Help Clipping Claws!

We have two cats: 4 year old Tak and a 5 month old Pixel. We've clipped Tak's claws since we adopted her as a kitten. It kept her from accidentally scratching us, and from ruining our carpet or furniture. Now that we've adopted Pixel, we wanted to ensure that they won't be injuring each other when they play!

Tak is very tolerant when we clip her claws because she's familiar with it. Pixel, however, behaves like we are attempting to kill her! She screams and cries and tries to bite us. Tak was never this excitable, even when we first started clipping her claws. Also, Pixel is VERY calm and cuddly for a kitten, so this demon side of her is that much more strange!

The whole experience ends up taking 2 people and Pixel is pretty frazzled by the end of it. Does anyone have suggestions on how to make this less traumatizing for all of us?

Thanks!

Try wrapping her in a towel. YOU decide when to stop the clipping. Maybe do one or two feet a nite and the rest on the following nite.

Keep it routine - check and clip as needed a minimum of weekly. Do not do it this week and then 2 weeks later do it again. You have to establish routine.

Also in non-clipping times, as she's on your lap, play with her feet and toes so she knows that its ok to handle her feet. She might have had a bad experience as a younger kittens with clipping nails.

Ling was done since 5 weeks old and still has to mouth off and complain and give me a hard time when clipping. Charlie on the other hand purrs when he gets his nails done

I agree with the above. I routinely check the nails of sugar and spice, and touch and play with their toes. Spice does not have a problem with me clipping them, sugar does not like it and I have to do a couple of toes at a time, so it drags out the process a bit. But establish a routine, and stick to it. I try to touch their toes every day do they are used to it, and I look at their nails a couple of times a week, mainly to get them used to that as well till it is time to trim. best of luck.

When I got my two kittens at approx 4 months, I would play with their paws to build trust. Then I introduced the clipper by letting them sniff at it and trim only a couple of their nails at a time. Now they are perfectly fine with me trimming their nails. You can always trim Pixel's nails while he is asleep or barely awake. This way, you probably won't have to fight with him as much.

I've done Radar's regularly since he was about 4 months old - ideally I'd have started earlier but I didn't think of it until his claws were going through my jeans when he was climbing the 'leg-trees', as I'd never had a cat before.

He isn't keen and wriggles a bit, but he's too much of a gentle creature to claw or bite. I have Nate hold him firmly while I clip, he usually holds him in a 'sitting up' position on his lap. We do all 4 paws at once and he doesn't get to go and do his own thing until we've decided that we've finished with him. he also has a treat afterwards, I leave it in sight while we're holding him.

He is used to us not giving up when he has to be handled for any reason (grooming or medication), and knows that making a fuss will not shorten the experience for him, so when he realises that we mean to finish what we've started he gives up and stops fussing about it. He is a confident and gentle cat though, I would probably use a towel and only do a paw at a time if dealing with a cat that was fearful or likely to fight.