Protect Your Furniture and Your Cats

 

According to an article in The Pet Connection February 2010 the UnitedStates government has banned the declawing of big cats in captivity such as lions and tigers because of the extreme suffering it causes while in the meantime thousands of house cats are routine put through this agony in order to protect the owner'[s furniture. The author of the article, Dr Michael W. Fox, wants to stop this cruel practice which he says is similar to somebody amputating your toes and fingers at the first joint

As well as making it much more difficult for the cat to climb and hold things many cats suffer from other things such as chronic arthritis as well as bone infections when the pads on their paws shrink .

 

In addition to this suffering such an operation causes your pet it often backfires as way to protect your property because it often causes your to become much more aggressive and prone to bit to defend itself -- and -- "un-housebroken" as Dr. Fox says, refusing to dig in the litter box with sore paws. Corners of carpets under furniture or in closets become much more attractive places for your cat to pee or defecate.

The bottom line with all of this is that it is a good idea to think twice about resorting to such drastic measures as cutting your cat's claws. The cost of such an operations as well as the cat's suffering could be avoided by using other techniques to discourage furniture scratching. And older wooden chair or stool or other piece of furniture left near the cat's feeding station could encourage it to use that to sharpen its claws if your do not want to buy one of the fancy scratching posts or they are not working for some reason.