to old to declaw??

[cat9841]

I have 4 cats. the oldest is about 5 years old, then 4 then 3 and the baby is about 6 months old. I think all but the youngest is to old.  am I right, or would it be ok to go ahead and get it done?
CAT

[Ghilly]

I have nine cats (10 if you count the feral boy who lives outside and refuses to come in and join our little cat society) and none of them are declawed.  I would never consider subjecting any of my kitties to such a procedure.  I knew when I got them that they have claws, and decided that their health and well being was more important than having my home look like a showplace.  I did, however, decide to purchase a new living room set, and decided to try Soft Paws to protect it.  I bought them online and the price was very reasonable, they were $13.99 a box.  I only did the front paws of all of them, but I needed three boxes because three of my cats are polydactyls and have eighty six toes between the three of them!  LOL  They were very easy to put on.  First you have to trim your cat's claws as short as you can without knicking the quick, then you squeeze the claw cap to hold it open, you put a drop of the glue they give you (it's only nail glue like you use to put on nail tips), and you pop their nail out by squeezing the toe pad like you would do if you were trimming their claws, and slip the nail cap on.  Voila!  It's done!  My oldest cat, Eugene, sat very patiently on my lap so I was able to put his on myself, but at the time, the next oldest cat was only three years old and not real willing to sit still while I squeezed the nail cap open and did the glue thing, so my hubby held them on his lap while I did all of the applying of the caps.  The nail caps stayed on everyone for over a month before I started finding one here and there on the floor, and as I would find them while vacuuming, I would find the cat that lost it and just take a new one from the box and replace it.  The ones I bought were blue, and they looked so cute!  Everyone had blue toenails, and the polydactyls looked especially freaky with them on, especially Toemas.  He looked like he had little blue flowers on the ends of his legs, with seven toes on each front foot.  They wore Soft Paws for about six months and by that time everyone was trained and knew that the new furniture was off limits for scratching, and to date nobody has done anything evil to my new furniture.  Everyone got to remain happy, nobody lost any body parts, and I got my new furniture!

Ghilly

[sierrasusieq]

Why do you feal like you need to declaw your cats anyways?? I have had cats all my life and never even thought of doing this to any of them.

I also have seen bad side affects with declaw cats many times since I have volunteered at a Humane society for 9 years. We will not by the way adopt to anyone who says they are going to declaw.

[Computer_Voice]

I get chills just hearing people talk about declawing as if it's somehow not outright cruelty.

[NewLeaf]

Low desert here. Did you guys get a lot of rain yesterday? It was such a surprise here, woke up at 4:30am to hear rain and it rained most of the morning and off & on early afternoon. The flowers are coming out and I just wish there hadn't been so much development down here recently because all the beautiful open dunes with the verbena are practically gone now.

Did you decide to try the kitty press on nails?

[cat9841]

I live in the desert too, the high desert, in so ca.
cat

[NewLeaf]

I'm glad you're considering the Soft paws/Soft Claws. They are easy to put on and they do last a good 6 weeks, sometimes more, sometimes less. The length of time they stay on depends on when they shed the claw sheath. If you get it at the right timing, just after it was shed, they stay on for a long time. Put on just before they are going to shed, well, you just pop one back on that toe.

The first time takes the longest because you are doing all 10 at once. After that, it is only when you notice one has been shed  so it is just a one toe deal at a time. That's why I like the colored ones, you can see one is off - or you find it on the floor.

When you put the glue in the nail cap, make sure you don't fill it too the top because you have to leave room for the claw to go in and if you fill it to the top the extra glue goes on their fur and your fingers ;{  One drop of glue is enough in each cap. I usually fill up 3 -4 caps at a time and pop em all on when you have the cat's paw in your hand. If you fill all 10, then the glue may start to dry.  Have a great day!  We are getting more rain in the desert here today  and I am loving it  :)))  

[amberd5191]

If the Vet thinks the cat is too old they will tell you they can also do a blood test to check the cat before they declaw them. I had a cat declawed at about 3 years old once for my grandma. My grandma had her other cat declawed she was too old (7) but it was better for her to have them removed than not too they were very thick and she couldn't walk right because it was painful. Best wishes.

[cat9841]

I will look into the soft claws, can the cats pull them off, how often do they need to be applied?

[NewLeaf]

Hi cat9841

I have never been a fan of declawing a pet and then after meeting several cats that did not have the expected recovery from being declawed, I too became a firm believer that declawing is not a humane way to treat an animal. One, had a bad limp on one of his front paws and the other cried every time he jumped and hit his paws wrong. One, was declawed as a kitten, the other at 3 years old.

My daughter introduced me to a product called Soft Paws after we rescued one too many cats and the "boys" became diggiy and scratching devils. They are really easy to apply - kind of like Lee press on nails for kitties. Trim their claws, put a drop of glue in the claw cap and put em on - voila, no more scratching the furniture or your hand.

Check out the web site:    w w w .softpaws.com/testimonials.html

They come in cool colors too - I like to mix em up and they look like confetti on their little toes. They don't hurt them and they don't seem to mind them either. After a few years I only need to use em now if one of them gets a little to enthusiastic about  my furniture, if you know what I mean.

You can also get clear colored ones at Petsmart called Softclaws, but alas, no cute colors, only clear. They do work and I am happy not to have had to amputate any of my cats toes.

Hope this info helps, Good luck!

[cat9841]

I know all about those who disagree with declawing. I have had cats, lots of cats, all my life and many who were declawed, but as kittens. they were fine. the stress level was much better for me. but this group of cats, I got after working with adopting pets place, we decided to NOT do it for the reasons so many have told me. the 5 year old would have a problem, by very, very beloved male orange socks, he would not like it either, but the 6 month old would probably be ok, but how do I do one and not the others. I am in a real delima here, I need advice. I didn't think I could do them, but thought maybe I could be ok.
CAT

[Savas]

In my opinion (and others) yes, they're to old. De clawing is an amputation, the human equivalent is losing the finger at the first knuckle. With older cats, it's a huge psychological change. The cat will likely become neurotic and hostile. There is a product called "soft claws", there's a post on here about it. It involves gluing a plastic sheathe onto the claws so they can't do damage but can still get about.

Also, a declawed cat will have a very high likelihood of become a biter. The biting tends to be hard enough to pierce the skin. I'm a firm advocate against declawing for a numerous reasons, and one main one is the high probability of a permenant negative personality change. In my 15 years of working in kitty placement, we'd get a fair number of declawed cats whose owners had given them up becuase of the dramatic difference in the cats personality after declawing.

And for those who differ on me with this, yes, I know, there are some very sweet, good natured declawed cats out there, but as a statistical probability, if you amputate any creature's limbs, it will likely not react well to it.