de-clawing my cats?

I am really struggling with this one, but I need an answer. I have had cats my whole life, and never de-clawed any of them. All I usually needed to do was trim their nails. However I now have a 4 month year old baby and he is constantly getting scratched by Mica and Tana. They are now about 8 months old, can they still get their front feet de-clawed? They are 100% house cats.

Thanks for the help.

you can still get them declawed however i would normally suggest it younger the younger the better. all of my cats that are declawed got declawed between 4-6 months and i got them neutered and spayed at the same time. I adopted a cat from the pound she was already over a year so i just let her keep her them i felt it was too old to get declawed and she had already been spayed. all of my cats are house cats except stinky the one with claws gets out every now and then and then screams at the door when she has to potty LOL.
are you wanting to declaw them so they wont destroy anything or are they harming each other?

also finding a veterinarian that does the declaw using a laser is much less painfull and cleaner than prior methods, yes its more expensive but worth it imo.
Nate

I could not even find a veterinarian in my area who'd declaw my cat. They discourage people from doing it because it is seen as animal cruelty.

I just had to keep mine's nails trimmed

Why not just keep your baby away from the cats? Is there any way you can keep the cats from having access to the baby room?

Can I also suggest soft claws? They last about a month or so and you just glue them onto you cats claws. They come with the glue and they also come in different sizes and colors. We have cats also and we just trim there nails for now but we're considering the soft claws, its cheaper then declawing them.

thats interesting i have never heard of soft claws i need to look into those for stinky.... as far as being inhumane if done early i do not think it is inhumane or cruel... especially being done by a liscensed vet while under anestisia (sp?LOL) (asap when they are young) like i said earlier we get out cats spayed/nuetered and declawed at the same time. i feel like its similar to tail docking and dew claw removal... but i think if the animal is too old is should not get done.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...rtial&Np=1&N=0


That's a link for softclaws, though you may be able to find them somewhere for cheaper...

You could always make some Duct tape booties for El Gato ;-)

We had one of our cats declawed when he was about 2 months old. They gave him a patch that had morophine in it that made him VERY happy for the recovery process.

My wife was living in France when she had our first cat declawed - a requirement by her landlord. I remember her telling me that the cat, Moustique, sat atop the fridge holding out her paws and making kitty speak to her.

Regards,

Terry

I have worked with cats professionally for almost 30 years now and support declawing only as a last resort. Regular nail trimming is the easiest way to prevent serious claw injury to people, although, even trimmed a pissed off cat can still cause some damage with it's nails. The soft claws are a good alternative, but I have seen some applied poorly and the cats are not able to retract their nails properly and have had infections in the nail bed. They are quite expensive and can be tedious to apply.

The best reason to not declaw a cat though is by taking away their first line of defense which they would normally resort to, biting becomes their first line. I have been bit by a few cats over the years, and the worst bites have come from declawed cats, they don't have an option. Even the most gentle natured cats can become agressive when injured or frightened. I'd rather have my children scratched than bit.

I know this thread is older, but first time I've seen it. Thanks to Rich for making it easy to browse all the forums easily!!