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ElementalSpirits — Claw Cutting Tutorial
Published: 2009-05-31 19:44:43 +0000 UTC; Views: 2811; Favourites: 26; Downloads: 75
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Description
Modelled here by the lovely FreyaRandom I know. A friend of mine is trying to persuade her dad not to have her kitten declawed. This is the kind and painless alternative but she was a little nervous about doing it so I said I’d make a tutorial on how it’s done.
Declawing is a cruel mutilation of a cat’s body for selfish reasons, where a cat’s claws are surgically removed. The operation involves amputating the end bone of each digit, the equivalent of removing the tips of all your fingers. It is incredibly painful and takes weeks to recuperate from. Often the cat suffers a permanent personality change, becomes lethargic and stops doing anything involving scratching, including using a litter box. Permanent damage to the tendons is also not uncommon, where the cat suffers intense pain from walking, and usually has to be put to sleep. Declawed cat cannot defend themselves when attacked by dogs or other cats, they have great difficulty balancing, walking and cannot climb, stretch or groom properly. A cat is designed to walk on its toes, but declawed cats do not have all of their toes and so suffer continuous discomfort, the same way you might by wearing too small shoes. In effect you are robbing a cat from being a cat.
The worse thing is damage caused by cat scratching is easy to avoid especially if you are starting with a kitten which hasn't developed bad habits yet. Buy a scratch pole and watch it for scratching, when it does, pick it up immediately and put it on the scratch pole. Sometimes running that cats paws gently down the post a few times is also helpful and always praise the cat for using it. If there’s a particularly bad spot, put the post near it and spray the spot with a commercial anti-scratch solution, wipe with a vaseline product like Vick, or use double sided sticky tape. Cats are intelligent animals and soon learn what is expected. If you are so worried about damage while training your cat, please cut the claws as above, it won’t stop the behaviour by itself, but it does prevent damage. If you are worried about the cat scratching you, handle and play with it often. The only way it can learn you are fragile is by experience.
Thank you for reading and if you were considering declawing your cat, hopefully this may have changed your mind.
Here are some quick informal videos about the subject, they contain no offensive clips because that would just be wrong.
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Comments: 63
Your awesome tutorial is now featured in #Against-Declawing 's front page! 
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I don't mind at all! If it helps stop just one cat from being declawed it's purpose will be served.
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Yep, yep. Maybe you can join #Against-Declawing dA Group?
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Yeah, declawing is very painful for kittehs, and leaves them defenseless.
I've pretty much given up on furniture integrity. I let then scratch two upholstered pieces in my parlor, and have nice slipcovers for those pieces when company comes calling. But, I live in the country and we do things different than city folks.
Living in the country being the case, we have field mice. A cat without claws is not much of a mouser.
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The entire concept is beyond me, I mean, someone actually thought up the idea of doing it! It's disgusting and makes me just a little more ashamed to be human.
I honestly don't know why people say you can't have nice things with cats! I have nice furniture that is not clawed to death by felines. Ok there are a few things I can't have. Leather would be pointless and carpets made of the curled cord are a disaster with any pet, but I don't like those styles anyway so it's not a big loss (and if you put furniture before animals in the first place then you really have no right to have animals at all!).
I wish mine wouldn't catch birds or mice, but that is the nature of the beast and nothing you can or should change. Luckily, unlike that most people seem to think, many cats aren't naturally mousers and only catch the occasional one.
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First off great Tutorial! I use the ones with the guide or a small dremmel tool (same thing as the pedipaws) now because I have hit the quick quite often and felt terrible (2 dogs and 5 cats and the one dog is the whiningest thing)
I do want to dispel one myth here. My grandmothers cat miss kitty continued to scratch the couch her entire life AND use a litter box. she was declawed when my grandmother found and adopted her. now I don't declaw my cats because my cats are indoor/outdoor cats (I know I'm horribly abusive letting them get some fresh air with me in the yard too), but I also believe in declawing when the cat is a psychotic nut who would sooner tear your arms to ribbons than let you give a gentle pet. It's not just about your couch some cats are just plain aggressive and mean and I would rather declaw a cat like that than send it to a shelter where they will put it to sleep as unadoptable.
