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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To get my baby declawed

43 replies

r3d3 · 21/09/2013 09:00

I cut his nails as well as I can, but my face is permanently covered in bloody scratches, his occasionally has one or two, and I fear for the other babies at playgroup.

AIBU to have him declawed? It's only a matter of time before he starts on the furniture :( And I'm worried about him climbing up the curtains.

(While I was typing this, he has actually managed to scrape something delicate way up inside my nose. Possibly it was my brain.)

OP posts:

Mammyisthegirl · 21/09/2013 13:31

BFing a Tasmanian devil ROTFL
Having just had number 2 scraper, I found that my own glass nail file as better than the baby files I'd bought. Seemed to give a smoother edge.

Mammyisthegirl · 21/09/2013 13:32

'is' not 'as'. Stupid fat fingers.

Thepowerof3 · 21/09/2013 13:33

Why do people have cats claws removed? I feel your pain OP my baby DS is a scratchy scratcher

PrincessFlirtyPants · 21/09/2013 13:35

Thepowerof3 because cats claw the furniture poor cats...

Nagoo · 21/09/2013 13:36

Glass file is good, very gentle :)

Thepowerof3 · 21/09/2013 13:39

That's so cruel and unnecessary why would you get a cat then

SilverApples · 21/09/2013 13:41

It's illegal in many countries, including this one. Not in the USA though.

Silvercatowner · 21/09/2013 13:41

I'd secretly love to have my cat declawed. I know it's not the done thing but he'd actually get cuddled if he didn't have claws. Every time I go near him I get clawed. Not through aggression, it's just what he does.

SilverApples · 21/09/2013 13:44

So you have a cat that doesn't enjoy cuddles, better adapt your own behaviour than mutilate it.
Or choose an adult cat as a pet, whose nature and behaviour are already established.
But OP, he will grow out of the scratching. You can either try some of the suggestions here, or become adept at dodging and holding the scratchy paws out of harm's way.

Sunnysummer · 21/09/2013 14:06

Hmm the last few posters maybe missed the mothers group bit. Or are there mothers groups for cat owners? Being tragically petless due to a heartless landlord and an overly practical DH, your world is a mystery to me.

On the baby bit, I feel your pain. My sling-addicted 5 month old is very cute until he gets sleepy in there and it suddenly feels like having a badger strapped to your chest. We both have battle scars, only his seen to heal overnight while I am left with an increasingly raggedy décolletage. Biting and clipping didn't work and filing caused further misery and badger attacks, my favourite has been the tiny round-ended baby scissors, they're great and less dangerous for both of us than clippers!

SilverApples · 21/09/2013 14:39

No, we realise that it is a human baby with scratchy nails, otherwise we would not be advocating biting off the nails as one of the options.
The declawing stuff was a slight side-track.
Sew his mittens onto his sleeves, that way he still has an opposable thumb to pick up stuff?

junkfoodaddict · 21/09/2013 14:43

I have a pair of Boots baby scissors and since my DS (21 months) was a week old, I have cut his finger and toe nails. We had a few months of 'objections' to the point when it 'had' to be done whilst he was on the sit-on lawnmower (tractor mad) and screamed to the point of outsiders thinking we were torturing him, but now he sits on our bed and is happy to have his 'manicure' and 'pedicure' - as long as mummy is too!!! Nothing wrong with cutting - takes less time than filing and if he's like me, I hate having my nails filed. Feels odd and uncomfortable.

junkfoodaddict · 21/09/2013 14:44

Ha ha!! That'll teach me not to read the thread!!!

I have 2 kittens funnily enough (got them 2 weeks ago) and constantly up the curtains and blinds. I let them!

adagio · 21/09/2013 14:55

I use a padded emery board while she is asleep/dozing on the boob- means I can only do one side at a time though!

And socks on the hands instead of scratch mitts (as they don't stay on).

IfAtFirstUDontSucceed · 21/09/2013 16:01

I trim DS's nails twice a week but he still rips himself to shreds.
When he's tired, excited or upset he opens and closes his hands on his chest and tummy - he regularly draws blood.
Poor lad look as though he's been in a scrap with the local Tom Cat!

He's just started the face grabbing stage so I'll look forward to the injuries too.

SupermansBigRedPants · 21/09/2013 16:11

Ds was a scratcher still is at times it turned out he had excema so if the wee one is scratching themselves it nay be that. For scratching you I'd second wee emery boards.

Lweji · 21/09/2013 16:19

DS used to claw himself.

I saw the worry on the gp's face at a check up visit until he scratched himself in front of her.
Phew! No SS...

No better advice than what you have had here.

Silvercatowner · 21/09/2013 16:29

Silverapples my cat LOVES cuddles. (Lol at the being taken seriously....!) I just don't like being treated as a pincushion. (I do love the way posts are taken Very Seriously though.....)

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