Cats’ claws were never on the top of Dennis O’Riley’s list of things to defend. But when the Vice President and Director of Operations for Flournoy Properties, a division of apartment developer, builder and manager Flournoy Companies, saw that the felines his wife and daughter had convinced him to adopt were clawing at his furniture, he thought the natural move was to have them declawed. Needless to say, his wife and daughter set him straight.
While some think declawing is a simple surgery that removes the cat’s nails, it is actually a painful procedure involving the amputation of the last bone of each toe. Cats that have been declawed can experience pain, infection, lameness or changes in behavior, such as urinating outside the litter box or biting.
Today, O’Riley, CAPS, ensures that none of his company’s 45 communities, including 13,000 apartments in the Southeast and Southwest, have policies that require cats to be declawed. He believes that cat clawing poses little risk to communities. “At our communities, we see little if any cat damage—aside from cat urine,” O’Riley says. “Declawing won’t solve that. Any damage cats do in an apartment is likely to be to furniture owned by the renter.” Flournoy welcomes pets at its communities and charges a $300-per-pet fee for each of up to three pets.
While O’Riley has ensured his communities are safe for cat owners, not all communities have heard the message, says Nancy Peterson, Cat Programs Manager for The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), an animal protection organization. She’s heard from distraught residents who were told to declaw their cats when a change in management occurred, as well as potential residents who were told apartment communities or Public Housing Authorities required declawing. HUD does not require cats to be declawed. Requiring that cats are declawed can harm a community’s leasing efforts, notes Paolo Pedrazzoli, CPM, President of Malibu, Calif.-based Sirius Property Management.
“At our communities that accept pets, we realize that many residents view their pets as members of their families,” Pedrazzoli says. “The thought of declawing a cat is repulsive to many. Not that we would ever want it to be a requirement; I am convinced that if it were, the prospect would not rent with us.”
At Sirius communities that allow pets, the company uses a pet addendum and requires a pet deposit to cover any damage that is caused by a pet. To help avoid potential problems, the company also provides a bottle of Nature’s Miracle, an enzymatic cleaner that neutralizes pet urine odor and stains, to protect the carpeting.
The HSUS provides resources on its website, www.humanesociety.org (search “resources rental managers”) to help apartment managers develop effective pet policies, as well as free care and behavior tip sheets for cats, dogs and other pets (search “pet care and behavior tip sheets”) to help owners resolve pet issues such as scratching, not using the litter box and barking. –NAA’s Jeffrey Lee