Claw clipping

Hello, I am a real newbie (my family have owned cats all my life but I only got my own kittens three weeks ago) so forgive me if this is a completely stupid question. I have two little boys -brothers - about twelve weeks old, who seem to have aspirations to take up a career in wrestling. I'm worried about them hurting each other with the constant jostling so i was wondering if someone could tell me how I go about clipping their claws? One of them is very comfortable in his position as ruler of the world and so takes a pretty relaxed approach to anything and everything but the other one HATES anything new. Wiping him with a warm, damp face cloth is akin to torture for him so I dread to think what he'll be like when I come at him with a pair of scissors.

Congrats on the new babies!
Basically, cats can be pretty pathetic, haha... as long as you're not hurting the cat (which you'd know), the protesting cries aren't a big deal, haha... my suggestion would be to get these kitties used to going through any procedures you plan to do regularly with them (ie: nail clipping, bathing, car rides) now instead of trying to get them into it once they're grown.... they may protest now and possibly continually, but they will be used to it and you'll have less of a chance of them being violent as adults when you try to do these things (I remember a pic of one member's husband's scratched arms after attempting a nail clip)...

I know your kitties are little, but you've basically gotta be safely forcefull - ie: let them know who's boss - don't let them get out of clippings just cuz of some wiggling and pathetic cries.... depending on the way I'm sitting, I'll either hold Oliver baby style or put him flat on the floor and kinda "sit" on top of him to clip his nails.... he's usually cooperative, unless he's got his mind set on eating, playing, pooing, etc - then he's fussy, but never violent

You can also wrap your kitty in a towel to help control the wiggles while you're trimming nails... you can also try sneeking up nicely during a cat nap and try to clip before he even knows what's going on!

Thanks for that...if I grab their paw, and they stick their claws out, how much is a safe amount to take off?

Here's a couple of websites with photos.

http://www.catscratching.com/htmls/article.htm
http://www.caws.org/catclaws.html

The routine I go with Ziltoid and Capt. Spectacular is bath and then clipping. Usually they're too tired after the bath to struggle too much with me.

You want to only take off the very tip. The website above is a good guide.

I guess I'm lucky. The boys don't meow whenever I bathe and clip them. They just struggle like little worms.

Might need two people - one to hold the kitten, one to clip the sharp tips off. I start clipping nails at 3 weeks old. At first they are left on their tummys and just the sharp tip is nipped off with fingernail clippers. As they get older, they are trained to lay more on their backs and get them cut.

With kittens I sometimes had to clip nails twice a week they grew so fast.

The websites have great explainations... as long as you don't cut into the quick (pink part) you're safe... it's a good idea to have some styptic on hand just in case someone wiggles at the wrong time and you get a little bleeding - you can find it near the nail clippers in the pet store

Firstly, congratulations on your new "family". Sounds like you're in for a wonderful time.

As someone mentioned above, getting them used to certain things when they are young helps a lot.

From the time Bijou and Mika were babies, we would touch their paws and caress their paws so that they got used to having them handled. Now we just use human nail clippers, sit behind them with their backs against our tummies and clip. They still don't like it, but they tolerate it very well and sometimes we give them a treat for being so good about it. We do this about every 10 days or so.

I know that this thread is about nail clippings...but I had a question about "nail BLEEDING". The last time I had to put my cat in her carrier, she clawed so hard at the cage, she made her nails bleed! I was so worried and now the dry blood is picking up dust. I tried to clean her paws with water but she won't stand for it for too long. Do I need to use alcohol or some sort of disinfectant in case something got in there?

Originally Posted by Puma

I know that this thread is about nail clippings...but I had a question about "nail BLEEDING". The last time I had to put my cat in her carrier, she clawed so hard at the cage, she made her nails bleed! I was so worried and now the dry blood is picking up dust. I tried to clean her paws with water but she won't stand for it for too long. Do I need to use alcohol or some sort of disinfectant in case something got in there?

Click to expand...

I definitely would not use alcohol as it can be quite painful. If someone else with more experience gives it a green flag, then I would say hydrogen peroxide as it is painless. The only thing I would worry about with any kitty is the licking of paws. I would imagine alcohol and hydrogen peroxide are not good to be digested.

Don't use scissors! If your going to clip them yourself go spend $5 to buy pet nail clippers. This will keep them from splitting when you cut them and they are also much easier to control than scissors. My suggestions, if you've never clipped and animals nails before, is to take them to a groomer or vet the first time and ask them to show you how.

