Get the cat to love you: Don't declaw! Train, instead

Some people think it's okay to declaw a cat. They think the cat won't need to "sharpen claws" they no longer have, and then they don't have to have scratching posts, or train the cat.

But they are completely wrong. Here's some of the things cats need from scratching:

Claw sharpening. Cats don't sharpen their claws! Cats pull off the old, dull, claw covering to reveal the sharper claw growing beneath it.

Some scratching posts fail because the surface won't let the cat dig in enough to "grab" the old claw sheath, and peel it off. This isn't going to tell the cat's instincts that they are scratching "the right thing." So, they won't scratch it.

In the wild, cats use dead trees. Soft bark is the right kind of texture, and this is what they will seek out.

Exercise. Cats in nature climb trees. This means their limbs need to support their whole weight. This means their limbs need to practice these moves. This means the little scratching post that flops around when the cat touches it will be ignored, and the couch chosen instead. Because the couch doesn't move.

Any scratching post that is fastened down in some way will become a million times more attractive to our cat. Would we like to work out on an exercise machine made of rubber bands and paper clips? Neither does our cat.

Stress relief. Cats have strong instincts to keep their muscles toned. Completing the proper actions, such as using a sturdy scratching post with the right kind of surface, relieves both mental and physical tension.

If they can't do this, they can't exercise all their muscles properly! This leads to a stressed out cat who bites.

Territory signaling. Cats need their scratching post to signal that they live here. If we try to put their scratching post in some out-of-the-way place, our cat won't want to use it.

Cats need posts in rooms we both spend time in.

Energy expenditure. When I had two laidback cats, I had a Cosmic Alpine Scratcher and they each got a rag rug. When Tristan got into adolescence, we invested in six feet of cat tree and Mr WayofCats admitted we should have done it sooner.

If our cat needs the sturdy scratching, and exercise potential, of some kind of cat furniture, getting them one is much cheaper, and less exasperating, than trying to keep them away from things they aren't supposed to scratch on. If we aren't giving them the right things to scratch on, it's like us having a living room with things we aren't supposed to sit on.

Kill! Kill! My toilet paper and paper towels are safe; because I give my cats their own stuffed animals. It doesn't always work, but it's certainly worth trying. Many cats know they aren't supposed to indulge; but when the energy overflows or stress sends them over the edge, there's nothing more satisfying than tearing into some yielding substance.

Some cats need that wrestling, clawing, intense play. I got our Maine Coon kitten, RJ, a Long Body Dog Toy and it's made three kittens happy so far.

We may have taken our cat from their hunting environment, but we haven't taken the hunting instincts out of our cats.