by Finn Frode
(Copenhagen, Denmark)
Note: this article was written by a valued guest, Finn Frode. It is his opinion. People have different opinions about claw caps. Please see the more than 70 comments for their viewpoints. Note: this page has been re-dated to bring it forward.
CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE SEVERAL OTHER ARTICLES ON CLAW CAPS.
The picture is snipped from a recent article in the periodical issued by the Danish cat shelter "Inges Kattehjem". I hope they don't mind me borrowing it for a good cause...
The story is that a young Canadian lady had temporarily placed her cat at the shelter. While housed there, the shelter staff noticed those little blue caps on it's claws and wondered what they were for.
When confronted the lady told them that the cat sometimes suffered from convulsions that might cause it to harm itself and therefore her vet had recommended declawing. Knowing that this practice is illegal in many countries, the lady asked for an alternative and the cat ended up with these so-called "claw caps".
The young lady only wished the best for her cat, so after talking things over with the shelter staff, she wisely decided to have the claw caps removed from the cat immediately and instead seek proper medical treatment for the convulsions.
The shelter sees this case as the classic example of how you can do your pet a disservice in good faith - even when advised by somebody, who should be an authority like the vet.
Here in Denmark claw caps would no doubt be illegal, as they "cause considerable inconvenience to the animal" - that's at least the point of view of the shelter, who noticed that the caps seemed to prevent the cat from retracting it's claws.
If you google "claw caps" and "cats", you'll find some companies that offer these things. It's claimed that the caps do not "interfere with the normal extension and retraction of claws". But I somehow doubt that, because all the pictures show cat paws with those little caps sticking far out instead of being properly retracted...
Using claw caps is not as cruel as declawing, but it still seems like mutilation to me. It prevents the cat from following it's natural instincts by scratching and maybe climbing the scratching pole - and also from protecting itself. And each cap must be renewed every 4 or 6 weeks in a procedure lasting up to 5 minutes per claw while the glue dries. I doubt my big old moggie would ever have the patience for that...
Instead spend two minutes every two weeks trimming the claws on the front paws - it's really that easy once the both of you have gotten used to the procedure. And of course get one or more scratching poles that allows your cat to really stretch out.
Finn Frode
This article is truly an opinion piece rather than anything scientific. It’s a shame that people get so riled up after reading one flawed, illogical article on the internet and use it as an excuse to bash on each other, while failing to provide any evidence for their argument themselves. This website should be ashamed of itself for posting such blasphemy from such an uneducated author with no facts to support it. I came here purposely looking for a reason NOT to cap my cats nails and have only found that your side fails to provide any evidence, in fact it uses inconclusive evidence (the siezures and nap caps are not related sweetie!!! One is trying to remedy symptoms of the other!) to progress it’s point. Please take this down and provide a factual, non-biased, complete article on this topic from a credible author. I would actually like to learn something, thank you!!!!
This is meant to be an opinion piece. That is perfectly valid. It is not meant to be anything else.
There is nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing at all. We have opinions. I am allowing you to express yours.
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I highly recommend nail caps on hairless cats! They stay in place and shed off like their normal nails! My cats have no problems with them and the caps have saved my new couch. My last couch they completely destroyed even though they are provided with many different types of scratch posts and toys! I also highly recommend Cat Scratch Guards for leather coaches!
Many thanks Adrianna for your nice comment. One thing about claw caps on hairless cats is that you manage them better because you can see them better.
