I didn’t have this issue with my 4 cat when i do that, i usually have them belly up on my lap, head facing me, and i trim it that way so their paw won’t be in an awkward possition. They will try to get away, but i’ll just grab them back and give em some head scritches to quiet them down. I sometime will grab their paw when giving them pat and ask “lets check your nail. can i trim this?” and then trim it. Usually they let me trim one or two before getting annoyed.
I did it like this on my sister’s cat as well, works just fine.
“belly up on my lap” I’d be eviscerated trying to achieve this step with the cat I have now. All our previous cats were, well, pussycats about nail clipping compared to her. I finally had to resort to a dose of gabapentin, which barely slows her down but enables me to get one claw at a time over about 3 hours, with a toothy treat after every claw, and plenty of freedom and “da bee” playtime in between to tire her out.
My stray kitten wouldn’t let me cut her claws so I tried the mobile vet. They handed her back to me and said it wasn’t worth the fight, and her sister was free.
The big one is just the best. Never uses his claws, not even when getting a bath to destroy the fur-monster of the shedding season. He uses it to pick up food tho. He doesn’t mind getting them clipped.
The little one’s a vocal bastard. But he also accepts, while being not amused and complaining all the tine, the clipping.
That’s so good. My cats have similar dynamics. The big one, as we call her (despite weighing about 9 lbs), allows me to clip her nails in exchange for 1 (one) kiss upon her forehead per claw.
The small one (5 lbs) needs treats and breaks but puts up with it and me.
I have 4 cats and I handle them all without getting scratched while trimming their nails. There is one cat that will bite the nail scissors, she is tricky to handle because of that. When she catches a finger between the nail scissors and her teeth, she bites full force and that does not make a pleasant experience. I tried burritoing her, but it’s just easier to have her on her back and using sleight of hand to distract her.
Be calm, gentle, but firm. No build up, no “I’m sorry kitty, don’t be mad” and try not to be tense. Just do it. (If you’re tense, they’re tense)
Use a treat or food to distract the cat, and hold them firmly (preferably, have a second pair of hands, but I manage just fine on my own)
Proceed with the processes, even if the cat complains, or gets a little feisty (back off if they’re ballistic). Let them know (with your body language) that you’re not stopping because they’re unhappy
Also, make sure they have a good footing. Cats get uneasy if they don’t have their feet on something, or if the ground is slippery (like a bathtub)
Put a towel in the bottom of the tub to give them better footing (not the best solution, but it works)
We trim our cats nails because when we don’t they keep getting stuck on things. They also just accept that being stuck is now their life without any complaint so sometimes it takes us hours to figure out one is now stuck to the sofa and just accepted it vs decided to sleep on the sofa.
This is my boy. He scratches all his posts, his scratchers, everything and is very good about it, but at a certain length he’ll do his usual routine where he’ll gently hook the edge of a blanket and lift it, and drop it to ask someone to tuck him in, and the blanket won’t drop.
He also might catch a claw on the sofa or something. Time to clip claws!
I trim my cat’s nails because they fight sometimes and I don’t want anyone getting hurt. Also because I want them to be able to make biscuits on me if they want to without feeling like I’m getting stabbed.
I like the top panel bcs it allows for proper play time, not some baby bs. Kinda like cats vs cats play.
Never needed to clip any cats claws so I can’t sympathise entirely, but I doubt I would have forced the issue if kitties were too against it (especially if the second time they would still be against it).
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When cats sharpen their claws on wood it keeps them at the right length.
The only time we needed to clip our cat’s claws was when she was getting old and couldn’t sharpen them herself.
We noticed it when she was getting more and more passive, and on a whim we looked ar her claws, they had grown into her pads on her paws, we started cliping them regularly, but only slightly, and she was soon feeling much better.
This happened after and accident when she was out and we thought she got lost, but after a few days she was back in our garden, she was clearly in pain so we took her to the vet and one of her rear legs had been dislocated, it took weeks to get it to heal, and after that event she started having trouble with her claws.
Yeah, I just snip the tips on the front ones usually. I’ve been doing it since he was little and while he doesn’t appreciate it he has never fought or clawed me in the process of it.
What do you do when the cat refuses to use scratching posts? No matter the material—cardboard, carpet, rope—she will only scratch the furniture and folded towels. (We even tried wrapping a scratching post in towel material and she still won’t scratch it.)
Obviously we don’t want her destroying the furniture, so we don’t* let her scratch long enough to shorten her nails… wat do?
We never really had this issue, but I would try putting the folded towels in a cupboard with a door. As for furniture you could try and fit some hard plastic over the favourite scratching area so she won’t get a grip with her claws.
We had our cat when we were doing a remodel (still going on at my parents, I still remember when the front porch was ripped out and the big job was starting back in 2000, but even before then the house was being remoddeled.
She loved to scrach against wodden posts so much so that over the years she had scratched away about a third of the equivalent of a twobyfour post.
We let her do that since the post would hold little weight, and it is relatively easy to swap if needed.
Though it still doesn’t solve the issue of her refusing to scratch a designated post. She’ll just find something else. I’ve thought about buying a cheap yoga mat, cutting off a bit and taping it to the floor, cause she seems to enjoy scratching those too when we’re working out and step away for a break.
Cats really only like to scratch on tall and sturdy things like trees or heavy couches
If their post isn’t tall enough, they can’t get a good stretch out of it
If the post tips over easily, they just won’t want to use it (you can also use a heavy weight to keep the base steady, but I find that solution rather cumbersome )
Good choice, I bought something like this and within about 2 minutes of having it set up I had 2 cats scratching it. I was worried they wouldn’t touch it.
Well you double down and assert that your cat and training is superior, and therefore applies to all cats and anyone should be able to do what you do with your cats! Just kidding! accept the reality that everyone’s situation and cats are different!
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