Teddy is only my second very-own cat (though long, long ago my college room-mate had cats, and I once had a prolonged cat-sitting gig for a neighbor's kitten); with my first very-own cat Winston, I had the foresight to have him declawed (front only) when he was very tiny and the knuckle bones weren't fully fused. By the time Teddy appeared in my life 21 years later, I had been sufficiently influenced, or enlightened, by anti-declawing movements that I couldn't bring myself to declaw him. (While Winston never developed Teddy's muscularity, speed and coordination, I don't know if that was the effect of declawing or just the way Winston was constituted. In fact he otherwise never seemed to miss his claws.) After all, I told myself, people say you can guide a cat to use appropriate scratching devices--sisal posts, whatever. I don't know who those "people" are but they've not met Teddy. Note the nice cardboard scratcher (he disdains the very attractive, expensive sisal post, designated as the "ultimate scratcher" and rated 5 stars--by people, not by cats--we acquired for him) on top of the bench...but he sure finds the furniture to be the most suitable scratching posts ever!
Note how he's totally destroyed the near corner of the bench, and has now moved on to the far corner. The background noise is the air conditioner (which has been going non-stop for weeks now); Teddy's clawing is so satisfyingly robust that you can easily hear it over the noisy A/C. Anyway, it's a good thing that was an inexpensive piece, though I did rather like it better before the stuffing started to pop out of it...
