UNDERSTANDING WHY CATS HAVE AND NEED CLAWS!!!
Thank you for learning the importance of your cat’s claws.
A cat needs to scratch on a surface so they can tone their nails and exercise their bodies. Providing them with a good scratching post designed to maximize your cat’s scratching pleasure and giving them an appealing target for territorial marking, exercise, and natural cat exuberance is very important.
The claws also allow the cat to grasp and hold objects as well as establish footing for walking, running, springing, climbing and stretching. By regularly trimming your cat’s nails and offering a suitable scratching target, you are providing a natural outlet for a normal, happy and healthy behavior and you will be rewarded with a satisfied and confident companion. You can purchase a scratching post from SmartCat “The Ultimate Scratching Post™” or we have directions on “How to build a Scratching Post” your cat will love.
Think about it… If you had just brought home a new puppy and the puppy was digging up your expensive landscaping, scratching hardwood floors while running in the house, jumping on furniture and digging to find or hide a bone, would your first thought be to have your puppy’s claws and toes surgically removed? Your answer would be “NO”. I expect that you would naturally and intelligently start the puppy in a training program.
Trying to understand why people think so naturally to alter a cat’s behavior by removing the claws instead of suppling and training the cat to use a post versus something else inappropriate should be unheard of. Let’s give our cats their dignity by letting them keep the claws they were born with, so they can display their natural instincts.
Ok, so now let’s take a moment to understand just how important the cats claws are to them.
The cat is born with five retracting nails on each front foot and 4 nails on each rear foot which don’t retract (they remain exposed and don’t hide within the paw).
TRAINING vs. AMPUTATION
The average person doesn’t understand what declawing is and how it permanently affects their cat. Please read our article on “The Truth About Declawing”
Opposite to what most American cat owners think, declawing does not “save” cats, or training time, even money, or sofas. It frequently does the exact opposite. Declawed cats can be expensive and dangerous because declawing is the number one cause of litter box problems and biting issues.
Declawing is an amputation of the cat’s toes to the first knuckle of each joint. Declawing removes claw, bone, tendon and ligament. The cat will be in pain for the rest of their life.
If your cat is already declawed, don’t beat yourself up, it’s over and now is the time to educate yourself and spread the word to other cat lovers what you have learned. It’s all about being informed and educated. So many people don’t realize how detrimental declawing is, the veterinarians never talk about it.
Please NEVER even consider declawing, and save a cat from this brutal and unnecessary procedure. Help educate people around you, tell them what you have learned. Also tell them to tell everyone they know, we need to STOP this procedure.
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