After My Grandmother Passed Away, I Inherited Several Valuable Hand-Sewn Quilts Made Almost A Century Ago By My Great-Aunts.
I Also Inherited Grandma’s Siamese Cat, Frankie.
Lovingly, I spread a particularly beautiful blue and white checked quilt on my bed and hung another made of satins, velvets, and silks on the wall. Equally lovingly, Frankie proceeded to shred parts of each quilt with his sharp claws.
My choices were threefold: put the quilts in my cedar chest where they would seldom be admired, and certainly never used; find Frankie a new, “quiltless” home; or figure out a solution which would allow both cat and quilts to co-exist happily. Of course, I chose the latter.
Some who wish to share their homes with both felines and fine furniture believe the only option is to declaw one’s cat. The surgery involves amputating each front toe at the first joint. In spite of the controversy surrounding this practice, friends of mine had their Maine coon de-clawed after she left their elegant Persian rug in tatters and clawed a sizable hole in their Japanese tapestry.
The temptation to remove the claws but keep the cat is understandable. However, the process of de-clawing is regarded by many veterinarians and cat owners as cruel and archaic-so much so that in April 2003, West Hollywood, California became the first city in the nation to ban the de-clawing of cats. They joined 13 European nations in condemning this surgery.
Dr. Jennifer Conrad, a Santa Monica, California vet-erinarian, founded Paw Project to raise awareness of the issue of cat de-clawing. According to their website (www.pawproject.com) de-clawing results in lameness, arthritis and other complications.
De-clawing can lead to all sorts of unexpected problems like biting and not using the litter box, says Conrad. If people are worried about their furniture because the cat is scratching, imagine how they’ll feel if the cat is not using the litter box! De-clawing my cat, Frankie, was never an option.
Still, reluctant to pack away heirlooms and expensive rugs and furniture, I had to find a solution. Cats scratch–that is a given. They instinctively practice this behavior to keep their claws in good hunting order and visually mark their territory. Scratching also allows them to stretch their bodies and tone their muscles–crit-ical for indoor cats that don’t otherwise get much exercise. Knowing this, I provided Frankie with a multitude of acceptable objects to scratch.
The most obvious are scratching posts and boxes. Made from a variety of items, including wood, corrugated cardboard, rope, and carpet, these have even more appeal when sprinkled with catnip. Every time Frankie approached my quilts, I placed him gently on his scratch box. Within a few days, he embraced the substitution wholeheartedly.
According to Paw Project’s website, a vertical scratching post should be at least 28-36″ high to allow the cat to stretch to his full height. Much taller cat trees with platforms and hiding holes provide active cats with an outlet for climbing and scratching behaviors.
Another excellent option for indoor cats is to build outdoor cat enclosure (kits available at www.cdpets.com) and equip it with tree branches for maximum scratching pleasure. My husband built a 6 foot by 4 foot enclosure off our kitchen window.
Every morning, Frankie makes a beeline for the enclosure and sharpens his claws on the thick branches we brought home from the forest. For cats who persist in scratching furniture and other household items, Dr. Paula Kislak of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights suggest bringing cats to the vet’s office every month or so for a nail trim. This seldom requires an office visit, and technicians can also easily perform the task.
“Make sure you provide the cats with catnip-scented scratching posts,” Kislak says, and use a pet-repellent spray on objects that are off limits. For furniture and other objects too valuable to spray, she suggests saturating a paper towel with repellent and safety pinning it to your furniture. You can unpin it when company comes to the home, and it’s a lot better than doing major amputation on your cat Kislak maintains.
Repellent-soaked towels did the trick at my house. Dr. Jennifer Conrad also suggests the following: “Soft Paws” are vinyl sheathes that can be placed on an animal’s nails until training takes effect. Double sided sticky tape like “Sticky Paws” can be placed on furnishings. Cats don’t like the feel of the tape and won’t scratch there anymore. These are all simple ways to coexist with a cat without chopping its toes off.
These days, my inherited Siamese frolics happily inside, playing with toys and rough-housing with his numerous scratch boxes. I am grateful for his joyful and loving companionship. As well, I am pleased that he never had to go through the trauma and pain that declawing entails. Thanks to the ease with which he gave up attacking my interior decor, Frankie has become the most precious of my family heirlooms.
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