Sunday, May 18, 2008

Soft Paws update

Three weeks ago, we put the soft paws on our cats' front claws.

The reasons we wanted to decrease their claw sharpness was because of them scratching us, especially when they would go to jump off our laps. Is that normal? I don't ever remember my previous cats scratching my legs so much when they'd go to jump down. Lewis and Ebony always extend their hind claws. It's rather frustrating.

Anyways, for that reason, we think that the Soft Paws work best for us when they're put on both the front paws and the hind paws. Which means we use up one package at a time, which is rather expensive.

They seem to be doing their job, though. I think it took about a week before any of them fell off. Now, they probably have about half still on their claws, and alternating so they still can't use their claws for anything. I must admit it was quite funny to watch them try to jump on things and miss because they couldn't grab hold with their claws. :-)

However, I'm not sure we'd buy more because I think it's just as easy and cheaper to clip their claws. I'll have to ask my husband his opinion though.

One of my problems with the Soft Paws also relates to one of my problems with declawing a cat surgically (which I'm very against). Should my cats ever get out of the house, they would be defenseless. So I think for me I feel more comfortable continuing to clip their claws and accepting that the scratches are one of the sacrifices of being a cat owner.

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1 comment:

twiga92 said...

We clip our cats' claws - probably about every 2 weeks. At first it was a bit of a chore, but now they're pretty used to it and don't fuss too much. Plus we always do it right before giving them wet food - so that's their reward for letting us clip :-).