Please do not declaw, Thunder. Even if there is a new "humane" way of removing the claws, you are removing your cat's only way to protect himself.

Get scratching posts, and spray your furniture with Boundary. We've also found that certain types of materials encourage scratching by our kitties, and so we stay away from it--nubby, soft materials, mostly. We have several leather pieces and they don't even pay attention to them. They sleep on them, but they never scratch. They go to the cat tree or other scratching posts we have in the house and take care of business there!

We also started trimming claws very early. Anchovy was 2 when I got him, and he learned to deal with it. Tolstoy was a kitten when we got him, so we could train him more easily.

Please reconsider. When I signed my contract for Anchovy, it said "inside only" because he's a flight risk. I didn't think anything of it. I wouldn't dream of letting him roam outside. I didn't feel like it was any kind of violation of my rights.

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Still corrupting young minds