clipping or softpaws to help kneading/scratching?

I can't believe I've had cats for 25 years and never considered clipping their nails. The vet never encouraged it and it just didn't seem necessary.

Now I'm wondering if clipping might help a couple of issues here. And if not clipping, then maybe the Soft-paws treatment I've read about here.

1... My lovable baby girl cat kneads on my shoulder all night long. I have to wear an old denim jacket to sleep in every night and you should see it! I mean, it is hideous. My poor husband. If I didn't, my shoulder would look like hamburger meat. Would clipping or soft-paws help this?

2... We will be moving this year to an open floor-plan house. That means I can't seal off the great room and protect our upholstered furniture from our scratch-crazy kitties. They have their own scratching post they like... but when they sneak into the off-limits LR/DR area on occasion, that's what they do. What's worse is we have some antique chairs with woven seagrass seats. I might as well douse them in catnip. Might the clipping/soft-paws help save our stuff?

Clipping the claws should help. I clip mine every few weeks. If you're not sure how to do it get your vet or a groomer to show you the first time - it's not hard to do with practice. If you want to use soft paws you'll need to trim the claws first, I believe, so I'd try the claw trimming first to see what difference it makes before considering soft paws.

I believe that I too would try clipping the nails first. Charlotte likes to use my leg as scrathing post so regular clipping helps to save my skin.

You should try clipping the nails first, and see how that goes. When I clipped my cats nails, they were still sharp enough to scratch me. I use softpaws now, which work amazingly. They are a bit expensive, at around $23 for a pack of 40 a two tubes of glue... but I guess it's not too bad since you'd have to buy them about every four months. Also, depending on your cat, you might have trouble getting them on. My cat is a craaazy cat, always jumping around, always here and there... so definitely try to do it when your cat is calm, mellow, and even tired. My first time took maybe 30 minutes... but this last time only took 10 minutes. Good luck.

If your unsure how to clip your cats claws, you can ask your vet to show you, or there are some websites with directions.
http://www.catscratching.com/htmls/article.htm

I'm pretty sure with soft claws you have to clip the nails before applying them, so you'll need to clip either way.

I have a cat who loves to climb up on people's chests and also likes to knead, so clipping is must here! When her claws are properly clipped it helps A LOT and it is no longer painful when she kneads. She's not a big scratcher but when she does scratch I can't find any noticeable marks on the carpet/furniture either so I guess it's working for that too...
I clip my cat's nails at least once a week, and I make sure to clip them very short and keep them short. Actually what I do is have a clipper next to the chair I usually sit in, and when she jumps up on my lap if I feel any sharp claws when she kneads me, I clip that claw. That way it's a lot less traumatic than if I was clipping all her claws at once, plus it keeps them all nice and short/dull.

I clip Ripley's nails...my other two are declawed, unfortunately (not done by me). I've been trimming her claws since she was a wee little kitten, and it helps tremendously, and she's comfortable with me doing it.

Now, if you have older cats that aren't accustomed to having their nails clipped (or wearing Softpaws, for that matter), the first few times will be a challenge. I would begin by playing with your cat's paws, and massaging their feet gently, to get them used to you messing with their paws. Then, when you feel confident that you can trim your cat's nails, I would suggest wrapping kitty up snuggly in a towel, with just the front two feet free, and her head, of course. This will prevent her from backing out of your grasp while trying to do her nails. I use regular fingernail clippers, but you can use cat nail clippers too, whatever you're comfortable with. Be careful to just trim the tips, as you don't want to cut into the quick.

Good luck!

Our cats are tearing up things in the garage with their claws (the top of my Dad's tool chest, our stair railing, our door molding, etc.), so we're ordering them from Petco. Here is a link:

http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.as...familyID=9556&

They have on sale for $14.97 with 40 caps and glue.