Soft Claws

I recently adopeted a kitty =) Well, at four years old, I guess she's more full grown cat than kitty, but she'll always be my baby regardless. I was so excited to finally have my own little friend to live with, but I was also a little nervous about how my brand new sofa and love seat would hold up against kitty's claws.

Cats need to scratch in just the same way humans do, and I personally am against declawing them. (to each their own).

For the first few days, BB did nothing but hide under my bed, only coming out for food or to use her littter box. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get near her, let alone glue on the soft claws! I just hoped that my couches would hold up while I was at work and she ventured out from the bedroom.

A few days into the adoption I came home from work and caught BB scratching her paws on the side of my couch. I swatted her away, and examined the couch. Sure enough, there were tiny piercings on the leather :(. I decided to take action and got out the kit. I was nervous about it, as I'd heared some cats are litterally impossible to hold long enough to get the claws on. Well I tried, and was successful!! Here are some tips for the rookie soft claws user:

*If adopting a new cat, give her at least a few days to get comfortable in her new surrroundings before attemping to soft claw them. Have her get used to your touch by massaging her paws and giving her treats after.

*Get a large towel to lay on your lap for kitty to swaddle in. It will be more comfy for her, and also help if she tries wiggling away.

*Place kitty in your lap and first trim her nails. Make sure not to cut too short. Bettter to air on the side of caution and leave them a bit longer then cut into her wick or vein.(but of course you know this) If nail bleeds, do not apply soft claw until bleeding has completely stopped.

*If kitty is anxious to get away after you've trimmed, let her down for awhile while you fill all ten nail caps with glue.

*Get kitty back on lap and apply caps. Hold each cap in place for a few seconds after application to ensure the glue adheres.

*If you can only get a couple caps on at a time, it's fine. Let her have a break for a few minutes, give her some treats, and then resume the application.

*Talk to your kitty the whole way through so she's feels safe.

Kitty may chew off a few caps the first couple times you put on a set. This is normal, she just needs to get used to having her new pretty nails =) Even if a couple of the caps fall off, two scratchers are better than ten.

I've had BB's nail caps on for two weeks now, and they are working great. I'm so happy I found a product that lets her scratch while protecting my furniture. If you are thinking of getting your cat declawed, consider these instead. They don't hinder your kitty's natural instinct to scratch at all, and they come in all kinds of fun colours. Declawing is a personal decision, and the debate is on about whether it is abusive or not. Currently however, Canada is one of the only countries in the world that allows declawing; the rest of the world has deemed it cruel and banned the procedure.