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Claw clipping

356 views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  Annealise  
#1 ·
Those of you that clip claws, do you do the dew claws aswell?
I do Milo’s normal ones fairly regularly but he’s just got his dew claw stuck scratching the cat tree. They look very long and curved. Is it ok to trim them?
 
#2 ·
Is it ok to trim them?
Yes. Queen Eva has many extra claws, including extra dew claws, and claws deep down in the cleft between her giant multiple thumbs and regular toes.. I snip them all. I am sure you know to avoid the quick.

Novices should aim only for the tips. As one gains skill and confidence, and the cat gets used to it, you can clip a bit shorter.

Accidents can happen, especially with a wiggly cat. I've caught the quick a few times, on Queen Eva, and other cats over the years, much to my own dismay. There is usually a spot or two of blood, but the cat never seems to even notice. However I still urge caution and avoiding it of course. I was telling my vet once about how I caught a quick and she actually winced.
 
#6 ·
Queen Eva has had her nails trimmed since she was a baby, and had other cats as an example besides, so it's no big deal to her but she doesn't want me to know that.. For her it's not the process, so much as being held against her will. She does prefer to be wrapped in her towel, on my lap, for nail trims, head covered. I pull one paw out at a time. But even though she doesn't move much, she screams the house down, on principle. She's that way about anything, the big scream, so funny.

Tolly used to look away as if he couldn't bear to watch, and Jennie purred, because she just liked me holding her and paying attention to her. Mazy cat took 6 years to train to accept it, one claw at a time, starting with just picking her up, and putting her back down. She hated her paws touched so much, but she had terrible fast growing talons.

I used mayonnaise as her incentive. It took me a while to even find her preferred position. During the years of training I was bringing her to a vet tech at the vet who worked in the boarding kennel, she was the only person in the world Mazy cat would let snip her claws, that was with me holding her draped over my arm on a wooden counter, slipping dots of mayo onto her mouth as the tech snipped away.

At home, after the pick up put down exercise became humdrum I started picking her up and sitting down with her, then releasing her immediately, gradually progressing to touching one paw. Touching each paw. Gently squeezing the paw, and so on. Step by step, it took 6 years of Paw Wrok as I called it, but it was all worth it.

She was funny though once the whole trimming was going on. As I held, her I gave her a swipe of mayo on her lips. She started licking her lips making her yummy noises and I took a paw. The the growling would start, but she was still licking the mayonnaise, I'd be snip snipping away and she'd be like mmmyummymIMWARNINGYOUmmyummycut it outmmmm.... But like I said after that, as time went on even though she was still a bit grumbly she finally trusted me enough to let me do it, as long as she was allowed to complain about it.
 
#7 ·
Is it ok to trim them?
I clip every single claw, back ones included. I tend to clip short, clipping just where the claw turns 'cloudy' about 1 to 2 mm before the quick. That extends the time between trims, but even so they tend to have got their claws back into shape in around three weeks or so.
Mr Frosty and his mum Autumn are by far the most difficult cats I have to trim. Both will swipe and bite given half the chance, so I have to use a cone on them to get the job done.
Mr Frosty can prehaps be forgiven as he had an issue which affected his paws when he was younger, so his claws don't shed their layers properly, leaving him with these hideous, thick, curly nails that are really tough to cut, and have a tendency to explode into a million pieces which is obviously painful. I don't know what I'd do if he was like Queen Eva with all those extra toes and claws @lorilu
 
#11 · (Edited)
I never thought of using a cone - needs must as it's costing me a fortune at the vets to get them cut. I literally go into to battle with my cat trying to do them. I have to wear a thick dressing gown, wrap him in a towel whilst all the time he's clamouring to escape and then duck and dive to avoid scratches and bites. The drama queen wailing is second to none, yet the minute I stop and put him down he purrs away as if nothing happened.