I have a scratching post for my cat so do I still need to trim her claws?
Monday, March 8th, 2010 at
3:54 am
6 Comments
Cheap Cat Furniture
Cat furniture, cat trees and cat condos are great additions to a cat lover's home, as they provide hours of good fun for the feline companions and keep your own furniture intact.
Cat scratching is a perfectly normal behavior for a cat, and if your cat is scratching a chair or your favorite couch, then you just need to somehow re-direct his or her scratching to other, more appropriate objects.
The consensus from the various Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is that de-clawing is cruel and unnecessary. I can only agree with this conclusion. However, if you feel that you must either declaw your cat or give her up, we would rather see your cat stay in her home and be your lifelong companion. I only ask that you do not make this decision lightly and just be absolutely sure that you will not change your mind later about keeping your indoor cat once you have it declawed.
You can use nail caps for the cat's front paws as an alternative to getting the cat de-clawed. This is a much more humane choice and it does work to protect the furniture. Just make sure you do not use nail caps on a cat that goes outside, as it will have no defense.
Most pet shops offer different selections of cat scratch posts from which to choose. Some have carpet or rug material on wooden posts and bases. Others are made of rope which is wrapped around the post or pole.
Then there are cat towers and cat trees which are great for the cat to climb and play besides being there for scratching purposes.
Other people like to design their own and make them themselves. This is another option for you as well. Besides going to your local pet store, you can look online for these different cat trees, towers and scratch posts.
One thing that can work well if your cat is still scratching the furniture is to spray some citrus oil on the chair or the couch that they are attacking. This is a good deterrent that usually works quite effectively.
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A scratching post gives your cat an alternative to using your furniture and carpets; it does not provide the means to keep the claws at their preferred length.
A cat that goes outside will wear down it’s claws through normal behaviour. So, if your cat goes outdoors, then trimming may not be necessary. If it does not, then trimming is still required.
Just make sure you know how to trim properly; too much and you will go into the "quick" of your cat’s nails (where the blood flow is) and hurt them.
Good luck.
Let her scratch at the post………then you should still check her nails, if they look like they need at trim, then trim them
good luck
It’s really up to you.
My kitten has a scratching post but I still trim her claws.
I would definitely suggest trimming her claws anyways..it helps her out and you don’t have to worry about things possibly getting scratched up as much.
Both of my cats need claw trimming even though they have scratching posts. The boy cat compulsively sharpens his claws by gnawing at the sheath to reveal fresh, sharp claws. If we didn’t trim, he would have unpleasantly sharp claws. The girl cat is the opposite– she doesn’t remove enough of the sheath, so she gets a thick buildup of death scaly claw material. If we don’t trim, her nails get so long that they click on the floors and start to throw off her gait.
the more you trim their nails the more they scratch
YES. The post only takes off the shedding sides of the claws, which make the tips of the claws sharper and sharper. Cutting the tips off keeps the claws dull.