly and picks at the door). The solution? Corrugated cardboard scratchers sitting on the floor next to each bottom corner of the bed, right where he scratches. As long as there’s a scratcher sitting there, he goes to town on that instead of the bed. If the scratcher slides under the bed, he starts clawing the bed again.
The point being: if a cat is scratching in Location A, a scratching surface in Location B probably won’t help. You need to put it in Location A. Have you tried placing his scratching surfaces strategically in the locations where he’s causing damage?
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