Well, in my experience with all the cats I've known, I have never known their claws to grow.
They always stay the same, unlike dogs' claws which need regular trimming just like our nails.
My opinion is, if people want a cat, they have to be prepared for a bit of "sharpclaws" now and again (such as when kneading, etc) I always made sure there was a blanket on my lap before Sally jumped on to start purring and kneading.
As for children getting scratched....we had cats about all the time when I was a baby....young child, and older child, and we were taught not to bother the cats, to upset them in any way. A cat will only attack with claws out if it is really feeling upset or threatened. None of our cats ever did that. And one of them -Baxter was his name -was a real little devil, so we coo-coo'ed at him from a distance mostly and never got scratched by him. We could tell when he was in the mood to be gently stroked, and when he was not!
And as for furniture....well anyone who has a sharpclaws in the house should train it to use a particular hard piece of wood or scratching post. They soon get into the habit of having a favourite place to scratch.
Sally had two particular places she liked to scratch, and never did it anywhere else.
They always stay the same, unlike dogs' claws which need regular trimming just like our nails.
My opinion is, if people want a cat, they have to be prepared for a bit of "sharpclaws" now and again (such as when kneading, etc) I always made sure there was a blanket on my lap before Sally jumped on to start purring and kneading.
As for children getting scratched....we had cats about all the time when I was a baby....young child, and older child, and we were taught not to bother the cats, to upset them in any way. A cat will only attack with claws out if it is really feeling upset or threatened. None of our cats ever did that. And one of them -Baxter was his name -was a real little devil, so we coo-coo'ed at him from a distance mostly and never got scratched by him. We could tell when he was in the mood to be gently stroked, and when he was not!
And as for furniture....well anyone who has a sharpclaws in the house should train it to use a particular hard piece of wood or scratching post. They soon get into the habit of having a favourite place to scratch.
Sally had two particular places she liked to scratch, and never did it anywhere else.
