An Occasion When Cat Claw Caps Are Useful and Practical
By Anonymous
Okay, I know this is an old discussion, but for those of you against claw caps, I’ll tell you my current situation. And please, if you don’t agree with my choice, try to be a civil adult and refrain from the insults and name calling that I saw in earlier posts (note from Admin: the author is referring to an article about claw caps written by Finn Frode). And yes I am American and absolutely loathe the idea of declawing. I don’t have one bit of care for the state of our furniture. We have 2 boys that are very rough n tumble & I’m pretty sure that the majority of the damage is from them, not the puppies or cats.
Claw caps. NOTE: THE PHOTO IS FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY.
We have 3 cats, 2 bulldog puppies, and recently discovered a cat hanging around outside. We live out in the woods in a very rural area, so seeing a cat out here, we thought for a few weeks that it was from our neighbor’s place. A couple days ago I guess he decided that we were ok & approached the house, where I realized he was EXTREMELY hungry. I fed him & he was so sweet & loving and had no fear coming up and rubbing all over our legs. He was healthy looking but way too thin. The only thing we could think of was that he’d been dumped out in the country, probably by someone who inherited cats from a deceased family member, (a mommy cat showed up at our neighbor’s @ the same time).
Sadly that sort of situation happens a lot out here. We took him to our vet and he was too terrified of a carrier so we wrapped him in a towel to transport him, handled the exam & shots beautifully, and we figured he just needed time to recover & realize he wouldn’t be abandoned again. We’re keeping him mostly in a separate room from the other fur babies while he gets used to our home & doesn’t get too stressed out. We also plan on getting him fixed once he’s gotten more comfortable in a few days or so. And he & our older boy who is autistic have made an amazing connection. J. will just lay near Percy and show him his lego collection or read stories to him.
But in the past 2 days, in the middle of being lovey, he’s turned & scratched our 9yr old child badly. We keep telling our kid to go slow, but he can’t seem to remember when Percy is being so sweet. I think it’s that A. gets too enthusiastic, forgets, and starts treating him like our other non-traumatized cats. Getting him neutered will probably help some, but he’s been thru an extremely rough time so needs time to fully heal mentally.
So these are our options. 1) Put him back outside & let the coyotes get him in about a week or so. 2) Send him to a shelter that is already overpopulated where they might have to put him to sleep if he isn’t adopted into an understanding home. 3) Just go ahead and have him put to sleep ourselves. 4) Keep him, but get him declawed so that he doesn’t hurt the boys or our other animals. 5) Keep him, but have our vet put the claw caps on him until he fully trusts us & knows that he is safe.
Personally, I’m going to go with the non-permanent caps. Yes it seems like it would be uncomfortable, but given his limited options it’s also his best chance. It might take years before we can stop using them, or we may never be able to. It all depends on how badly he was traumatized by losing his family and then being left in an area that was so dangerous and scary.
So that’s my story. Ya’ll can agree or not, it’s your right. But it won’t change what will happen. Don’t judge all Americans by just a few. Yes, he’s probably going to lose full use of his claws for however long, but he’ll be alive and in a loving home where he’ll be able to heal.