Hello,
I am new here and new to cats was hoping to get some feedback on de-clawing a cat.
I have 3 little kittens that I ended-up with (see new cat on the block "new here" post) and everyone has been telling me I need to de-claw my kittens. My vet highly recommended doing it since I have nice furniture he says they will ruin it and it's better to do it now than later. Bunch of my friends told me I need to do it. So the first two that I got ended-up being fixed and de-clawed on the front only. Marbles (my middle child) has had no issues at all with de-clawing his front paws but Gizmo (my first child) came in with HUGE paws to a point that I almost had a heart attack. The vet told me some cats react this way and it will take few weeks to heal. Well I could not believe what I saw when I picked them both up from the hospital and head a very hard time dealing with that. I was so worried about Gizmo being able to be a normal cat and have his paws normal again. I must have taken him to the vet 3-5 times a week for two weeks straight. The vet would just give him a shot of antiflamitory and antibiotics and sent him home. Gizmo didn't seem to have any issues running around but he started to chew on his paws and removing hair right around the pad to a point that he made it bleed. It was only one paw that had such problem the other one did get to a normal size pretty much within a week. At that point the vet put him on pain meds and told me to give it to him for another 10 days, which I did. He is all good now no issues that I can tell but now I am very worried to take Twinkie in to de-claw. She is so tiny and doesn't seem to be scratching anything at this point so I am not sure if I should do it or not. She does love to do that thing with her paws when it almost looks like she is stumping which can hurt as she scratches me but other than that she is fine. I guess I wanted to get everyone's opinion on de-claw or keeping claws. I do have a very nice furniture, which I don't want to ruin but I also don't want to wait until she is big and it will be tuff for her to get over it. One of my friends de-claw all 4 but my vet highly disagreed with that. He said only fronts should be done and never touch their back claws. Also he said they don't do anything with his back feet anyways and I could see that. So at this point I have mixed feelings weather I should de-claw Twinkie or not. After having such a hard time with Gizmo's paws I am very worried to do it again on another kitty. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I am new here and new to cats was hoping to get some feedback on de-clawing a cat.
I have 3 little kittens that I ended-up with (see new cat on the block "new here" post) and everyone has been telling me I need to de-claw my kittens. My vet highly recommended doing it since I have nice furniture he says they will ruin it and it's better to do it now than later. Bunch of my friends told me I need to do it. So the first two that I got ended-up being fixed and de-clawed on the front only. Marbles (my middle child) has had no issues at all with de-clawing his front paws but Gizmo (my first child) came in with HUGE paws to a point that I almost had a heart attack. The vet told me some cats react this way and it will take few weeks to heal. Well I could not believe what I saw when I picked them both up from the hospital and head a very hard time dealing with that. I was so worried about Gizmo being able to be a normal cat and have his paws normal again. I must have taken him to the vet 3-5 times a week for two weeks straight. The vet would just give him a shot of antiflamitory and antibiotics and sent him home. Gizmo didn't seem to have any issues running around but he started to chew on his paws and removing hair right around the pad to a point that he made it bleed. It was only one paw that had such problem the other one did get to a normal size pretty much within a week. At that point the vet put him on pain meds and told me to give it to him for another 10 days, which I did. He is all good now no issues that I can tell but now I am very worried to take Twinkie in to de-claw. She is so tiny and doesn't seem to be scratching anything at this point so I am not sure if I should do it or not. She does love to do that thing with her paws when it almost looks like she is stumping which can hurt as she scratches me but other than that she is fine. I guess I wanted to get everyone's opinion on de-claw or keeping claws. I do have a very nice furniture, which I don't want to ruin but I also don't want to wait until she is big and it will be tuff for her to get over it. One of my friends de-claw all 4 but my vet highly disagreed with that. He said only fronts should be done and never touch their back claws. Also he said they don't do anything with his back feet anyways and I could see that. So at this point I have mixed feelings weather I should de-claw Twinkie or not. After having such a hard time with Gizmo's paws I am very worried to do it again on another kitty. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.