I don’t know how these claw caps work but I have a male cat and his mother and I don’t know why he despises her she tried to be friends as well and it drives me crazy why he can’t just ignore her if he don’t like her. But everytime she has her back turned or if she’s walking past him he runs after her. She won’t even use the little box around him or she’s afraid to walk past him cuz he will fricken sit there near the room where her litterbox Is I even wake up through out the night and put her in the room where litterbox is and put gate up to see if she got to go because she will hold pee and poop all day to avoid him its insane so I have to do this every so often day and night and when I leave I have to keep them separated because of this in case she’s got to use bathroom cuz I won’t be there to put her in her room…if I had a bigger place it would be so much better and we r looking for a bigger apartment then they have more room to themselves… cuz right now I have to put a baby gate up and give one half the house the other half eventually got to put another on top cuz he can’t jump high don’t know y but he does not jump he will avoid it if it’s his but I’ve saw him climb the gate before, when she’s in there he won’t climb but if he is stuck in her room he will try now if I put a towel covering the whole where he can climb on he can’t at all but prob best to get another gate ..but mama is such a amazing cat I can’t let her have to live like this having to worry about getting scratched at cuz he will chase her and when she’s not paying attention or even when she’s sleeping he will just swipe her. I wanted him declawed so bad but I can’t cause how bad it is but I wish there was some way to just stop him…and these claw caps really seem like the only option to hopefully stop him from drawing blood or scratch marks and yes I clip his claws but he can still do damage if he wants.. Unless someone knows a better way…cuz I hate her having to be worried 24/7 because of him and yes they are both fixed and I clip both cats Nails..
In the pic teenie is the one way in the background he’s tan and white. Mama’s the one up close by the scratched she’s a dilute calico and spookie who gets along with both Teenie and mama and they get along with him. Thing is teenie was taken from his mother very early when he was young he don’t remember her brought him home and he grew up with spookie who was already a full grown cat when he met teenie who was a baby kitten. Then a year later we get mama because we couldn’t get her right away. My great aunt had mama till I could bring her home…the situation why I couldn’t bring her home right away cuz we lived with his parents at the time and they had animal issues cuz there two dogs peed everywhere even though my cats have never peed anywhere other then there litterbox. It all depends if the owner takes care of everything and keeps everything clean and sanitary…
Danielle, thank you for telling us your story. It looks as though the boy cat has grown up, become independent and demands his own territory. As you are living in quite a small place his mother is intruding upon his territory. He wants his mother out of the way to have his territory to himself. When offspring grow up they become independent and lose those family connections.
The problem you have is animosity between the male offspring and his mother. The problem is not really the scratching but the animosity between the two. Claw caps will certainly help to eliminate scratching. They are simply glued onto the claws. They need renewing from time to time and I think they are not that good and a problem but they will certainly help to reduce the damage.
However the better and more permanent solution is to separate the two cats. I am not going to advise this but the better solution would be to rehome the boy cat so that he has his own territory. Or, as you say, get a bigger place to allow him to have some of his own territory. But that may not work properly because you don’t know how much territory he wants or needs or demands.
I am sorry that you are suffering with this very difficult problem. The best of luck with this. And thank you once again for commenting.
So if I shouldn’t use claws caps or delcawing I wonder what your suggestion would be to otherwise keep kitty from accidentally scratching up furniture even with trimmed claws. And ‘dealing with it’ is not the solution.
The article about not using claw caps was written by a colleague of mine. They are his personal views. Clearly, plastic claw caps are much better than declawing a cat, we should never happen.
The answer really is to trim the claws and accept some damage by a cat’s claws. The best answer really is to accept it although that may be impossible for some people. Another answer is to buy furniture which you don’t mind being scratched or which is difficult to scratch and then of course you can provide lots of big cat scratching posts. But there is likely to be some scratching of furniture in my view and as mentioned, it is to be accepted.
Thanks for commenting by the way.
Ok 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. 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.
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.
Hi, many thanks for taking the time to tell us your story. It is a great story well told. I completely agree with your assessment. It is very sensible. I would hope that the time comes when you can dispense with claw caps. The article was written by a colleague, not me. I tend to accept that on occasions like yours that claw caps are very useful and a “solution”.
I’d like to turn your comment into an article. I’ll presume that you’ll agree. I promise that you will not get upsetting comments. I doubt whether you’ll get any upsetting comments anyway but if there are some I’ll either delete or modify them. Many thanks again.
Do you want to tell us your name?
Nah, I’d rather remain anonymous. Thank you though for the kind words.
That’s fine.
What did you do?
Personally I think number 3 is the best option. I would rather die than being tortured. I don’t think dying is bad – it’s the ones left who’s grieving.
I wouldn’t do anything. My child would leave the cat alone after being clawed enough. 🙂