Cat scratching , need help!!

[yssie]

Some of you might remember that we found (and kept) a stray a couple of months ago, Mina.

She''s really - what''s the word, playfully destructive? She plays rough with our two cats Garett and Gretta, both of whom are much bigger than her, and tries to scratch the daylights out of them. We don''t think it''s her being territorial or scared because minutes later we''ll find them all curled up together, or licking each other, or eating from the same bowl.

BOTH Gretta and Garett have constantly weepy eyes from encounters with this newbie, and today Garett''s left was really bad - like, take him to the vet and leave him overnight for observation bad. We keep her claws trimmed and filed, so she must really be trying to scratch them!! We spray her with water when we see her at it, but it''s been weeks and her behaviour hasn''t changed at all

.

What do we DO about this? I need help!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Do you think she might take to SoftPaws/SoftClaws (same company)? They''re vinyl claw covers. We use them on our kittens'' front paws because otherwise we''d be scratched all over (well I still am from their back claws, lol) and they''re fabulous.

 

[Lynn B]

I agree with B.E.G... those Soft Paws can save the day, I''ve heard (although admittedly I have never used them). I think your kitty will probably "calm down" as she gets a little older and mature, and feels more secure... but those could be a good solution in the meantime.

I assume she has a variety of scratching posts, etc? She may like a different type than your other kitties, so you may need to experiment.

Keep us posted!

 

[radiantquest]

Why aren''t they defending themselves? My cat would have never stood for the newbie woppin butt and takin names. He would have put her in her place. I feel so bad for the vetran cats. Poor babies. I agree softpaws is a good idea. I have used them and posted a little while ago about how they work. They aren''t that expensive. I can''t remember exactly. You could get an embarassing color and then get the older kitties to make fun of her.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 10/21/2009 7:57:03 PM
Author: radiantquest
Why aren''t they defending themselves? My cat would have never stood for the newbie woppin butt and takin names. He would have put her in her place. I feel so bad for the vetran cats. Poor babies. I agree softpaws is a good idea. I have used them and posted a little while ago about how they work. They aren''t that expensive. I can''t remember exactly. You could get an embarassing color and then get the older kitties to make fun of her.

Haha one of our kittens is about twice the size of the other and he uses sheer weight and size to beat up on the other one. Before we got the SoftPaws the kittens would be playing/fighting with their eyes closed because of the claws near their faces

Since Kipling (the bigger one) was the worst offender and scratched us the most and we were limited in colors for kittens (didn''t want to use clear, and we wanted to differentiate them), we put hot pink on him, and blue on Dante.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

And because no thread is complete without pictures, here is Kipling with his pink claws

 

[Lynn B]

Date: 10/21/2009 9:35:58 PM
Author: Brown.Eyed.Girl
And because no thread is complete without pictures, here is Kipling with his pink claws

Ohhhhh, I dunno B.E.G... he just may need therapy some day to deal with the trauma of being made to wear HOT PINK claws!!!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 10/21/2009 9:58:11 PM
Author: Lynn B

Date: 10/21/2009 9:35:58 PM

Author: Brown.Eyed.Girl

And because no thread is complete without pictures, here is Kipling with his pink claws

Ohhhhh, I dunno B.E.G... he just may need therapy some day to deal with the trauma of being made to wear HOT PINK claws!!!

Very possibly! I saw that SoftPaws (or SoftClaws? one of the two) had pastel blue too, so I wanted to put K in pastel blue and D in blue. Ordered new ones (because for the first few days the tips were falling off like crazy) and I got...pastel blue and pastel pink. So poor Kipling...more therapy needed in the future!

 

[yssie]

ooh I like this softpaws idea!

Brown.Eyed.Girl - how often do you replace them? She has really small claws, but they grow quickly - we trim every week.

TIA!


ETA: they don't defend themselves - Gretta is a total pussy, and she jumps on top of Garett from the table - he just sits on her and that shuts her up, but she manages to get a few good swipes in.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 10/22/2009 2:45:59 AM
Author: yssie
ooh I like this softpaws idea!


Brown.Eyed.Girl - how often do you replace them? She has really small claws, but they grow quickly - we trim every week.


TIA!



