I want a cat SO BADLY.

Veggie Eater · **Posted:** August 28th, 2009, 7:50 pm

I know a lot of people have cats and they really don't tear things up.. We have a cat and she's fine. Yeah sometimes when she's on your lap and you stand up to get her off she'll dig her claws in your clothes to keep from falling but that's about the most trouble we have. I don't know why everyone is so pro-declawing because it's not necessary.

A cats claws are really important to them. That's their only way of self defense. They use their claws to scratch themselves and to keep clean. They also won't be able to climb up anywhere. Yeah you may think that's a good think because you don't think you want your cat getting on your furniture/tables but the cat is still going to try and climb but it's just going to hurt itself. And a cat jumping up on the couch isn't a bad thing; It's nice to be able to cuddle with him/her.

Just clip your cat's nails every once in awhile. Keep scratching posts and toys in your home. It's not hard and will save your cat frustration and possibly behavior issues.

And this may sound like a terrible idea, but maybe you can try training the cat. They're smart. Declawing a cat is taking the easy way out and the cat is going to suffer from their owners laziness.

Adbot · **Posted:** August 28th, 2009, 7:50 pm

KefkaticFanatic · **Posted:** August 28th, 2009, 8:16 pm

The only issue we have is that our cats will claw up the carpet outside of any closed doors in the house. They can't stand having any part of the house closed off to them. Half the time they don't even want to go in the room, they just want the door open.

colinsoccer123 · **Posted:** August 28th, 2009, 8:48 pm

If you get a kitten you'll be able to make sure it doesn't have any behavioral issues (running away, etc.) that adult shelter cats tend to have from being abused. Also it will be around longer so it's more of a longterm pet.

If you get a cat it could very well have bad behaviors and you really won't be able to do much about them,

For litter training I'm pretty sure (although I can't remember it all that well) that you just put the kitten into a room with a litterbox, food and water and then just leave it there overnight, etc. after putting the cat into the litterbox, to show it. Make sure the room doesn't have carpets as well!

Veggie Eater wrote:

I know a lot of people have cats and they really don't tear things up.. We have a cat and she's fine. Yeah sometimes when she's on your lap and you stand up to get her off she'll dig her claws in your clothes to keep from falling but that's about the most trouble we have. I don't know why everyone is so pro-declawing because it's not necessary.

A cats claws are really important to them. That's their only way of self defense. They use their claws to scratch themselves and to keep clean. They also won't be able to climb up anywhere. Yeah you may think that's a good think because you don't think you want your cat getting on your furniture/tables but the cat is still going to try and climb but it's just going to hurt itself. And a cat jumping up on the couch isn't a bad thing; It's nice to be able to cuddle with him/her.

Just clip your cat's nails every once in awhile. Keep scratching posts and toys in your home. It's not hard and will save your cat frustration and possibly behavior issues.

And this may sound like a terrible idea, but maybe you can try training the cat. They're smart. Declawing a cat is taking the easy way out and the cat is going to suffer from their owners laziness.

Clipping cats' claws is only bad for the cat if it's an outdoor cat for wildlife selfprotection seeing as many rural animals like a tasty cat such as the fisher, wolverine and some other weasel family member.

Mushroom Queen · **Posted:** August 29th, 2009, 2:28 pm

I think training is probably the best way, but honestly..if I had a kitten/cat that tore everything up and, despite my best efforts, I'd think about declawing it over taking it back to the shelter where it has a real possibility of being put down.