I will not declaw them...

[Irish]

Femke-
I just wanted to say I think its great that you won't get your cats declawed. I agree with you, it is so painful to them. My cats have destroyed more than a few things in my house, but I still refuse to get them declawed. Good luck with the cat caps, let us know if they work!

[Sheba]

We got our cats declawed, well I think they came declawed, I'm not sure... They sometimes claw at the couch but only when we are around to stop them LOL!I'm pretty sure ours is one of those threaded ones, too.

[Fran27]

I don't like the idea of caps at all personally I don't even want to imagine how annoying it must be for them, and if they get out of the house they will still be unable to defend themselves.

[mwood322]

One Thing I might recommend.

Make sure the scratching posts aren't carpeted. Just like dogs, cats don't generalize well. I buy my cat the cardboard box scratchers, and she doesn't scratch anything else in the house, at least not heavily. Catnip generally comes with them, and they aren't very expensive. I also used the citrus spray, which works great until it wears off.

--Mia

[amymarley]

I have to agree with all above! Declawing is barbaric...most vets won't even do it anymore. Use the caps, use the cat nip on a few scratching posts. As for them going on any surface, again the tin foil, baking sheets on the couch will also work. One great thing is 2 sided tape. Esp. for counters, or tables. Cats HATE the tape (it won't hurt them) and usually only takes a couple of days for it to work, if not sooner. If the tape, cookie sheets, and tin foil don't work, then go for the caps. Every once in a while, just to make sure, use the tape when it's un expected. They will stay off the furniture... as for scratching, you can put the tape on that as well. But, for a positive reward, have several scratching posts with cat nip.

[moe]

I wouldnt dream of declawing our cat, but in the early days she tried destroying our house, so I took her to the vets and had claw covers put on her(she is a house cat never goes out) these little covers are like gel sheaths that slide over the claws and prevents the cat from scratching everything in sight,you glue them on, they do fall off but you just replace them, they were a god send, they never harmed the cat, she did not mind having them and I only used them til she had gotten out of the habit of clawing furniture, I placed a scratch post directly in front of her favorite place to scratch(my armchair) and within a few weeks it was all over, she is now 6 years old and never scratches anything other than her post.

Mo

[Naturegurl]

All of my cats are indoor only cats. I have declawed (front paws) on all of them. Thrust me they aren't helpless they can rip you good with the back claws.
My cats have suffered no ill effects from being declawed. I have them spayed/neutered and declawed all at once soon as they are old enough.