ETA: they don''t defend themselves - Gretta is a total pussy, and she jumps on top of Garett from the table - he just sits on her and that shuts her up, but she manages to get a few good swipes in.

The website and directions say that they should last for 4-6 weeks before they start falling off. We''ve been using them for about 2 weeks and they''ve fallen off much more quickly (like every couple days they lose one) but I think that''s the norm until 1) they get used to them and stop trying to bite them off; and 2) you get better at applying them

But about 70% of them have stayed on for about 2 weeks now, so that''s good! They''re pretty rough on them though - tons of play fighting and climbing and scratching their posts, etc.

For kittens they recommend that you don''t trim nails before putting them on because the nails are so small anyway, but for adults you should trim first and put them on. They''re pretty long though - it looks like there''s room for the claws to grow back quite a bit before the caps start falling off. It might be worth it just to get a package and see. They''re about $18 plus shipping for a pack of 40 - so about 4-6 month supply.

The kittens have no problems jumping up and climbing, etc. with them on and it really hasn''t seemed to affect them much at all. It''s a TOTAL life(and skin) saver! I would never declaw them, so it''s saved my skin from a lot of scratches!

Here are the sites: SoftPaws and SoftClaws

As I mentioned before, they''re the same company and same price. Though I think one of them had a couple more colors for kittens, which are pretty limited. I also don''t get the clear ones (I read on PS a while back that someone said she had a hard time telling when one fell off with the clear ones).

 

[katamari]

I have heard great things about Soft Paws, but I think you should also get a Feliway plug-in. It releases a pheromone that calms cats and generally reduces their anxieties and aggressions.

 

[yssie]

I'm ordering softpaws right now! Small green

Brown.Eyed.Girl - your two are adorable! Sorry to pester you with questions, but you seem to be having good luck with them. Can I ask if you've had issues with the soft claw-tips catching on things as they grow out?

I spent all morning climb-proofing the apt, I don't want her to slip off stuff.. maybe she'll stop doing acrobatics on the curtains with these. I, too, can't stomach the idea of declawing, but goodness, for such a sweet cute little thing she's really the most badly behaved cat I've ever met

.

ETA: Garett's eye is fine, as it turns out. The vet gave us ointment, twice a day for a week.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 10/22/2009 3:45:33 PM
Author: yssie
I''m ordering softpaws right now! Small green

Brown.Eyed.Girl - your two are adorable! Sorry to pester you with questions, but you seem to be having good luck with them. Can I ask if you''ve had issues with the soft claw-tips catching on things as they grow out?


I spent all morning climb-proofing the apt, I don''t want her to slip off stuff.. maybe she''ll stop doing acrobatics on the curtains with these. I, too, can''t stomach the idea of declawing, but goodness, for such a sweet cute little thing she''s really the most badly behaved cat I''ve ever met

.


ETA: Garett''s eye is fine, as it turns out. The vet gave us ointment, twice a day for a week.

Not a problem - I''m happy to help! I really hope the caps do the trick!

The caps are long - they stick out some and are also longer than their claws would be normally, so they do catch their claws sometimes (always on loosely weaved things, like blankets, etc. with larger holes). We''ve removed stuff like that and they''ve had no trouble. They do slip sometimes - before the caps, they would jump onto the side of the couch, scrabble and claw the couch and haul themselves up. Now, not so much since they can''t really find purchase on the material (thank goodness for the sake of our furniture!). But other than that it hasn''t seemed to affect their balance, etc. (Kipling likes to walk on the top of the dining room chairs which are about an inch wide at the top and he balances well). They also have no troubles hopping up the side of their cat tree posts (which have rough material for them to hang onto) and climbing up that way. I would just make sure to remove anything with larger holes that they can catch their claws on, and they should be fine.

Oh, and the directions say to "watch" the cat for 5 min after putting them on so they can''t shake or chew them off. My advice: hold onto her for 5 min. The first thing the kittens do when we let them down is lick their paws and try to pull the strange thing off, so we hold onto them for a few min (they''re NOT happy about that, lol). This last time, I let them go fairly quickly, but fed them treats in the kitchen for awhile and they were still and happy. And if she has small claws, you might want to take scissors and trim the cap a bit before putting it on - we have to do that with Dante, though not Kipling, otherwise there''s not enough glue touching the claw for his cap to stay on too long.

Good luck!