This happened to me once. Her name was Avalanche (named for her pure white fur) she attacked everyone who tried to touch her (and she was spayed as well, which was supposed to make her calmer!!) We gave her up to the shelter where I was volunteering and when I went back I found they'd put her to sleep because she was unadoptable because all she did was scratch everyone who tried to pet her. I was 10. I'll declaw their butts to keep from being responsible for another cats death.
And I know someone will suggest the soft paws. I'd be more than happy to use them instead.. if you come put them on the cat. it's easy to do those for a simple couch scratcher, most of them sit still for claw clipping, but not for a little monster *chuckle* I've been mauled by a cat who didn't want me to do something to it it ain't fun.
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I think my brother uses a type similar to that, but he says my guillotine version is easier. I haven't cut the quick myself (yet!) but my mum has once and since then has been too nervous to do it, so she gets me to do it instead. 
I admit that I'm on the fence about that personally, because I'm not sure if I would consider de-clawing worse then having a cat put down or not (but at the same time I'm sure that if I was in that situation, and it was my cat, I'd probably prefer having my cat about). Then again, I think that if a cat is attacking someone because they don't like being touched, that's a behavioural problem and de-clawing really isn't going to treat the issue. Basically all you're doing is stopping the cat from hurting someone, but you aren't stopping the reasons of why the cat is feeling stressed or uncomfortable at being in that situation.
I've had two cats that didn't like being touched in the past (or perhaps technically three as my current Abyssinian Thea flinches when she is touched, although she does not attack and I'm certain this was caused by her car accident). The first, a Abyssinian Siamese cross called Thanya, who was fine except that she did not like people touching her back, and the second, a cinnamon Ocicat named Ginny, who was born with brain damage. With Thanya, it was simply that you did not stroke her along her back (you stroked her sides) and anyone who didn't do that was attacked and generally considered that they deserved it (there was no pity in my house for people who didn't listen to when they were told to not touch her back, especially as Thanya herself would usually warn people before attacking). Since then I've learnt that sensitivity along the back (and sometimes sides) isn't that uncommon in cats, as in cat language, this isn't a polite place to touch someone. Many cats I suppose have learnt that most humans are dumb to cat language, but it's understandable that many cats still do not like it. Ginny on the other hand acted nearly completely feral, as the vet described her, she was worse then the dock cats. You did not touch Ginny, you did not pick up Ginny, you did not try to handle her in any way. The first day we had her she put 25 stitches in my mum's arm as she tried to remove her from the ceiling (I never believed cats could do that before Ginny!), after that she lived under my bed for about a year. She eventually calmed down a bit, but you could certainly never handle her like a normal cat, and she always had to go to the vets in a crush cage.
So I guess what I'm saying is that in my mind, you accept the behaviour of the cat, if it can be modified, that's fantastic, if it can't, then you have to work around it. I know that a lot of people might not be willing to work with a difficult cat, but I can't see that de-clawing would actually solve the issue (Thanya would still have had a sensitive back, Ginny would still have been terrified at being handled). I can see how others would feel differently though, and it certainly would have been horribly cruel to have put either of my cats to sleep just because of that. I'm sorry that Avalanche was put down because of it, unfortunately a lot of shelters seem very kill happy, and only want to help the most adoptable animals.
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Oh I know de-clawing wouldn't have solved the issue, but to a 10 year old kid it was better than the alternative. of course now I know about more than I did then so I can take more before I have to hit up the last ditch efforts. I just wish we had cat psychologists. I can't read cats like I can dogs. Dogs are simple, be pack leader and work them properly and they will be balanced and happy. Cats are this enigma because they are so varied. It's been said I'm literally a dog person (not as in I like dogs more than cats, but that I am a dog in spirit) Which would explain my complete and utter Ignorance to the feline language. My partner on the other hand is literally a cat person. She can read a cats mood just by looking at it or toying with it for a minute or so.
As for the shelter and avalanche I never volunteered with them again. I couldn't
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Ugh, declawing. The mere mention of it makes me shiver. Get her dad to do a little research on it. After that he won't consider it. Ever again. And if the vets tell him it's perfectly safe, take into account that they're getting paid.
