a vet who declaws cats?

anyone know of any vets who declaw cats in town?

i know, i know...you shouldn't declaw a cat....but we've got a scratched up 9 month old in the house and 3 sofas that are about to go into the garbage...which we are now going to replace. it is in this cat's own interest that we declaw it, otherwise the other option is to find it a new home...

Why not cut the cat's nails with nail clippers? Or alternatively, when the cat goes to scratch the sofa or child squirt it with water, a week of this and it will stop.


I have a vet friend who said if you could imagine someone pulling your fingers off, that's what it's like to be declawed, a lots of vets will refuse to do this on the basis of it's cruelty.

Tried clipping his nails -- ended up very bloody.

We've tried squirting water, bought the spray to spray on the couch, etc. to keep him off. He gets yelled at, if we catch him -- and knows to run away, but the couch is still in threads.


I've heard the claim on the declawing...and hence know that vets here are against it... just wondering if there are any who will do it...

Have you tried rubbing his nose with lemon juice or mustard when he does it, obviously not too much.

try this .... i saw them at the vets in mosque st, mid-levels once. must be better than declawing "ouch"


http://www.softpaws.com/about.html

have the tower.


have tried the lemon.

Where you not aware that cats/kittens did this before you got him? We have had two cats since they were 5 weeks old and they claw both our sofas but it's something we put up with because they are so much fun.


Instead of causing him pain by getting him declawed maybe kitty should be put up for adoption.

I had a cat years ago when I lived in a flat in the UK ... she scratched everything, wrecked the the sofas, curtains etc ... the only thing that stopped her from scratching was when we moved into a house with a garden and she able to go out and explore ... not a solution to your problem, but I'd say it's down to boredom ... cats like to explore and have trees to scratch on. Suggest you get as many cat toys as possible. If it's too difficult for you to atttempt to cut her claws again, try asking your vet to clip them rather than remove them ... if your cat gets particularly vicious when doing this your vet may be able to sedate her when doing so.

the poster does say that the cat is scratching the baby aswell, there is nothing wrong with trying to find a solution to stop that.

We had the same problem with one of our cats. One cat uses the scratch poles the other cat uses the children and the furniture. I actually got to the stage where I though about declawing myself, however I decided to try soft claws for cats as a last resort and they are the best thing since sliced bread! they are soft nail caps that are super glued on to the cats claws and they grow off with the nail. They come in bright colors so you can easily see when one has fallen off, not only do we have scratch free furniture but scratch free children. I get them from Creature Comforts and they will put them on your cat for you, although I find it easy to do it myself. Good luck!

St Kilda Beach - I think you will find that a cat who has a history of scratching both furniture but especially people after all avenues of prevention have been explored will not be taken on by the SPCA they will not be able to re house the cat and the only option would be is to put it down. We clip the claws of one of our cats and it has never been a problem as it never scrathes either people or furniture, with our other cat we tried toys, poles the vet we tried everything and the only option as it is a house cat was the soft paws or declawing, luckily the soft paws have worked for us. I would not want to put any cat through the pain of declawing, however I totally sympathise with allnamestaken.

St Kilda - we have kept cats for many years and have never had a problem with scratching until we got one of our cats - It was found abandoned as a kitten so that may have something to do with it. He still scratches us and has done badly for the last nine years, only this time as he has soft paws he does not draw blood. Our cats respond to their names and are integral members of our family, however this has not made any difference to our cat scratching the heck out of us and we have the scars to prove it - don't get me wrong we love him dearly however when you have young people in the house you can not have a cat that behaves this way not only is it frightening for the children, it dangerous, especially when other peoples children leave your house with blood pouring from cat scratches over their legs. I doubt the the poster is making a lame attempt at trying to drum up sympathy, I was close to doing the same myself and as the SPCA said that it was doubtful they could find my cat a home I would never of had it put down so my only option would have been declawing, and it is something that I would never do lightly to any of my cats, so thank goodness we found a solution and kitty got to keep his claws.

HI there, I am a vet and I would just like to say to those people that are giving you a hard time, to STOP, I don't actually agree with declawing but I have many clients that have similar problems. Also to the peron that says cats are allergic to pain medication are you a doctor?? How is you think that us vets manage pain in animals, we actually do have medication to to alleviate pain, one must just not use human medications because they are too strong and can cause probs. So now that I have sorted a few people out, I must inform you that cat scratching is not an easy fix, some of the things that you may have tried could in fact have exacerbated your cats problem by increasing stress levels, the yelling, lemons juice ojn the nose are not ways to sort out his problem. Cats generally scratch for behavioural reasons such as marking their territory, seeing a vet for behavioural altering drugs such as Clomicalm may be one way of dealing with the problem and perhaps even a drup such as Amytriptylline may be effective, this is essentially a prozac for cats, other things that may decrease the cats stress levels such a feliway have also proved effective in my experience. It is best while you child is youong to avoid the cat and child interaction in this case if the cat is scratching, the cat does not register that this is a child and should not be touched, perhaps creating an area where the cat feel safe and where the child never goes will help to goive the animal the security required to curb this attack behaviour ( and yes cats are known to attack children- for those non believers out there) you will be hard pressed to get a vet to declaw, the process in much like tearing of you fingers nails right down to where they meet the skin and then further digging is required to ensure the nail never grows back. The plastic caps for the cats claw are ceratinly a good idea and I have a number of clients for which this works. If rehomeing becomes your only other option, the SPCA may indeed take this on but recommendations would be for a home with a single adult where the cat will not show stress reponses, I suggest you offer to rehome your cat with the scratch post as this will encourage the cat to use this for scratching as it is familiar when it gets homes to a new envoironment.

just trying to find a way that they can keep their beloved pet and child in the same house, as this family does care for their pet or they wouldn't be asking advise on the bet would they, agreed if they have exhausted all possibilities and there is no stopping the cat then rehoming or euthanasia is the only option- would you not be a little put out if I told you what you had to do rather than give you options to make your own decision after all it is Their cat. Anyhow I'm here to help 'allnamestaken' if I can, I can only give advice though, but I will check back with you to see if you have any questions, I do sympathise and as a vet I feel your frustration as I go through this process and sometime we exhaust all possibilities