How much should nail clipping cost?

We adopted our cat about a month and a half ago and his nails are getting real sharp again so I think he's ready for a trim. He's fully clawed and I'm a little too chicken to do it on my own yet. I will in time though. I called the 2 groomers in our town and one quoted $14.50 to trim his nails and the other one quoted $5.00. How can the prices be so different? What is a reasonable price?

I'd like to go to the one who charges $5.00 but she can't get me in till later in the afternoon on my Friday afternoon off. The other one can slip me in anytime which would work better for my schedule but she's almost 3 times as much. Anything else I need to ask them about in deciding?

Well, I called this pet store where they have the humane society satellite center where we adopted our cat and asked the groomer there what she charges and she said $8. It's a little further away (like 10 minutes) but I don't have to make an appointment. She'll just fit me in when I show up. That sounds like a good deal.

Should I ask her if I can clip a couple nails while I'm there so I can start getting over being chicken to do it?

I've never seen them do the back claws so I haven't a clue the best way to do those.

Yes, I would ask her to show you how it's done and even tell her you'd like to do a couple to see if you're doing it right. It is really easy to do, unless your cat is very hostile about it. I trim my 3 cat's front claws, but I don't do their back ones.

So do you take yours to a groomer just for the back ones? How often do you have to do that? I read that the back ones don't grow as fast as the front and that you don't have to trim them as often.

I don't trim their back claws at all....just the front.

Our local groomer charges $10 Canadian but she gives $5 of that to the local shelter - I have never had them done there though, I clip their claws myself, but she seems really popular so I guess that is a decent rate for a decent groomer - I know she does an amazing job keeping Scully amused while trimming his fur

I've decided to take Frankie to that place that has the humane society satelite center and have the groomer show me how to trim a couple nails and then ask her if she'll let me give it a try on a few front and a few back nails. I'm going to bring the nail clippers that I bought so I can use the clippers that I'll be using in the future. She charges $8 which sounds like a decent rate to me especially if she'll show me how to do it and lets me give it a try while I'm there with her.

We charge $10.00 for a nail trim.

Where I am at - one vet charges $10.00 US dollars and antoher one charges $9.00 dollars to do all the nails or whichever nails they need to do.

We can do one of our cats nails fine but the other two go in to have theirs done.

$5 is really cheap for nail clipping. The rear claws don't get needle sharp like the front claws, so they really don't need trimming (they're more kinda like dog's claws). If you have trouble, or are just chicken, invest in a blind fold, and you can basically do anything you want to your cat

Originally Posted by Lemur 6

$5 is really cheap for nail clipping. The rear claws don't get needle sharp like the front claws, so they really don't need trimming (they're more kinda like dog's claws). If you have trouble, or are just chicken, invest in a blind fold, and you can basically do anything you want to your cat

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A blindfold for me or our cat?

When I told my DH about the groomer that said $5, he told me that he took one of our previous dogs to that groomer once and didn't like the job she did and he said the place was dirty so we don't want to take Frankie to a place that might be dirty enough to have fleas or anything.

My current groomer charges $5 .. but I got quote from others that ranged from 5-15.... the higher being chain stores

The vet I used years ago was a mobile one and he trimmed Chynna's nails (front and back) after giving her a checkup and some medicine for ear mites and worms (she was an abandoned kitty that I took in). The nail trim was no charge. He knelt on the floor and just held her in his lap and did all her nails in about 1 minute, maybe less. I had him come around a few weeks later to check on her again and he cut her nails again and that time showed me where not to cut. It took me a few times to get comfortable cutting them because I was afraid to cut too much so I would just cut the very pointy part off, which really didn't do much at all, LOL

As I got braver I cut more off, and now I only have to trim Chynna's claws about once a month. Tonight I'll be trimming them because I feel a few sharp ones when she's "tapping" me on the leg to demand I pick her up.

Here is a site that has some information including a picture on what a cat's nail looks like and where to cut and where not to.

Always cut the nail sideways in this direction ( | ), not flat ( -- ) like we cut our own, otherwise you will crush the nail and split it instead of cutting it.

http://www.catscratching.com/htmls/article.htm

The clippers I have are like the ones on the far right side at the bottom of that link.

Here is another link that shows details on how to hold the paw and what direction to cut:

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/clientEd/cat_nails.asp

Originally Posted by peeps

A blindfold for me or our cat?

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. You folks have to stop this. I'm sitting here at work trying to look busy and then start laughing helplessly.

So we actually did have to do the blindfold thing. He was not cooperating and the groomer said she didn't think she'd be able to do it with him squirming around like he was so I asked her for a towel and put a towel over his head and then held him down and we were able to get it done.

Originally Posted by peeps

So we actually did have to do the blindfold thing. He was not cooperating and the groomer said she didn't think she'd be able to do it with him squirming around like he was so I asked her for a towel and put a towel over his head and then held him down and we were able to get it done.

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Lol, a groomer couldn't handle a squirming cat? See toldya it'd work. They do have specially made cat blind folds (though I think it's called a "cat muzzle"). Work very well.

Originally Posted by Lemur 6

Lol, a groomer couldn't handle a squirming cat? See toldya it'd work. They do have specially made cat blind folds (though I think it's called a "cat muzzle"). Work very well.

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I know. When she said she didn't think that she'd be able to do it, I was thinking you've gotta be kidding me. It wasn't like he was scratching and biting us, he was just squirming hard. The towel worked pretty good cuz I could craddle the rest of his legs that weren't being trimmed inside the towel and that way he couldn't kick around as much. I'll have to check out the cat blind fold. I wonder how it stays on their head.

I just went online and looked up cat muzzles and are they ever funny looking but if it works, what the heck.

Originally Posted by peeps

So we actually did have to do the blindfold thing. He was not cooperating and the groomer said she didn't think she'd be able to do it with him squirming around like he was so I asked her for a towel and put a towel over his head and then held him down and we were able to get it done.

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Awww! The poor kitty. At least now he has nicely groomed nails

Chynna is 14 and she loves to have her nails trimmed. She practically holds her paws up for me, LOL I trimmed the back ones the other day. That was something quite new for her as I only trim the front ones, but she let me once she realized there were paw massages in it for her, hehe