I had no idea the reaction I’d draw from my To Declaw or Not to Declaw, That is the Question post. It started with Wayne. He read it and wasn’t very happy with me.
“So you’re not going to schedule her to get declawed, huh? I just might have to take time off work and do it myself, is that what you’re saying?”
Gulp. (Half the time he doesn’t read my blog posts so I feel a little freer to express myself more commandingly than I would otherwise.)
Then I got a couple of comments from readers weighing in with opinions why they think declawing is cruel and I shouldn’t do it. There was also a reader who defended the flip side and why declawing would be the only option for her.
I’ve been weighing all of the comments. Everyone has brought up very good points for and against the procedure.
I’m still against it.
Like I said, having Mr. Meow (who came to us already declawed) has really spoiled us. Other than shredding paper with his teeth, he hasn’t been a destructive cat at all.
Not that Tabby has been. It’s just that she has the potential to be. And she does have a certain affinity for those dining room chairs…
However, she is learning to stop scratching the moment we say, “No, Tabby!” and she does have her carpet remnants and scratching pad, so we are trying to accommodate her natural instincts.
Plus, I cowboyed up like I said I was going to and I trimmed her nails the other day!
This is a big deal to me. When we first got Murphy I tried to trim his nails, nipped the quick (which I didn’t even know existed or that I should be aware of), and he bled everywhere. He didn’t seem to be in pain, but the fact that I’d made him bleed made me gun shy to attempt nail trimming from then on out.
Then here came Tabby. Either I keep her nails trimmed, or I fret the day Wayne makes good on his threat and takes her to the vet.
The other day Aimee Amodio, the other regular Pets Blog Blogger, wrote about How to Restrain A Pet. I left a comment saying I’d have to try one of the techniques on Tabby. I fully intended to, except another opportunity presented itself…
Tabby’s full of kitten energy and rarely sits still. That was my other dilemma –I didn’t want to force her to sit still and thus develop negative associations with nail trimming time.
But the other night she pooped herself out and was curled on top of the back of the loveseat with her paws outstretched, so…I saw my chance and took it.
Very gingerly I dared to stroke them to get her used to me handling them. When she didn’t seem to mind, I snuck quietly away to get the trimmers, came back, took a deep breath, took one of her paws, poised it for a trim and clip!, I successfully trimmed her first nail!
I didn’t take very much off, but I didn’t nip the quick and I was able to get both her front paws done. She rather seemed to enjoy the attention and didn’t mind the sound at all. (I was on such a high from my success that I dared to try Murph’s again. But he didn’t like the snip noise the clippers made, so I was only able to get two nails trimmed before he jumped off the couch and stayed away from me.)
But at least I now know I can trim Tab’s nails and she’ll let me. I’ll just have to play with her extra hard to poop her out each time I want to do it!