Ack. What a mess. One seems way too old to declaw, too. Hopefully their vet will refuse it.
There are ways to train cats that young not to scratch, though. double sided tape on the corners of the couch where he scratches, keep-away sprays, etc.

It's already done, so they found a vet to do it.

I have two cats, neither declawed, and have had no problems save some scratching on the doorjambs.

my cat's a bad scratcher, but we got her as an adult so it was a bit too late for any substantial training. we've only managed to get her to stop clawing when we're in the room. eh, a couple ancient damaged couches are a small price to pay for her. she's a great cat.

I know they make those little rubber things you can put over cats claws- how common are those nowadays among cat owners?

TPS - never seen them in use.

Er, my only horse in this race is that my cat was declawed (front only) very young, before I got her. She lived to be nice and fat and old and I've been thinking about getting a new kitty but I don't want to declaw...so. I dunno. The Bf used to clip his cat's nails so maybe he'll do that.


I really want a kitty. I had cat from age 7 to 19. I'm 25 now and I miss having a fuzzball that wakes me up in the morning and purrs.

Then again I also want fish, so WTF is that?

They went to a vet, who did this, so they don't realize it's awful. But it's awful.

The Whelk, somebody on Ask.Me really needs a new home for a cat. No matter where you get a cat, there are many kitties needing homes.

It's a shared responsibility thing, plus we're going away for a lot this summer, so, not right now, but it's on our minds.

My cat knows to just scratch the scratching post. I don't know how he knows that, though.

scratching posts simulate trees, which is a wild cat's preferred place to scratch. it's instinctive.

You can get their claws trimmed regularly or the rubber protectors. No need to be so drastic about it.

Sad story, desjardins. The bit about the kids having to winnow down their toys to one box made it sound like they were moving to an orphanage, not to a family home.

TPS, I'm the only one in my circle of acquaintances and friends who has tried Softpaws even though a lot of them have cats. The stores that used to carry them locally have all largely discontinued them.

I've tried them on cats and dogs. Works pretty good on dogs, not great on cats as the later shed the entire outer layer of their claws on a regular basis, taking the rubber sheath with it. Applying them to the cat was ...um... traumatic, especially as I rather like to remain not bleeding. Afterwards, the cat spent an hour goosestepping around the house (the hilarity sort of but not completely made up for the multiple lacerations), gnawed two off and went into a frenzy of pawing at every surface of the house. I think he managed to stimulate the growth of his claws because the rest of the covers fell off before the end of the week.

For the dog, I only did it because we were staying w/ friends who have nice hardwood floors and I got very paranoid about our dog doing one of his bongo-drum accelerations down her hallway. The friends insisted we bring the dog (I had planned to kennel him, but they are dog-deprived) so we went with the softpaws. Otherwise, just keeping the dog nails trimmed close works just as well, at least on my meh floors.

I once had a kitty that moved in with me and my other two kitties. She was pretty aggressive, tending to bite, but eventually we all learned to get along. She was also obviously pregnant and malnourished when she joined the household.

A couple of nights before her first vet appointment, I attempted to trim her claws. I'd gotten to be pretty good at it. And at giving my cats baths. But I'd had them since they were kittens. Imagine my confusion when I'd gotten her all settled in and pressed on one of her pads. Nothing. No claw. It was weird.

So, the person who'd dumped her in my neighborhood had gotten her declawed but not spayed? I was aghast. I mean, if you're going to go to the trouble to get the cat declawed, why not get it all done, right?

The vet didn't like it, but we ended up decided together that my Jezebel (that's what her name ended up being) was so malnourished that having the kittens would kill her, so she got spayed anyway.

She also tended to bite even when play fighting for as long as she was with me. Ouch. She also liked to rub her paw nubs on the scratching post, which was kind of perplexing, but I always figured that maybe they itched.

Also, one box of toys per kid? How young are they? If they don't have their own room(s), perhaps the future stepdad needs to consider getting a bigger place, since he's gonna have a family. He also should probably rethink his idea of "clutter" when kids are involved.

I am SO glad to have married a reasonable man who is a great stepdad. But I also would have remained happily a single mom in the face of bullshit.

Animals do a lot of destructive and gross stuff. All those cat piss questions on AskMe make me shudder. Dogs seem a little less gross even if more "messy." I like my parents' dogs, but I have a hard time imagining having a pet myself.

Also messy/gross: children.

And further more: significant others.

Not only do other people do gross stuff and make a mess, but they also get their feelings all over the place too. Gah.

My sister-in-law and her husband got their kitten declawed and it was all I could do to hold it together when they were talking about it. See, he can't imagine why anyone would keep a cat's claws. "Everyone does it." Even when I talked to them a little about how cruel it was, they just didn't get it.

Can you offer to provide a safe haven for the kids and/or some of their other toys?

Aw... It sounds like mullacc needs a hug!

But first, let me brush some of this excess cat dander and baby spit up off my shirt. (Odd—I didn't even think I owned a cat, let alone a baby.)