The Claws Clause

When I adopted my newest kitten, Gracie, back in July of 2007, the adoption policies included a paragraph I hadn't seen before:

Carver-Scott Humane Society will deny adoption of a cat or kitten based solely on the decision of the adopter to have the animal declawed. Declawing is defined as the amputation of each toe at the first knuckle.

I had no problem with this "Claws Clause" in the contract - Gracie was going home to two 5-year-old uncles who have all 40 toenails intact. Increasingly, the United States is catching up with the rest of the world, where declawing has been banned for years. The surgery is illegal or performed rarely throughout Europe and in Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

Declawing is amputation

Declawing is actually amputation, removing the claw by cutting off the part of the toe that it is attached to. In addition to the pain caused by amputation-times-ten (which could include permanent "phantom pain," based on the experiences of human amputees), cats are left without an important means of defense and, some critics argue, have their balance and gait impaired.

That seems like harsh punishment to a cat for acting on a deeply instinctive urge. Cats don't scratch to "sharpen their claws," as the common phrase suggests. They mark their territory with the sweat glands in the pads of their feet - just as they do when they rub their faces against a wall, a piece of furniture or their owners' legs. Secondarily, when cats dig in their claws and stretch, they are working the muscles in their legs and backs - a form of cat yoga.

Functional alternatives

What are the alternatives? For me, it's simple: Buy the cheapest upholstered furniture I can find, and replace it when the stuffing starts to fall out. That is not an acceptable option for most people. Here are some tips:

• Don't try to break your cat of the scratching habit. As the website www.declaw.com puts it, "Clever though Kitty is about many things, she won't understand that you're punishing her for scratching the couch. She will only compute that sometimes when you catch her she is treated badly." The result is that eventually your cat will run from you when you approach for any reason.

• You can minimize the damage to yourself and your furniture by keeping the cat's claws trimmed. I have a cat that loves to pat my face, so I am fortunate that his foster mom at Cause for Paws got him accustomed to having his nails trimmed. The www.declaw.com website has detailed instructions. Start with a cat that's sleepy and relaxed. Push on the pad of the foot so the nails are extended, and note the pink core inside the toenail - that's the part you do not want to cut. Hold the clippers vertical, so you cut from top to bottom. Squeezing from side to side results in breakage and splintering.

• A newer option - one that Gracie's foster mom swears by - is blunt-tipped, glue-on nail caps. They come in a range of colors - try orange for Halloween; green for St. Patrick's Day; or red, white and blue for the Fourth of July. The manufacturer's website, www.softpaws.com, says that the caps will last four to six weeks. Your cat will continue to scratch as usual, but without resulting damage.

• With time and patience, you can work out a compromise with your cat, allowing it to scratch in spots you both agree on. Owners make some fatal mistakes with scratching posts, according to www.declaw.com: The post has to be tall enough to allow for stretching. It has to be stable - think how you'd feel about using a wobbly piece of exercise equipment. For cats, the rougher the surface, the better - a tree trunk is their ideal, but doesn't match every décor.

If you provide your cats with a well-designed scratching post (see one at www.purrfectpost.com), put it near furniture they love to scratch, at least until they've bonded with the post. Make the post more attractive by sprinkling it with catnip. Make the furniture less attractive by covering it with double-sided sticky tape or spraying with a citrus scent, which cats find off-putting.

There are rare instances when declawing may be acceptable. The official position of the Cat Fanciers' Association is that declawing should be avoided, but their position statement concludes: "In certain situations, including high risk of injury or disease transmission to owners with bleeding disorders or compromised immune systems, declawing may be justified in order to maintain the cat-human bond." For the complete position statement, go to: www.cfa.org/articles/health/declawing.html.

Laura French is principal of Words Into Action, Inc., and is a freelance writer from Roseville.