How much should one expect to pay to have a kitten declawed?

I know this doesn't really answer your question, but I would strongly recommend against having your cat declawed at all. If your furniture is what you're worried about, there are several alternatives other than removing the front digits, including training and softpaws.

Here a link talking about declawing http://www.kittenrescue.org/declaw.htm. I'll see if I can find some other, more balanced, sources.

I was bored and just called about ten different vets. The lowest was 290$ and the highest was 650$. Average was around 400$.

I live in Eugene Oregon so those are samples from here.

http://www.declawing.com/htmls/declawing.htm
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_declawing_and_its_alternatives.html

Anecdotally, I want to point out that we have no problem with our clawed cat scratching our furniture -- you just need to trim the nails every few weeks.

And, if you do decide to declaw your cat, I'd say don't go for a bargain. It's a non-trivial surgery. You wouldn't want a bargain circumcision, would you?

Absolutely agree with you Andrew. Certainly wouldn't go the cheap route. And to your point, I'm not convinced on having the procedure done in the first place. He's not tearing anything up per se, but he's starting to realize he has claws. So, not sure where thats going to lead. The motivating factor behind checking this out was a swift claw to my wifes face when our dog scared the cat while he was sleeping on her chest.

@johnpowell Many thanks for making the calls. You rock!

Of course. That'd make me want consider the options as well! You're lucky, though...with him being young you are in a perfect position to train your young kitty what is and isn't appropriate -- as well as getting him used to regular nail clippings, etc.

A lot of people assume that it's not a huge deal, in fact, I assumed that de-clawing was just an extreme nail clipping until my girlfriend set me straight -- if they're not using a laser machine, they take a sharpened nail clipper and sever the toe at or just below the last joint.

I had mine declawed on all four feet 10 years ago and it cost me $100. I also had him fixed at the same time, of course this was extra. It was done while he was under and he came through fine.

This may spark a whole new discussion, "How the hell do you train a cat?" lol

I have three cats.. We use the food bowl on the cat post method.

They spend about 50% of their time outside so declawing isn't really something we can do. They never tear up anything inside the house. Well, Harley likes to knead my head when I sleep. I actually enjoy that.

But, the cat post lets them get their scratch on and having the food on it makes sure they see it everyday.

http://hipsterblogtard.com/catscratchfever.jpg
That is the post we use.

@alabare: My 13 year old daughter has a cat named Thomas. She has trained this cat better than most people have their dog trained. He sits on command, jumps into her bag to go shopping... You name it.. He does it. She devotes a lot of time with him. He is not skittish like some cats. He never meets a stranger. She is convinced that she can make him as trained as Criss Angel's ( the magician) cat, Hamlet. She has him doing more than I ever thought a cat could. He is declawed and has had no problems. He has the stray cats around our house convinced that he is the Lion King as they all bow down to him when he goes outside. Declawing him was 60 bucks.

Don't do it. It's as cruel as docking a dog's tail.

I have worked in the veterinary field for 15 years and can tell you that no one that I know in the field would ever declaw our cats. It's like a child - if you have one, you accept that it changes your life. If your furniture is that important to you, don't get a cat.

Isn't really a matter involving furniture, yet. Boils down to the very painful gash in my wifes face. =)

All in all though, I think we've tabled the procedure. Thanks to everyone for your feedback. Great points.

Good for you alabare. I can appreciate your concern given the cat was scared when it injured your wife's - but the cat is young and scared easily. I;ve had cats for 30 years and never, ever had scratched furniture or any other damage.

How do your cats respond to nail clipping? I recall a specific cat in my past that literally turned into the anti-christ when we attempted to clip. Would love any hints on this front.

DON'T DO IT! If the kitty ever gets out she won't be able to defend herself. Poor kitty. I'll pay you not to do it.

And I'll go halves with you, Joli! As for nail clipping, in my experience a healthy cat allowed out of doors should not need it. House cats are fine so long as they have access to a scratching post. Older cats often need clipping. Done gently without drama causes few problems. It is harder to give a cat medicine that cut its claws.

Declawing is sad mutilation for cats.

Two paws $110, plus aesthesia $50,plus meds ~$225. Our vet will not do all 4 paws. We don’t let them out, but Sam got out – with rear paws he defends him self & is the terror of the 5 tom cats in the area.

I had a friend once advise to cut a few at a time whenever you had a second, i think that if you did this enough it would eventually train them to let you do it

Also, I trained my cat to be calm by massaging his feet when I had no intention of cutting his nails.

don’t do it. To them it’s like cutting your nails to the white half circle part on your nails

Or removing two knuckles from every finger.

Please don’t do it. Use Softpaws if scratching becomes a problem.

With their life.

well alabare, in the event that the issue comes up again after being tabled. I would highly recommend that you NOT de-claw your cat. First things first, i believe you said your cat is a he in passing in one of your responses. In that case, is he neutered? and does he go outside? if he isn’t neutered then get him neutered if he’s old enough, neutering a male cat can often stop them from clawing and scratching things (he also won’t start spraying your furniture to mark his territory. If he goes outside at all, then definately DO NOT declaw him. Whereas a cat can defend itself merely with it’s hind claws, it will not be able to climb a tree per-say to escape a larger adversary than he can take with his back claws.
As for training the cat, well it’s not really as hard as everyone thinks, we do all the training for our cats with a children’s water gun. Whenever they do something they aren’t supposed to be doing, you shoot them with it. it doesn’t hurt them and they dont’ like it so the will usually stop after a few times (once they figure out if i do A then i get shot…hmmm). If water doesn’t work i’m told that vinegar in the water gun works well too. then it adds a smell to the deterrent, and is also not harmful to them to clean off (my brother does this with his kittens and it is quite effective, he’s a Zoo keeper and works with animals all the time, he also thinks that there is no need to declaw your cat as he is reading over my shoulder now lol).

Just train your cats, like @Battousai87 said it’s not that hard.

I taught mine pretty early on that I am five times as big an animal as him (voice) and he just stops whatever he’s doing when I tell him to. He tipped over a vase or two when he was little but stopped doing that the first time he got water on himself. If you have a cat, you’re going to get scratched. If you don’t want to get scratched, don’t get a cat.

I had never heard of “declawing” an animal and frankly I think I might throw up.

@Noel_S_Leitmotiv Only great answer to this question. Can you direct me to the kitty liberation front?

If you are thinking of getting your cat declawed you shouldn’t have an animal in the first place.