Had Bad Experience With Soft Claws

[Discovery86]

If you trim the nails regularly and keep them very blunt, as RandomWiktor says, you won't have damage. That means a cut and file, almost like a weekly manicure.

Can you explain what you mean by filing the nails???
Thanks

 

[tekknocolor]

Your cat's single favorite scratching site may be temporarily protected by covering it with some netting or loosely woven fabric. Cats do not like to snag their claws. On the other hand, you can temporarily confine your cat to a location away from the places she/he likes to scratch. In the confined area, provide plenty of scratching posts and climbing posts. Your cat will then have no other choice of things to scratch and hopefully learn to use his/her post.

Sorry to hear you had a bad time with the soft claws/paws. Periodically I used them on my cat and he was fine with it, but to each their own. It's very similar to how some products work well for one person and not for another. After using the soft paws on him once or twice we abandoned the product since he wasn't scratching my sister's chihuahuas' eyes out. JMO

 

[Mikaila31]

I have a book called Catlore it has 3 suggestions for cat repelent. They go in order of effectiveness 1-lest, 3-strongest
(most of below text copied from the book)
1. Onions- rub a raw onion over the area to be protected, a cat can usually be deterred, and the smell, although unplesant for humans at first, soon goes unnoticed. most cats continue to find it distasteful long after the human occupants have forgotten about it.

2. Vinegar - Cats loathe it. the acid fragrance upsets their delicate nasal passages and they avoid anything smeared in it for long periods of time.

3. Oil of a rue bush - a small aromatic bush. some modern gardeners report that handling the leaves of this plant can cause a blistering rash on sensitive skin. Should only be used when all other measures have failed. -- (author then tested it's effectiveness)-- Placed on the carpet, it attracted her and she sat sniffing it closely. but when i rubbed the leaves between my fingers and offered her my fingertips to sniff, her draction was dramatic. she brought her nose up to my hand, then leapt backward, opened her mouth, and tried to vomit. it took a couple of hours before she would let me near her again.

Cats r stubborn animals & will often consider such chemical warfare as a kind of challenge. Ultimately, the best solution is to try & defeat the cats damaging ways by useing undrestanding & intelligence rather than foul-smelling chemicals.

I hope that helps tetragirl86 (sorry it's so long )

 

[Discovery86]

Thank you all so much for all the advice and ideas. I will be trying them out!!!

 

[benzonar]

Have you tried using Feliway spray.

Its a spray that mimics cat facial hormones and helps deter them from doing marking behaviours on areas you spray it on.

We are quite lucky as our two lads just lie on there back as if they are in a health spa when we clip their nails.

 

[Discovery86]

Have you tried using Feliway spray.

Its a spray that mimics cat facial hormones and helps deter them from doing marking behaviours on areas you spray it on.

We are quite lucky as our two lads just lie on there back as if they are in a health spa when we clip their nails.

Hadn't heard of it before, I might try it if I can find a good price for it.
My cat doesn't mind having her claws clipped, it's just that the dog and the other cat all come because they think I'm hurting her or something.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

Have you tried using Feliway spray.

Its a spray that mimics cat facial hormones and helps deter them from doing marking behaviours on areas you spray it on.

We are quite lucky as our two lads just lie on there back as if they are in a health spa when we clip their nails.

Hadn't heard of it before, I might try it if I can find a good price for it.
My cat doesn't mind having her claws clipped, it's just that the dog and the other cat all come because they think I'm hurting her or something.

lucky you; you can get them all at once that way my kitties are living with my parents until i move to grad school, so its my job to clip them whenever i'm home. the females are pretty easy to get, but the male is so skittish... he's a baby once you've got him, but holy crap, its hard to catch him.

 

[oneponygirl]

Soft Paws aren't necessarily intended to keep a cat from scratching but when they do scratch they won't do any damage. Also, you still have to maintain your cats nails. A nail that will grow back into the bed would have done that regardless of whether or not it had a Soft Paw on it. In my years working for vets I have seen it a number of times but actually never on a cat with Soft Paws. It happens most commonly on cats who have extra toes, cats who are old and don't scratch much anymore or cats whose "thumb nails" don't scratch with the rest of them so they don't wear down.

I have one a maniac scratcher out of my three cats. She makes me crazy and has ruined two of my couches (luckily they were free couches and ugly to begin with). Anyway, my couch covers are on order and I plan to put double stick tape in the areas where she likes to scratch. I'm hoping that in addition to a new scratch post I got her (and plans for a cat tower soon) she will be retrained to leave my couches alone.

I have also in the past (with a different maniac scratcher) taped tin foil onto my couch in the area where my cat scratched. It's more obvious and uglier than tape but it's affective. It also works if you have an area where a cat likes to pee. I had to tape tin foil in a corner of my last house because my maniac scratcher can also be a maniac pee-er (then I got a self-cleaning litter box which helped a ton - she just can't stand to use a potty that hasn't been "flushed"). Cats don't like to walk or scratch on it any more than we like to chew it.

 

[Discovery86]

Soft Paws aren't necessarily intended to keep a cat from scratching but when they do scratch they won't do any damage. Also, you still have to maintain your cats nails. A nail that will grow back into the bed would have done that regardless of whether or not it had a Soft Paw on it. In my years working for vets I have seen it a number of times but actually never on a cat with Soft Paws. It happens most commonly on cats who have extra toes, cats who are old and don't scratch much anymore or cats whose "thumb nails" don't scratch with the rest of them so they don't wear down.

Her claws kept growing while the soft paws were on. It was really thin and sharp. If i remember right, the soft paws were touching her pads and she ended up walking on them instead of her pads, causing the sores. I'm not positive, though. Anyway, she seems to have recovered pretty well.
I'm trying to keep her nails trimmed so she can't do quite as much damage. She doesn't really have one favorite spot, at least not that I can find. She just scratches wherever it's convenient for her. So unless I want to try and 're-carpet' the hall and craft room with tinfoil or two-sided tape, (and I know my family won't put up with that ) I think I'll try some of the other ideas.
Thanks again for all the advice!!!