All right.
Fine, Jackson, fine.
You told me all about declawing and how terrible it.
Is And fine, fine, I won't declaw my cat.
My cat is still wrecking my house.
My cat is scratching up my furniture.
My cat is scratching me.
I don't want my cat to scratch.
Now what do I do?
Well, calm down Sleepless in Scratchville.
It's time to get catified.
If you watched episode about declawing,
you know exactly where I fall on the matter.
I mean, I made myself pretty clear, right?
Don't do it.
It's inhumane, it's cruel, it's unusual, it's unnecessary.
And it rarely works in solving behavioral problems.
It usually makes other ones crop up.
And did I tell you it hurts?
You said, find.
And you said it in loud, loud ways.
I mean, thank you by the way, people.
The way you're coming out, team Cat Mojo in force, right?
How do you live with a cat and her claws?
Well, I'm going to tell you it.
There's a few things we have to bear in mind.
Scratching is a necessity for cats.
It's not a luxury.
Cats need to, first of all, exercise
the top part of their body.
It's a nice way to grab something and pull down and get
that exercise.
Also, it's a really important part of marking territory.
Now remember, Cat Mojo 101.
Cats need to own places.
If they don't own places, they become very, very insecure
and anxious, and they act out in other ways.
If it is a necessary, if cats do need to scratch, well then,
what are we going to do about that?
The first thing that we do is trim their nails.
You take either a nail trimmer or a human nail clipper,
or the ones that they sell in the stores that
are more like systems, whatever suits your fancy.
You press the cat's pad.
And boink, out comes the nail.
All you've got to do is take off the tip.
You don't have to take off that part
where the red meets the white.
You don't have to worry about hurting them that way.
You don't worry about what we call
quicking them, which is hitting that blood supply
and making everyone unhappy.
Just bump, and it's done.
It's also the approach, folks.
Just act as if you're just walking up and you're say hi.
And things will get much, much easier.
Also, catch them napping.
I mean, when your cat's sleeping or just waking up,
you're having a lazy moment together.
You can have clippers by the side of your bed.
All you're doing is getting the nail out and clipping.
If every time you touch your cat's paws,
they're going to get clipped?
Then they're not going to let you do it.
So associate it with positive things, a nice quiet time.
And then maybe you only get one nail
while you're sitting there.
That's fine.
Because over the course of a couple days,
you'll get them all.
The next thing that we want to start thinking about
is where they're scratching.
Remember, it's territorially important.
There's two human scent soakers-- your couch
and your bed.
Where do you spend the most part of your time
when you get home from work?
Your couch and your bed.
And that's where your scent is strong.
It's a scent soaker.
And because of that, your cat is going
to want to compliment your scent with theirs.
In the show, you've seen this, I'm sure, a million times.
I get redundant.
The yes and the no.
Behind every no, there has to be a yes.
If we don't want them scratching on the arm of the chair,
we have to say, well, this location is still important.
Let's say you use a product like Sticky Paws.
Sticky Paws is double-sided sticky tape
that is actually designed not to actually stick to your couch.
But when your cat touches it, it's kind of tacky
and they don't like it.
OK, we'll say no, and put sticky paws down the arm of the couch.
But right next door, there has to be a scratching post.
There has to be a scratching post that works for them so
that they can compliment your scent with them,
and leave a visual and scent marker in a territorially
crucial area.
What makes a good scratching post?
All right, let's talk about that.
The first thing is a nice wide base,
because if your cat goes to scratch down and the thing
wobbles, well then, the couch wins.
Does your cat prefer corrugated cardboard or sisal rope
or carpeting or natural wood?
What is it your cat likes?
There are a lot of nice scratches
out on the market there.
But you've got to sometimes look in different places, you know?
You don't want to just go for the first one you see,
and then get mad when it doesn't work.
In a situation where you have young children,
or if you're immune compromised, things
like that-- which in the past were kind of given reasons
to declaw a cat-- you can think of something like Soft Paws.
And Soft Paws is a brand name, but there are other ones
out there.
They're basically just vinyl nail tips.
They go on.
They don't hurt, nothing like that.
And the only downside is that after a month or so,
they're just going to pop off as the nail grows.
And then you trim the nails and do it again.
It is a way that there's no way that the nails can
do any damage.
I like that to be sort of a last resort.
Because why do it?
Why go through all the aggravation
if you don't have to?
Plus.
I like accommodating the raw cat.
We want cats to be confident in the areas that they scratch.
We want them to assert themselves territorially.
We just want them to do it in the place
that we want them to do it, and not in the place
we don't want them to do it.
Don't forget, you can start this when they're young.
I mean seriously, if you are clipping your cat's claws
and giving them the yes and the no, and they're a young kid,
you will not have a problem as they grow up.
And there's a lot of people out there
who are like, why would I compromise for my cat?
You know, you've got children.
You've got spouses and partners.
And let me tell you something, the compromise
involved with those guys dwarfs the needs of your cat.
So listen, if you've got to go out there and get
a scratching post, you've got to put some sticky tape
on your couch, you've got to go put Soft Paws on,
you've got to clip your cat's nails.
That's the cost of having a beautiful relationship
with your cat.
It is an invaluable relationship,
and beautiful in every single way.
Now you know everything that you need
to know-- the basics, anyway-- on making sure
that your furniture and the people in your house
stay safe while keeping your cat's claws intact.
Now, in the meantime folks, you can find me anywhere, right?
Anywhere and everywhere.
Find me Twitter, Facebook, InstaGram, Google+.
There's no excuse.
I am all over the place.
Be sure to join me on Wednesday, February 5.
I'll answer your questions.
And we're going to talk more about declawing.
So stay tuned for more information.
But man, get that on your calendar and do it now.
Hey, I've got to say it one more time.
Folks, thank you so much for the support
that you're showing that last video that I put out there.
It's getting circulated far and wide.
You are telling your friends.
We are finally going to get that message out.
What's the message?
Declawing your cat is not OK.
Anyhow folks, until we talk next time.
All light, all love, all mojo to you.
Muah.
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