I have always felt that the vast majority of cases where an owner is having a problem with an animal can be corrected with behavior modification in a kind way. I do not believe in using unnecessary, and sometimes cruel, treatments to correct unwanted behavior. In fact, most of the time, the problem lies with the owner, not the animal. Let me also quickly mention that for those of you who think I am talking about things I know nothing about, you’re wrong. I do know what I am talking about. I am not as much of an expert as some professionals, but I am a Certified Animal Behaviorist. With that said, let me tell you about declawing.

Declawing is a barbaric, cruel practice that should only be done in the most extreme of circumstances. All of the people I have spoken with that tell me they declawed their cats, did it because they were tired of shredded furniture and people. However, in nearly all of those case they no longer had shredded furniture, but they did have other (often worse) behavioral issues after declawing their cat. Unfortunately, sometimes the issues that come after a cat has been declawed are so much worse that the cat ends up in a shelter.

I want to share some ways that I know of to correct unwanted scratching and other claw-related behaviors, but first let me explain what declawing actually is. Many people are under the impression that it is simply removing the claws, kind of like pulling off our fingernails. This is not the case, because their claws are attached to bone, not skin like our fingernails. While I think that would be awful enough to justify never doing it, it is actually much worse. When a cat is declawed everything up to the first joint is amputated, including tendons, ligaments and bone. The cat has the ends of their toes amputated. It is comparable to having the ends of our fingers, up to the first joint, removed. Here is a visual:

There are many countries in which declawing is already illegal and I hope that one day the United States follows suit. Already many veterinarians in the US refuse to declaw pets unless there are very specific circumstances for it. In fact, I just read a great article by a veterinarian blogger. Read the blog post here. He is against declawing and he offers some important information on it as well.

There are many alternatives to declawing. I personally use two methods two control the scratching issue with my two cats. First, I keep their nails trimmed, so that they cannot inadvertently scratch anything and so if they do intentionally scratch anything the damage is not bad. Second, I teach them what they are allowed to scratch and what they are not. My cats have a scratching post and a huge cat castle that has multiple scratching posts on it. I trained them immediately after adopting them to use the posts. When your cat scratches somewhere they are not supposed to, you tell them “no” in a firm voice and then immediately take them over to their post (or wherever else you want them to scratch.) I even demonstrate how to scratch on the post. Rubbing catnip into it is helpful too. It is time consuming, but worth it. You signed up for time consuming responsibilities the moment you brought a cat into your home anyway. When you see your cat scratching in an appropriate place give them plenty of praise and reward them with a treat.

You can deter unwanted scratching in a number of ways:

• You can also use soft paws, which are covers you apply to the nails. Check out their website here.
• A spray bottle filled with water.
• An empty soda can with coins in it that you shake once when they begin to scratch in an unwanted area.
• Canned air that you spray. (You can even set canned air up to spray automatically when a cat approaches a certain area if they have a favorite spot they scratch that you do not want them to.)
• Aluminum foil placed over the area or doubled sided-tape (there are pet specific products you can buy as well.)
• Citrus sprayed on the area you do not want them to scratch. You can either use a citrus scented air freshener or use citrus juice in a water bottle (Check for color change on some fabrics and do not use near litter boxes or food, because it can create an aversion to them.)
• Try different things for them to scratch. My cats do not like sisal, but they adore carpet. They also like posts, but not flat scratch pads. Every cat is different, so you need to be willing to try several different things.
• Make their post (or whatever it is) easily accessible. If you hide it in a back room where the cat does not go very often, they will use something else.

I can think of many other ways to prevent unwanted scratching, but this post is too long already. If you are having a cat scratching problem, comment or email me and I can give you more ideas. Just remember to consider the problem and solutions very carefully. Scratching is a normal behavior for cats. If you absolutely hate scratching, then don’t get a cat.