Posted by David on June 02, 1999 at 15:42:01:
We have two female cats that are now grand old ladies
(15 and 14). From the very beginning, we decided to clip
their nails, because the cat shelter we got them from
strongly discouraged declawing. It really isn't a problem
to clip them, but I have had to develop some rasslin' moves
to get them to where I can clip the nails without becoming
a casualty. Basically, I grab them and sit Indian-style
on the floor with the "victim" on her back. Then I go to
work. I always finish the job in one sitting, because I
want to teach them that this was a necessary evil and
that it will happen, no matter how much they cry and twist
around. They have gotten used to the humiliation, and
they do not take long to recover their kitty dignity after
clipping. They seem to like the short nails afterwords because
even though they paw and kneed the carpet afterwords, they
do not get caught. Of course, being cats, they cannot bring
themselves to admit that short nails are better. They would
rather whine and complain for a few minutes.
If you keep their nails short, they do very little damage to
the house or each other during spats. But they still have
the paw control that comes with intact claws.
My advice: clip, don't declaw!