Destructive cat clawing

If your cat is clawing and scratching your furniture and upright surfaces around your house, you're probably considering having the cat declawed, or hopefully searching for alternatives. I have 3 cats and none have been declawed because when I was researching it, I read that to a cat, declawing feels like an amputation; it is very painful and their feet never feel normal to them again. Plus it leaves them very vulnerable, especially for cats that go outside.

There are many alternatives to declawing. A good scratching post is a must. I have a 2 x 4 wood post at the bottom of my basements steps (see 1st picture) that is covered with carpet for my cats to climb and scratch to their hearts content, and they do! Each time they go down to the litter box, they stop on their way back upstairs to use the post; they love to hang from it and it's good recreation for them. I also keep the "Super Scratcher" upstairs near where they sleep, as cats like to stretch and scratch shortly after they wake up. It gets a lot of use and they even take turns sleeping on it, as my cat Fritz is getting ready to do in the 2nd picture. When one side wears out, you can flip it over and use the other side. So far, the first side has lasted about 8 months, and it's about time to flip it over. So one purchase should last well over a year, even with three cats using it. I got mine at Amazon.com but they are available at many places.

These 2 methods have worked very well for me, and the 3 wildcats leave my furniture alone. The main thing is you need to give your cat a place where he or she can satisfy the need to scratch, exercise and wear down their claws. I've never had to trim my cat's nails as the climbing and scratching keeps them worn down naturally. But in some cases, trimming their nails can help, and I ran across a good article at Petfinder.com that tells how to go about it.

To read the article, CLICK HERE.