Don't forget the shivering! Also: Laughed my arsed off at this thread. Been a while since I read some good cat jokes
Either way its a moot point as declawing is illegal in the UK and this kitties in the UK! So it gets to keep its claws. Whilst cats are inherintly selfish, they're not stupid, and do learn fast. Water sprays are a brilliant teaching tool, as are hissing loudly and generally reacting aggresively to the cat. Although if its a kitten it will climb on everything and anything, so there's not alot you can do about it apart from always react whenever it does. It will however grow out of it.
Not always - I know of at least one ancient (i.e. 7 years old) cat that still climbs on surfaces up to 6 feet off the ground and inacessible by non-suicidal means. Some cats just gotta climb.
there is some cat hatred here, you should just pick them up gently and remember they have claws, so if they are caught spend a little time getting them out of your clothes gently, otherwise you will have ruined jumpers.
Well, I think cats aren't naturally meant to be pets (obviosly I guess), nor were they meant to be cooped up in a house. If clipping their claws really affects the cat that much then fair enough, but really is it going to need the sharpness when it knows it only has to meow, or rub up against you to get food. I mean who wants their hi-fi seperates, or base unit scratched to bit cos the cat dosent understand!
Declawing is much more than clipping the claws, it's the complete removal of the caw and claw bed and cauterising what's left so that it never regrows. Cats need their claws to defend themselves. Cats can be trained not to scratch things but it takes time and perseverance. Neutering is different in my opinion as there are already too many unwanted cats in the world. There are also health benefits, lower risk of cancer being one. If you want to declaw your cat you should have bought a furby in the first place. Moriquendi
I'd say get your cat a scratching post and make sure it has somewhere to climb and exercise. Failing that the spraying it idea should soon teach the little furball who's in charge (Hint: the cat's still in charge but spraying it will remind it to pretend you are every now and again ).
Yea, but if a cat is living in the house, it's not going to really need claws unless it's scratching/ milking your HTPC. If I had a cat then it would be out all day and few a few hours in the evening I would let it in and supervised to an extent. Surley that would be the balance? Or you could get the the dragons den solution. I remember they thought the idea was stupid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtfMP4c9sgo
They are meant to be pets, they've been domesticated over thousands of years to the extent that they're pretty much a symbiote of humans. They don't take to wild living all that smoothly (though they do mostly manage). It's the other way around, a cat which appears unsuitable for life around humans hasn't been raised properly. The domestication process is ongoing, but they're very definitely a 'pet' species now.
You can't say that there are only domestic cats now. There are still wild, feral, and totally domestic cats. Cats don't NEED humans unless they don't know anything else from birth. They are well equipped to survive, hence the claws, etc.
Wild and feral aren't really biological attributes, they're states of nurture. People can be feral. It might seem tangential, but my point is that if you habilitate a cat properly, it won't act like a wild animal at all - and you won't need to get it declawed. A genuinely wild animal like a wolf or large cat, by contrast, cannot be raised so that it's not a threat - that's what I mean when I say cats are totally domesticated.
^ yeah but quite a few people have been killed by their pet big cats. The cat was probably just playing or trying to have a powerstruggle or something, but they can kill a human so easily that it's a bit dangerous really.
Haha, I know the dangers but I still totally want one Maybe if you spray some water on them every time they maul a human then you can train them not to do it any more...
That was such a heartwarming tale, It better be real otherwise I'll be mad ( and disillusioned with the world)
