What are some ideas for transitioning my cats from indoor/outdoor cars

[mykidzrkute]

to only indoor cats? One is 5 months old and is almost three years old. I'll give you some background, maybe that will help. My older kitty was an indoor cat for the first year of his life and then my husband decided that he needed to not be afraid of the outdoors and started introducing him to the outdoors, it wasn't a huge deal to me because he is always up to date on his vaccines, he neutured, and he has claws. My kitten has always been indoor/outdoor since the day he dared venture out the dog door. Now here is my complication, i work 10 hour days, 7 on and 7 off, on my on days i can not kennel my dog or lock up the house because obviously he would be alone for 11 hours at least a day withough access to the bathroom. My husband is gone until march so until he comes home this is the siutation i am stuck on, on my off weeks its no problem, i can let him in and out. So during my on weeks i leave the dog door open so he can come and go in and out of the house, however, my cats can as well. It hasn't been a big deal until recently, they have been bringing mice in my house left and right!!! i find them dead at least twice a week under things!! EWWW!!! Ok, i dont handle cup rings on my coffe tables very well, let alone a dead animal on my hardwood floors!!!! Also they have taken to pulverizing my stairs with their claws, which i clip regularly, which was also something my older kitty didn't do until new kitty showed up. So i would like to get them declawed and keep them indoors. I am not so sure what to do on my on weeks, they do have a litter box and they do use it. I could put them in the laundry room during the day when i am gone with their food and water and litter box, they can actually access the whole besement this way, is that inhumane and is it wrong to suddenly take the outdoors away from them? thanks a bunches!

 

[klip]

It is not inhumane to keep a cat indoors, but it is inhumane to declaw them. Please don't do that! They cut off their fingers, dod you know that? It is a meaningless amputation. If you buy a rattan rug I bet your cats will prefer to scratch that than the stairs.
It is also not nice to keep them shut in the basement all day. Leave them the entire house, at least. What you can do, to keep them in, while the dog gets out, is to buy the dog a collar and a dog door that have a magnetic thingy so that the door only opens when the dog is there. They are widely available.
However, you should know that cats hunt at night, and mice get out at night, so it is not during the day that your cats bring the mice. So what you could do is just keep them all inside in the night, how is that?
And anyway, you will be letting them out when you are home to supervise them, or when your husband comes back, so don't declaw them and don't worry about keepoing them indoors for a few hours.
By the way, you can use

www.softpaws.com

claw caps, if you don't want them to scratch, they are claw caps that are cheap and removable and humane.

 

[necronomicon_epilogue]

First you need to understand that declawing can have negative behavioral effects. You should speak to your vet on what declawing entails. It is, essentially, amputating the first joint on our hands. Cats walk in their toes, and declawing can be quite painful for them.

You will have to change their litter type to something more gentle on their paws. It can be temporary or permanent depending on how they recover. You should also be prepared for surprise bleeding during recovery, as accidents happen.

But what you really need to prepare for is that your cats may develop a biting problem. Their claws are the primary means of defense, and cat bites are FAR more dangerous than scratches.

It is more inhumane to get them declawed than to force them to live indoors. Living indoors removes your cats from the possibility of being injured or killed by people, cars, and other animals. Plus it helps protect the wild bird population who have no defense against cats.

I suggest Feliway to help calm your cats for the transition. Next talk to your vet about soft paws if your cats can handle it. I understand you do clip, and I do too, and we've never had a scratching problem. However, a cat tree can be a good investment to divert your kitties. You can also try getting one of those cheap "welcome" mats if your cats like to scratch on the floor rather than up and down.

You can also add in a toy rotation. When they seem to be getting bored of one toy, put it away and bring out a new one and repeat the process.