Claws in? Claws out?
 

Is it a good idea to have one cat declawed while the others are not? Sassy jumps on me and my family, and recently, Shadow jumped on the curtain on the door for the first time, which she's never done before. There is no problem with Pretty Kitty yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

It's never a good idea to declaw a cat, IMO. It's like surgically removing the end sections of your fingers and toes :eek: and can have some nasty consequences for the cat. A better idea is to get your cats used to having their paws handled so you can trim the claws regularly. There are also nail covers that you can slip on their claws to keep them from doing damage, but it's probably easier just to trim the nails every 10 - 14 days.

We have two strays. When they first arrived, I started gently touching their feet right away, then progressed to gently massaging their feet until I could get the claws deployed completely. It only took a few weeks to get to the point where I could start trimming the claws.

Declawing is just....cruel :cry: Please don't. :pray:

question
 

Thanks for setting me straight about the nail clippers. I decided not to use those, but I have a new question. I looked another product up, and I found a cordless nail trimmer. It has a rotating file with a safety guard. They say it's gentle and painless, but would this be a better option for taking care of kitties' claws?

This is a sort of dremel-type file? I've never used them, but I know a lot of people who do--on dogs, anyway. The biggest hurdle might be getting kitty used to the noise and vibration, but if it's a product made for cats, it might well be a good solution! If you find a site where they have a star-rating for their products, I'd look at the reviews for items you're interested in, especially the bad ones reviews. Read them with a grain of salt: A lot of times, the bad reviews are just because people didn't realize what they were ordering and it didn't fit their needs; but sometimes, you can find out about unexpected flaws in the design. You may or may not see a way around that flaw, but at least you're going into the purchase with your eyes open. :thumbs up

Question
 

I forgot to mention that I have a Pedi Perfect, which I use to treat rough skin. Would that also work for kitties' claws? I haven't used it on them yet, but Pretty Kitty and Shadow saw me use it. I just let it run for a minute so they could see what it did. Would it be safe to use it for them too?

Is that a callous-remover? I don't think it would be fast enough to work on kitty claws--they do tend to lose patience over getting their paws handled, pretty quickly... If it's something that would just file or grind away the nail slowly, they probably won't sit still long enough for you to use it. :o