Should you have your cat declawed? Is it ethical? It is a strictly personal choice and you must decide if you think it is right or wrong. But you should know - declawing your cat is an invasive action. It requires surgery in which the claws are removed. Cat lovers speculate that it is an extremely painful process with an even more painful recovery, as your cat has to continue to walk on his feet. If you decide that declawing is not the thing for your cat, there are a number of alternatives.
- If your cat has an undesirable scratching habit, you will have to train him to scratch in more appropriate places. There are numerous scratching posts available in pet stores today. You should pick one that is sturdy and tall enough for your cat to stretch fully when standing on his back legs.
- You can clip your kitty´s claws, too. This will take some work as he probably isn´t going to just hold his paws out for you to work on. You should start working with him a couple of weeks ahead of time. When you are spending quality time together, rub his paws and press on his toes a little. This should get him accustomed to having someone hold and work with his paws. After a few weeks, he should be more likely to let you clip his nails.
- If both of these options are not helping you, you can consider nail caps. This is an excellent alternative for a number of reasons. It is supposed to be painless. Nail caps are just small pieces of colorful plastic or vinyl that slip over your cat´s nails. This makes it impossible for him to scratch anything.
