Friday, June 25, 2010

Scraaaatttching......Are nail coverings safe?



Dear George,

Here we are - Yuppie & Anji – two cute brothers! We are almost 1 year old and share a house in Atlanta with a funny human pet!

We found your blog as being very informative, especially on human training.

Too bad we can’t spend too much time in front of a computer as we get easily exhausted.

Our human pet refuses to act as our secretary! What can we do? How can we train her? We also go for fancy things like…. acrylic nails covers! See, we are at that critical age when we scratch everything and feel the urge to shred everything to pieces.

We think this is fun but our human disagree…so we compromise.

Are these nail covers a good thing? Definitely they are better then declawing, but are they safe? George, we really need some advice and especially…. tips on human training!

You are the expert!

Waiting

Yuppie & Anji.


Dear Yuppie and Anji,

We have to scratch. We scratch to condition our claws, but we also scratch to leave messages - to our selves, and to any cats who happen to be passing by. It's an emotional thing. Scratching marks our territories not just visually but also with scent - which only we can read. We scratch when we are stressed and we want to feel better.

We British cats don't understand how Americans can possibly declaw their cats. In the UK it is a banned operation and any vet who did it would be in trouble with our cruelty laws. We don't much use nail caps here in the UK either - probably because most of us cats have access to outdoors and can scratch the local tree trunks. I think nail covers are safe, but they are a bit of a bore for both cats and humans. However, they are much much kinder than declawing.

Go for the natural kind solution. Instruct your human that you need a proper stable scratching post in every room where you might want to scratch, not just in one room. It must be large enough to allow us to stretch while we scratch. Don't let her get rid of an old scratching post. The tattier and smellier a scratching post gets, the more we cats like it. There is a depth of scent which a mere human will never understand. (Humans have pathetic claws, really pathetic!).

Some of us cats prefer horizontal scratching posts, or slightly angled ones. The surface has to be just right for us. People studying feral cats have noticed that they scratch along the walkways of their territory - but only on certain trees, not on others. Some trees just don't have the right physical surface. Incidentally, some of us enjoy scratching those roughly textured plant containers bought at garden centres (weighted down by a bag of sand in the middle). Some enjoy a tree trunk placed indoors. Others like cardboard scratching pads. Get that human of yours to offer you several kinds of scratching materials and see which you prefer.

Personally I enjoy the creative side of scratching armchairs, wallpaper and the side of the bed (so useful for waking your human up when it is time for an early hours snack). Here is a photo of me in artistic action. But Celia has fought back in a way I consider thoroughly philistine. She buys double sided carpet tape (or Stickypaws) and places this on the side of the bed or on the furniture. It feels really awful and I stop scratching on the site for at least a month, sometimes three months at a time. I had plans to redecorate the whole house with frilled curtains, frilled soft furnishing and really nice catseye-level frilled wallpaper - and she put a stop to it.

Humans.... they don't get it do they? What a selfish species.

Love

George

There's a big Facebook group Claws 4 Paws. Join it to show you are against declawing.

10 comments:

  1. George, I am really behind on reading your blog. Our modem went out and had to wait on our internet provider to ship us a new one. I'm so glad to hear you do not support declawing. I have never declawed and never will declaw any of my cats. I wish they would stop that cruel practice here in the US. I know it is just like cutting our fingers off up to our first knuckle. I always sprayed my cats in the butt when they attempted to scratch the furniture. Fortunately, my last two babies rarely touched the furniture, but they did love the braided rug. That spray bottle also kept them off my kitchen counter and table.

    Those two brothers are cuttie pies. They are my neighbors, kinda living just south of Atlanta.

    Maybe we need to start a movement in the USA to stop declawing cats. What do you think?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fluffy and CayenneJune 27, 2010

    Tee, starting a movement to stop declawing cats in North America is a wonderful idea!
    We are in! Count on us!
    There is someone in Canada trying to do something about it (we signed a petition) but we don't know the outcome.
    It is harder in Canada since there are almost no "real laws" (or if there are ...they are so obsolete)to protect animal rights. Even to protect against cruelty. All one will get ...is a slap on the back of one's hand! So sad....but so real!
    Love
    Fluffy & Cayenne

    PS. Yuppie & Anji....you are such a joy ( even to watch you guys) :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. FredericoJune 28, 2010

    George, you look absolutely stunning scratching the furniture! Keep it up and teach these kitties!
    Frederico

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yuppie, Anji! Don't let your human pet to fool you! Tell her that the fancy acrylic nail covers are unacceptable! You need to climb the trees and scratch the rugs & furniture :-)
    Love
    Minnie

    ReplyDelete
  5. SebastianJune 28, 2010

    19 years ago no one knew about nail covers or such things! Humans were a little more humane...and we all got along quite fine!
    Time is changing .....and for the worse!
    Kids....train your humans well!
    Listen to Pink Floyd for inspiration :-)
    Sebastian

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sir WinstonJune 28, 2010

    Uh! You are SO cute.....my hat dropped off!
    Follow George's advice on training your human!
    Just be careful; he has a soft spot/heart for Celia :-)
    Sir Winston

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh my God! You guys are so cute...one can kill for you! No wonder your human is keeping you inside! Who would take a chance to let you out?
    Love
    Shumba

    ReplyDelete
  8. I can see myself in each of you :-)
    Are the nail covers different colors?
    Something ...like a color a nail?
    It can be fun!
    Porthos

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yuppie, Anji....you are so damn cute!
    I wonder how could you type with that stupid nail covers on! You should really give a hard lesson to your inhumane pet human!
    How can you climb a tree with the stupid covers?
    Is she nuts?
    Diego

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yuppie & Anji, George gives wonderful advice and he's always right. Scratching is essential for us. I don't think that those nail caps would allow you to get much traction when scratching, that traction is essential as it lets us stretch out all our muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints properly - all through our bodies. unless we can do that, we are at a big risk of developing early onset arthritis - which is no fun.

    We're glad your apes won't declaw you. It's the most barbaric thing a human can do to a cat and leaves many cats crippled for life.

    Yay for claws and being a whole cat!

    Whicky Wuudler

    ReplyDelete

Help for cats whose humans show behaviour problems.

This blog is devoted to the study of human behaviour. We cats, who live with this sometimes unpredictable and always feeble minded species, can benefit from seeing their behaviour in its proper scientific context. The study of feline dilemmas, training problems, and difficulties with humans, can only benefit all of us. All of us train our humans - to buy the right food, for instance, but many of us do not have knowledge of how to improve our training methods. The human species is obviously not as intelligent as the cat, but nevertheless can learn quite a lot - if properly managed. Topics of interest include the use of claw and order, purring as a human reward, rubbing your human up the right way, when to bite, spraying as a method of making our wishes known, ignoring the human, human harassment, human inattention and sheer human stupidity. I welcome your questions. Photos can be sent via my secretary's website, www.celiahaddon.com This blog has been chosen as one of the top 50 feline blogs by Online VetTechprogramms.org