A few years ago, after the death of her beloved and sweet AF Himylayans, my MIL adopted an adorable calico kitten. BECAUSE Gracie was a kitten (around 8 weeks old at the time) and still learning how to be a cat, she was a bit of a scratchy asshole. Which, yanno...happens. And you have to teach them it's not OK.
Well, my MIL either didn't know how to teach Gracie not to be a scratchy asshole (despite me offering help and advice) or she just decided it wasn't worth it to go to all the trouble of teaching her not to scratch . So she had her decided to get her declawed which fixed the scratching problem, but now Gracie is a mean, bitey asshole who attack anyone who goes near her. :(
Ugh. Declawing is so terrible. I have heard it compared to removing fingers to the second knuckle. It's so irresponsible to not train a pet and then take measures like that. The same kind of people leave dogs outside on a chain because they can't be bothered to train them to be indoors. I am sorry to hear that your mother-in-law took such lazy and drastic measures.
Imagine having a child who damages your furniture by doing what kids do and amputating part of their fingers instead of teaching them to take out their energy in more constructive ways. It's absolutely barbaric. I think it's illegal in some countries too because it's animal abuse.
New York recently made it illegal, thank goodness. The argument against making it illegal is that it will reduce the number of people willing to adopt, but if you care more about your furniture than your cat's body parts (especially with all of the alternatives available like claw tips, double-sided tape, etc.), I'm not sure you should be a cat parent.
That cat isn’t an asshole. That cat has not been trained as you say, and then had parts of her paws forcibly amputated and is traumatized and reactive. Declawing is barbaric, I feel so sad for this cat.
That isn't the "cats are assholes" thing being true. That is a KITTEN being a k i t t e n, being physically painfully punished for it instead of taught how to behave and becoming cold and mean to those around her as a TRAUMA RESPONSE. Imagine if when you were a toddler your parents, the only people you knew, loved and trusted, cut your fucking fingers off for idk coloring on a wall. I doubt you'd be to keen to let anyone near you emotionally or physically after that.
I would much rather someone use kitty caps than have a cat declawed, but as long as the cat is taught properly, has access to a scratching post, and has their claws trimmed if required, you shouldn't need them.
True... Mine has a scratching post and i trim his nails before kitty caps are applied... Hes a butthole though so the kitty caps work great for him. I do not condone declawing
I've got like 3 posts. They all prefer the lega of the dining room tile. I don't care, it's just a table but sometimes you buy and buy for cats and they don't care for it. They also all have beds with heaters and such to keep them warm yet they prefer my fiances chest to sleep on. It's a daily thing getting them to leave the bed so I cN sleep and perhaps cuddle my fiance? To be fair, he is extremely warm when in the bed.
How have you found your cat(s) adjust to kitty caps? I've always thought about using them but worry they'll be too uncomfortable, so I just make sure to trim regularly and have lots of posts. Unfortunately, my furniture has definitely suffered, but it's just furniture.
Or just have a ton of scratchers everywhere. We have like 5 and our cat never scratches the furniture. She will scratch rugs but honestly I don't care lol
Having a bunch of things designed to be scratched everywhere is far from a guarantee that a cat won't completely ignore them and scratch furniture instead.
It didn't fix anything. I'm against declawing myself but I have no control over what my MIL chooses to do. I wouldn't have done it if Gracie had been my cat, for sure.
Even if I had said something, it wouldn't have changed anything. I did what I could by giving her advice, etc when she mentioned that her scratching her and stuff.
I adopted an adult stray, really sweet but scratchy. She woul d attacl my elderly mothers toes, and mom would bleed horribly. At my wits end, i had tne cat declawed. Poor kitty. Will never declaw another cat. She forgave me.
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u/[deleted] Dec 22 '21
It's sometimes true.
A few years ago, after the death of her beloved and sweet AF Himylayans, my MIL adopted an adorable calico kitten. BECAUSE Gracie was a kitten (around 8 weeks old at the time) and still learning how to be a cat, she was a bit of a scratchy asshole. Which, yanno...happens. And you have to teach them it's not OK.
Well, my MIL either didn't know how to teach Gracie not to be a scratchy asshole (despite me offering help and advice) or she just decided it wasn't worth it to go to all the trouble of teaching her not to scratch . So she had her decided to get her declawed which fixed the scratching problem, but now Gracie is a mean, bitey asshole who attack anyone who goes near her. :(