Want to let go Please, Claws in or out

I have been asked this question hundreds of times. “Should I have my cat declawed?” I always think…hum, well let’s see… Come to my house and I will pull just 1 of your toe nails off and let me know what you think after that. 🙂

Seriously the questions is asked by many. I guess it is a personal choice. I personally don’t have many material things that I would value more than my cats. I do have a really nice sofa and a few cats have been know to play with it and of course I said STOP! But no way would I consider taking out their nails.

My daughter has a ragdoll cat which jumps a fraction of what a Savannah Cat jumps and 14 years ago she had the claws taken out. To this day the cat cries when she lands on her feet. The Savannahs love to jump. They love to climb. They will scratch you of course but as soon as my girls realize they are hurting me they let go.

I was taking pictures of Story tonight and I mistakenly reached for a toy she was playing with. Well, she decided that wasn’t an option! Out came both front feet and into my hand went her nails. Let me explain the feeling that happens when you realize you haven’t trimmed nails in a month and the cat decides to sink them in. I could actually feel 5 of her nails go in my hand. Not only did they go in, I could feel them curl. I realized this process was about 5 seconds long but it seemed like 5 minutes. I knew I was in trouble and the outcome was not going to be a good one. I considered pulling my hand back. Yea, that wouldn’t be a good choice. My heart started racing and I could feel my arm pits going.  I said Story! LET GO! and as fast as she had grabbed me, she instantly let go. When it was over I looked at my hand and only had 5 little pin holes. She had pulled her claws back up in instead of ripping through my flesh. Now if anyone knows Story, they know she can be a real bully when she wants to be. But she knew and she stopped. Would I remove her claws because of that? Never! Story is the worst of the worst for slapping you with her nails and if I can handle Story the worlds badest slapper, certainly you can handle your cat.

Many breeders put it in their contract not to remove them. I don’t, but I ask kindly and explain about poor Dutches and 14 years of being sore on her feet. I love my animals. I would not put them through that. I train my kittens from very young that it’s a normal part of life. Usually they are really good for it and willingly climb on your lap for the nail trim. If not, there are many ways to do it without injury to you or the cat. It’s just part of taking care of the animal. Get them a scratching post. They love it and 99% of the time they learn to leave the sofa alone and scratch the post. As for the other 1%, toss a pillow over it!

To answer the question, no you should never declaw a savannah kitten or cat.