A photo of Shyna´s claws and her scratching ball. I never wanted to cut her claws like some cat owner do. I think cat´s simply have claws by nature and I don´t really want to cut (declaw) them as I think it is somewhat silly. I mean if I want to have a cat, then I simply know that this kind of pets have blade sharp claws.
I always thought the only thing I would need to do is to teach my cat that she does not have to destroy furnishings and so and this is possible. I was able to teach my cat some rules as I otherwise would get loud and that is something cat´s don´t like. And I bought my cat some scratching furniture and toys so that she can use her claws there and I do think this is very important that cats have a place where they can do this. So, give the cat some rules and toys, that are the alternatives to declawing in my opinion. Declawing a cat is bad in my opinion.
I never understood how someone could declaw his or her cat and I don´t understand why some cat related websites even suggest to declaw a cat. I think this is really silly anyhow.
Diary of Dennis 
My dear old cat, who has sadly left us now, and incidentally whose name was Dennis 🙂 managed to destroy most of our furniture. He had scratching posts and toys, but he would still sneak up to the furniture when no-one was looking – and rip…….
I could never imagine having him de-clawed him, though. That sounds positively cruel.
My sympathies… I am sad about your loss. Do you have an image of your cat on your blog? I am nosy and would like to visit your link, if so. I think you have chosen a good name at that time by the way 😛
I agree, it can be a difficult task to stop this behavior of destroying things or to tell a cat that there are other objects where it is allowed. In my case it was somehwat easy but some friends told me too that it was much more difficult with their cats. That might be different from cat to cat.
But I agree with you… even then I would not declaw my cat and I also don´t know any friend who did that. I rather would think out more and more strategies until my cat stops to scratch on my furniture. Declawing sounds really cruel anyhow. This would never be an option for me, the reason alone that my cat wouldn´t be able to “tell me” if she likes it, is enough of a reason that I never would declaw her. And anyway this scratching is a natural behavior so that a cat can´t feel good if we declaw them, I think. Agree with you, it sounds cruel.
Thanks for your input on the subject. 🙂
No photos of him, I’m afraid. But, he was just an ordinary tabby cat – a very beautiful one 🙂
If you choose to have a cat, I think you just have to accept it will have sharp claws and probably do whatever it wants, when it wants. It’s all part of the joy of loving one 🙂
Yes I agree, people should be aware that different animals simply have different characteristics and also a different behaviour. 🙂
I agree with you Dennis, it is cruel like docking dogs tails is cruel. All of our cats past and present have made a mess of the furniture. I use a spray bottle of water to deter them, they scratch they get a little squirt but of course I am not always there. I have scratching posts and Polly does use hers. She does try the armchairs occasionally. Strangely our dog, Cindy, always stops Polly from doing it. She will get up from her own chair to nudge her away. She seems to have learned that I don’t like it when Polly scratches them. However, Polly, the little mischief, has learned this is a way to get Cindy’s attention so if she wants to play with her she’ll go to a chair and start to scratch it or sometimes she will just stretch out her paw as if she is going to. Cindy comes running over and Polly gets her game. 🙂
Wow, I love the fact that your rules influence and affect the behaviour between your pets. The result is dissatisfy but still funny anyhow! Polly really behaves like a cat behaves… “I´m bored but wait… I learned how to get Cindy´s attention” 😀
My cat does by the way still scratch on some furnishings too. Fortunately the more stable furnishings like my red rug and a rug is somewhat indestructible. Sometimes the chairback attracts her attention too but nothing happened. She sometimes went under the couch and tried her claws there but this is invisible to the eye but I rant anyway so that she knows it is not good for our friendship. 😀
I do agree with you as you mentioned the spray bottle too. This is really something you can suggest. I used a water pistol years ago but today a spray bottle too. Really good since it is a humane but effective punishment method 🙂
Thanks for your great additions to my post. Enjoyed reading.