Incoherent Scribblings

Jungle Red

Molly and Her Jungle Red Toenails
Originally uploaded by blondelibrarian

When I adopted Dolly and Molly last summer in addition to regularly trimming their nails, I immediately started training them to use a scratching post instead of my furniture when they felt the need to sharpen their toenails.

My method for doing this was pretty simple. When they attempted to sharpen their toenails on my furniture I would firmly tell them “no” and physically move them to the scratching post. When we were at the scratching post I would then place their front paws on post and rub their feet on the post so they got the idea they were allowed to scratch it.

It actually didn’t take too long for them to realize that the scratching post was the preferred place to scratch because whenever I observed them scratching the post instead of my furniture I would make a fool of myself and lavish praise upon them. As a result, they began scratching the furniture less and less and the scratching post more and more.

However, even though they weren’t tearing up my furniture with their toenails I still had a slight problem: They were tearing me up when they would play and the scratching post wasn’t doing much good when they would chase each other around the house and use those nails to dig in when they launched themselves off the bed.

Therefore I started considering my options. The first option was to do nothing and live with the scratches and scars I was receiving from those regularly trimmed toenails. The second option was to have them declawed. While I am not really opposed to declawing (as a matter of fact my other two cats are declawed… but that is another post for another time) I feel that declawing them for my own personal vanity is rather selfish.

Since neither of the first two options was particularly appealing, the last option was to consider Soft Claws. Soft Claws are plastic “nail caps” that you attach to a cat’s claws that allow them all the benefits of retaining their claws but save the owner (and her furniture or appendages) the damage of sharp little toenails. After months of debating, a particularly nasty scratch that I received from Dolly a couple of weeks ago made up my mind: I ordered a batch of Soft Claws and they arrived in the mail a couple of days ago.

Soft Claws come in either a boring transparent variety or a selection of colors and being the crazy cat lady style-conscious individual that I am, I chose Soft Claws for Molly and Dolly in “Jungle Red.” I rather like them but since they have to be replaced as the cats shed their claws (on average every 6-8 weeks) I think next time we might go for “Purple Passion” instead.