Claw clipping: Necessary?

Niko is a very gentle cat- he never scratched anyone, doesn't destroy anything, only scratches the things he's supposed to, and when he's with a person, he never digs his claws in... even when I'm trying to pry him off my chest after an hour of scritching and a full mammogram (he's a total moosh).

If he doesn't do anything destructive/painful with his claws, do I have to trim them?

He doesn't struggle a whole lot and usually lets me do it without a fight (at least the front paws, the hind paws are a different story), so it's not an issue of being unable to, I just don't know if it's better to trim them or let them be. Any medical reasons I should keep clipping 'em? It'd save both of us a li'l bit of stress if I didn't have to.

If he's an indoor cat he won't wear them down like an outdoor cat would (climbing trees and walking on hard surfaces) so the claws usually need clipping to stop them catching on things (and hurting each other when playing if you have more than one cat). As they get older the claws tend to grow quickly and can can grow into the paw pads if not clipped, so it's a good idea to get them used to regular clipping when they're younger.

Wow, I just asked the same thing You might check out the replies to my thread for more information.

Mez

When I was doing my volunteer stint at the local humane society the other night, one of the poor kitties claws kept getting caught in the soft blanket on the bottom of the cage. I took him out and clipped his claws. I know our Bijou got his claws caught in my hubby's amplifier and needed our help to get them unstuck so my feeling is that it's safer for your kitty to have the claws trimmed. I'm not at home during the day and if Bijou or Mika got their claws caught in something they would either have to rip them out or wait until we got home and I'm guessing they wouldn't be patient enough to wait for us and I don't like the alternative. So, IMO, it's really a matter of safety for the cat.

I would just keep an eye on his claws to see if there are wearing down at all. Sometimes with the right scratching toys they can keep their claws decently short. You just have to keep in mind that, just like dogs, if their claws get too long they can cause health problems.

I really wouldn't worry much, just check his claws once a month.

I would continue to cut the front paws and just keep an eye on the rear claws. We sometimes do the rear paws but not very often.