The Best Age to Remove Your Cat's Claws

The older your cat gets, the harder it is to declaw them. Most veterinarians won't remove your cat's claws after 2 or 3 years of age, as the claws are hard-set into the cat's knuckles, and the surgery is just plain more painful for the cat to endure.

So when is the best and safest age to have your cat's claws removed? Quite simply, it's when you get your kitten spayed or neutered. If you are set on having the claws removed on your feline, do it when they are young, when the nails are easier to extract and the surgery is far easier on your purring friend.

Having your cat's claws removed at a young age when you get them spayed or neutered keeps your cat from having to undergo yet another surgery at a later date. It's also cheaper, as most veterinarians will give you a discount on claw removal when it is done at the same time as getting your cat fixed. Your vet for a minimum extra cost (about $20 or so) can also give you the option of laser claw removal as opposed to the traditional claw cutting for easier and quicker, less painful healing for your cat.

The best age to get your cat spayed or neutered is between 2 and 6 months, before males begin spraying and females go into heat. You can tell how old your cat is in their young life by how much they weigh. Typically, your kitten weighs one pound for every month of age they are, so it's fairly easy to gauge your kitten's age. At around 2 or 3 pounds, it is time to get them fixed. They may seem tiny still, but a female cat once they hit a heat cycle will be attracting toms from all over, and can go into heat again immediately after having kittens. A female cat can even be triggered into going into heat simply in the presence of a tom cat, so spaying and neutering before this becomes an issue is ideal at a young age.

If you are concerned about your kitten being able to recover from being both fixed and declawed at the same time, don't be. It's far less stressful on your cat to undergo 2 procedures in one surgery than to have to recover from one and go under again. Declawing is a major surgery but an easily recoverable one in addition to being fixed.

I recently had my kitten spayed and declawed, and opted for the laser removal claw removal. She came home not even looking like she had any surgery on her claws at all, and did not appear distressed from either surgery in any way. The vet gave her a 24 hour pain shot before we took her home, and we had pain meds to give her for 72 hours. Within 24 hours after the drugs had worn off we had to keep her from overindulging in activity because she was jumping around and playing just like normal. It has been 3 weeks since her dual claw removal and spaying surgery and she is acting just as she was before she went in.

If you really are going to declaw your cat, do it as young as possible to avoid any complications. My cat is just fine without claws, even learning how to shimmy up furniture on her back claws to make up for the front ones. She can even climb trees when we let her outside with our supervision, and is not impaired in any way. We simply don't have to worry about her clawing up our legs or furniture anymore.

She is one happy cat.