Anyways, thanks (: This is a good tutorial.
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what the hell? Is declawing done on a regular basis in North America???
Poor cats!
If you want a declawed cat, you deserve no cat! Cats must run through fields and woods. They are no particular indoor/ cage pets!!!!
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I feel the exact same why, I'm really shocked and saddened at how many people I know who have declawed cats. There's no excuse for it!
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I am really shocked that this seems to be daily routine in American vet houses. I do not know any cat or owner with a cat which was declawed. I don't know it is even allowed here. But then again I think that this operation probably is not inexpensive. And most owners do not want to spend money on unnecessary things.
If only all the money spend in declawing would be put in neutering outdoor cats...
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I have an idea that, like here in England, most of Europe has banned the operation and think it's abhorrent. But then in America they also "debark" dogs. You really have to wonder why these people even have animals, they clearly don't seem to like the way they act.
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debark dogs? Oh my, there is always something new to discover in the hall of shame O:
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Just want to throw in some two cents from America...
In the United States, declawing is a very regular occurrence. I am not a cat expert, but I'd estimate around 25%-50% of domestic cats, maybe more, get declawed here. It seems people here in the US are less educated about the procedure, and it is largely accepted (and expected) to have your cat declawed.
I've never heard of "debarking" dogs though.
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'De-barking' dogs refer to having a dog's vocal chords cut.
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Sadly yes. Whenever you think humanity has reached it's lowest level, you find there is another one below it.
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i do this for my kitty 
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I'm sorry to hear that, maybe the next time you get a cat you can convince your mum that they don't need to be declawed at all.
I rarely find the back claws need doing actually.. except for Freya, but I don't think she exercises anymore.
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haha yea
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Ah, xD well kitten claws are pretty sharp I guess. Actually come to think of it, I had to cut my kitten's claws because she kept kicking my tom in the chin and making it bleed >.0.. but at least she didn't do it to the furniture.
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yea haha thats the problem we have when he rabbit kicks, and we have little children that come top the house. he's afraid of them and stays away but we dont take chances lol
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Cool 8D
Is that by any chance, an egyptian mau by the way? I have one too ^^
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No 
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There is ONLY one time I don't mind cats getting declaws, and ONLY this one. I only agree to cats being declawed when it will save there life. There are a lot of people out there, that will get cats and they will be fine as kittens, but as they get older they can turn into "attack cats". And there are a lot of those people that will and do put their cats to sleep because of it.
But that is the only reason. I work at a vet and I have to bite my cheek so hard when people are talking about declawing because of furniture. Then I go into the back and rant for a good 10 minutes before I can do anything else. I see how its done, I see the pain that most cats go though post surgery. There has only been one cat I saw that was up 2 hours after surgery playing. Sticking her paw in water and licking it off her paws (it was how she drank).
So thank you, for this tutorial. If only more people CUT their cats nails, or even use soft paws...it would make things a LOT better.
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I've never had to clip a cat's claws because we have a big garden with a lot of vines and trees for them to scratch (although that doesn't stop Macavity, the oldest cat, from scratching the sofa.)
Declawing sounds like a pretty stupid option: if you don't want a cats with claws get a soft toy
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Shouldn't have named him Macavity!! *Giggle* you were asking for that one! Please tell me one of your other cats names is Mistoffeleese?
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Nope. We did have a Scaramouche and a Killer at one point, though.
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This would be the first time I ever heard of a cat named killer! lol! Scaramouche is cute though! I could never get my mom to agree to odd cat names when I was a kid. we always had to use Cliche names like Simba (golden colored long hair) or menis, Tazz, Jinx, Curious, ect. The only odd name I ever got her to agree on was One. and One was named for the character one in Resident evil (the guy who got diced by the red queen's lazer). He had a gimpy leg (my aunt/step granfather's doing) and he was just like the character aside of having a greusome death.