As for nail bleeding I wouldn't use anything more than a warm wet paper towel. Alcohol will hurt and peroxide will actually eat away the good and the bad stuff. You'll have to be a little firm with her if she's not keen on it but you really should get the blood off so you can see if there's any more serious injury.

On tiny kitten nails, fingernail clippers work best. Even the scissors type is a bit too big for the first few months.

Most of my cats are really good about letting me clip their nails. As soon as I get a new kitty, I get them used to it right away. And with my foster kittens, I start using human baby nail clippers on them when they're very young so that by the time they're ready for their new homes, nail clipping is no big deal to them. But with my more "difficult" cats, John has to help me. I have him gently scruff the cat, which always calms them immediately. He just sits with them and talks to them while I get the nails done quickly.

Can I ask is there any health benefit to the cat by clipping their claws? Or is it just to save the furniture? I'm only asking as my kitty has long claws that he likes to use! He has a scratching post which has helped with the furniture issue. We never clipped the cats we had when I was growing up, and it wouldn't have been something I would ever have thought of doing before I read some of the threads here.

Originally Posted by Catnip

Can I ask is there any health benefit to the cat by clipping their claws? Or is it just to save the furniture? I'm only asking as my kitty has long claws that he likes to use! He has a scratching post which has helped with the furniture issue. We never clipped the cats we had when I was growing up, and it wouldn't have been something I would ever have thought of doing before I read some of the threads here.

Click to expand...

You really should clip regularly.... especially with an indoor only cat. Potentially, nails can grow so long that they start to curl back under the foot and imbed in the paw pad - then you've got a real situation on your hands (or paws, however you look at it, haha)... I don't support outdoor kitties, but they get a little bit of a filing when they walk on concrete and stone, so that helps if your kitty does go outside, but you should probably still clip too

Thanks for that Buzby. At the moment he's indoor only as he's young but I'm hoping to have him both indoor and outdoor eventually. I'll get myself some clippers then!

Personally I don't know how you can stand being "needled" or scratched by a cat that you don't clip nails.

Even kittens are sharp I had a bad experience with kittens where one almost was blinded by a littermate in wrestling because the nails were not cut. After that, I'm paranoid so they get clipped from age 3 weeks on!

I only clip when I'm reminded that I need to. Wickett scratche very well and keeps his own nails nicely manicured so he only gets clipped if I get poked or if I need to groom his back side. He' very good about playing "softly" with Frankie too.

I feel your pain sweetheart! My youngest practically needs tranquilized for her claws to be clipped lol and she's been groomed since she was 10 wks,now 2 1/2 years. There's a few different things you can to, Its good if they are wrestling to, they can get pretty rough especially over dominance issues. There's ablot of issue with getting cats declawed, so I say why do it if you don't have to. Have you ever heard of soft claws? They are basically soft rubber tips you glue onto their claws and last about 9 weeks,also saves furniture and your hands for further grooming. Again one of those things that can be found at petco,petsmart,etc. Usually the groomers will put them on for you for less than $10. But passing that aside for cutting there nails, let them sniff it 1st. I use guillotine style clippers in an extra small size to get a quicker cut and they don't shatter claws as easily as other ones. And to actually get to be able to cut them you may need some help to hold the kitten. I usually wrap mine in a towel and only hold out 1 paw at a time and have my husband scruff her neck ( as weird as they look it never hurts it actually releases "happy hormones") and she still tries to struggle, when she gets to rowdy we give her a water break and a little time to herself and carry on, they also make "cat bags" that wrap around your cat for such purposes and basically velcro's around them to keep them in a sitting position and has various spots that unzip around the paws and such, also at the salon we use harnesses a.) to keep them in 1 spot and 2.) to keep all our hands in tact. If none of that works maybe some natural feline calming tabs for pure grooming purposes. Best Wishes to you hun, hope everything works out.

Originally Posted by Catnip

Can I ask is there any health benefit to the cat by clipping their claws? Or is it just to save the furniture? I'm only asking as my kitty has long claws that he likes to use! He has a scratching post which has helped with the furniture issue. We never clipped the cats we had when I was growing up, and it wouldn't have been something I would ever have thought of doing before I read some of the threads here.

Click to expand...

Yes other than to save furniture like dogs they can grow pretty long causing the cat to walk on its heels or side of the foot, also can cause in grown nails or in rare occasions causing them the grow back up into the foot which is obviously painful. Regardless long claws also makes it harder to retract them, and usually with carpeted floors they tend to stick to it. ( My youngest Kitters claws grow pretty quick be always notice when we can hear her walk into the room with a little "scratch scratch scratch" with every step. sometimes she can get completely stuck until we come on hook her)