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Our cats tend to have odd names: Gogo, Killer, Indigo (not even slightly blue), Genghis, Rajah, and Khan are the most memorable names
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This is the first claw clipping tutorial I've seen, and I think it is wonderful! I had many, many cats growing up, and we never got them declawed. It was very easy to train them to use a scratching post, both by showing them the post and giving them a quick squirt with a regular child's water gun if they tried to scratch somewhere else. Most cats learn in only one or two squirts; they are amazingly intelligent! And, yes, clipping claws for those who have nails that are getting too long. My cats that needed nail trims tolerated it very well. I think they were secretly happy about it, because it seemed more comfortable than letting them grow too long.
I'm not a big fan of declawing. In fact, the only "elective" surgery in animals I support is neutering, because it benefits the animal (and the animal's species, if they are over-populated like cats), and not just his human companion.
Kudos for a great tutorial. I've been cutting cat claws for years, but I am going to fave it as well so I can show others!
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Thanks, I was suppirsed to see there weren't any tutorials out there either, it's such a simple 'alternitive'. I've never had trouble with my cats, and I've had quite a lot over the time, including 6 together at one point. Still no damaged carpets, doors or funiture. They're so easy to train, especially if you have it from a kitten, I really see no excuse.
Yes, neutering is the only 'unnecessary' surgery required. All others are purely egotistical, and I'm proud to say, something we've banned here in England (although to our shame, not very successfully)
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This is really great
Making a tutorial is a great idea.
I Usually sit m cat on his back on my lap to cut his claws. And as i trained him since he's a lil kitten he doesn't mind at all.
I also trained him so he only scratches specific things.
It's really easy.
Declawing is something intolerable that is the result of people's egoism, ignorance and cruelty.
And that's why it's forbidden in most countries.
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I went with my brother to pick up his new cat yesterday, and since on previous occassions we got the impression that she wasn't always the friendlyist thing, we asked the breeder to cut her claws. She did the exact same thing, laying her on her back, and she was as good as gold.. even though normally she's a bit of a terorist.
I'm just shocked that anyone ever came up with the idea and, what's worse, that others took it up. I hope one day (soon) that it will be illigal everywhere. To me it is as cruel as beating your animal.. perhaps even crueler, at least the pain of a beating would go away eventually.
Thanks for sharing.
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I totally agree with you. It may be even worse than daily beating..
Sometimes i also cut their claws while they're sleeping and massage their paws at the same time. Not all cats like paw massaging but the few i had loved that
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That's a pretty kitty you have there.
and some wicked carpet XD
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Thank you ^^ Ah yes 
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You're such a good cat (animal) handler
cats that's always inside the house need to have their claws cut, right?
I cut my dogs claws too once a week
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Thank you
I think it depends on the cat, I don't keep mine perminately inside so I'm unsure. Freya does need her's clipped every once in a while because (I suspect) she doesn't scratch to ware them down like she should. So whenever she starts getting them caught a lot in the sofa I cut them.
I actually use dog clippers xD so yeah, it's the same thing, only dogs need to walk on concrete to ware them down and cats need a scratch post. Cat claws are much easier though because you can see the quick... all the dog claws I've cut were black so it's a little more worring for me to do. xD
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yea.. dogs claws are quite though.. Yume has white but it's still hard to see the quick since they're kinda thick, :/ but I cut like..1-2 millimiter each time. Cats claws are easier .. but I thought the cats were harder to handle.. but I guess it's alot about the owner and the way he/she handles and trains the cat from the beginning..?
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I would think so.
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Thankyou so much! I'll be sure to show my dad this..I REALLY dont want her claw's being taken out. and your cat is really adorable D:
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I know you don't <3 and I really hope that this helps. If there is any other way I can help, please just let me know. I'll even talk to him if you want me to and give him tips on how to train her, answer questions... anything to help and to prove I'm not an inexperianced know-it-all. xD
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Alright |'D You r like..the cat expert D'<
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You have such a beautiful cat <3 I love her
Aaah, that stupid declawing stuff. I just don't understand such people but then again I don't understand many things other people do
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Thank you ^^ She's a silver Ocicat. <3
I can't understand it either, if you get a cat (or any animal) you have to except that it's going to be a cat. You can't just taior make it to suit you. It reminds me of those people who buy animals just to have babies or so thier coat pattern suits their decoration, then get rid of them whe they're no longer cute or they get board of the colour. They're living things and need to be respected.
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