I accidently hurt my kitten :(

I accidently cut too close on 1 of my kitten's back toe and it bleed a little bit.

Now my kitten will not allow me to cut his nails. He is so scared and I feel horrible. I gave him a little cheese in order for him to start thinking he will get his 'special treat' after I cut his nails, but it's not working at all.

Is this an irreversible mistake? Will he ever allow me to cut his back paw nails again? He is 13 weeks ago and up to the point of accidently cutting too much nail off, he had no behavior problems.

Also, he is now biting when he tries to play with him. His teeth are coming in, so I'm thinking that is the reason why he is biting. Can someone confirm his behavior? He is my 1st pet.

He'll be fine. I'm assuming that he has stopped bleeding. Next time you can touch a styptic pencil to the claw end or pat on corn starch to help staunch the bleeding.

Since he got hurt, you will need to regain his trust, but I'm sure you will be able to do that with treats and playing with his paws. I have found that I was more comfortable with doing the nails more frequently and just taking the tip off.

Act like nothing happened. Cats don't know guilt and his biting obviously hurts you. Give him a little time to let him forget, correct the biting issue like you would with any kitten displaying that behavior (you can simply search this section for "biting" for plenty of tips), and play with his feet. Rub his legs, his toes, and hold his feet gently. This way he knows that you touching them does not mean pain.

Have you tried just not cutting the claws? I never have, and I really haven't had a lot of problems. It might work out okay for you. Just saying this because you mention it's your first pet, and I thought maybe you were imagining all sorts of things that aren't going to happen. See if you can just give it a try and you might be pleasantly surprised!

I have not cut any of my cats' claws ever - and that means decades and lots of cats. I've never used Soft Paws. Until about 10 yrs ago, some had access to backyard trees, but only in summer, and most haven't bothered with a scratching post I've had available. They do dig into the carpet sometimes, but it's not a big deal, and we have had leather sofas (which did not keep one dedicated baby from using it on occasion, but only in one spot). I've not been scratched except on rare occasions when they've been scared by something unexpected, and I wonder if the scratching instinct hasn't been partly relieved by scratching in their clumping litter. No one's claws have grown out of control into extra long or curvy ones. So I don't know if what so many put their cats through every month or however often is really worth it... but I guess you'll tell me :-)!

Originally Posted by Larke

So I don't know if what so many put their cats through every month or however often is really worth it

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I don't put my cats through anything, 2 of them purr while having their nails cut the other 1 just sits there and lets me do it. Start them young and they really don't mind at all.

I've had to disentangle cats from the curtains, carpet, and upholstry and have several scars from just having them run over me when playing, and that's just when I left claw-trimming for too long! I suspect it's different if they have access to the outdoors, or if they are more sedate they are less likely to get caught up in things or accidentally injure you - but with my 2 claw-clipping is an absolute necessity, especially since they wrestle each other a fair bit, don't want any accidental injury to them either!

Originally Posted by Epona

I've had to disentangle cats from the curtains, carpet, and upholstry and have several scars from just having them run over me when playing, and that's just when I left claw-trimming for too long!

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Same here. Jaffa gets his claws stuck in the sofa throw if they get too long and sharp, and he gets a bit distressed when he can't free himself. They also play together roughly so I worry that they will accidentally hurt each other with sharp claws. They dont' scratch me deliberately but Mosi does do lots of somersaults when he's playing with toys like da bird, and he often lands on me. I like his claws to be blunted when that happens!

Yep. we have problems with long claws getting stuck in things when they're not trimmed.
A few pieces of advice, you don't have to stop trimming, get her used to having her paws touched again (without clipping) get her good and purr-y and keep touching her paws and legs while you give treats...soon enough she'll forget and you'll be able to clip.

Sometimes it's easier to clip a sleepy kitty...with a kitten you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a time when she's sleepy...I keep a nail clipper on my coffee table next to the chair I usually sit in. Any kitty that goes to sleep on my lap wakes up with a manicure

You probably only need to trim the front paws anyway. I find that my two (indoor only) have no problem with the back ones, they seem to wear down naturally.

Welcome to TCS!!!

Sorry it happened; but don't feel you are a bad mommy either. I've nipped too close to cat's nails before. They WILL get over it

What I would do is to play with his paws while he's sleepy in your lap. Let him get used to having them touched again when no nail clippers are in your hands. At his age, he's just into a normal biting stage - not cause of the nail accident.

Clip the other feet and leave the one paw alone for a little while (not too long tho). And be firm with nail clipping. Make him sit in your lap and have it done. If you give in to his protests and wiggling, he will get worse.


As far as whether you clip or not. While the others have listed minor problems and why they clip - here's a MAJOR one that happened to me and why I clip nails at 3-4 weeks of age and every week after that!

I had a litter of Russian Blue kittens. As normal kittens playing and wrestling, all was fine. Then one day when they were about 2 months old I heard a terrible scream from one of them. The brothers had been wrestling and I walk in to see blood all over the place. One of them nicked the other in the eye (after rushing to the vet). He was very lucky as the vet, after cleaning up and examining him, said it the scratch was a millimeter closer - he would have lost the sight in that eye!

I'm paranoid that it could happen again. I'm not taking any chances. I've seen how wild some of the wrestling can be. I've never had a cat that I could not cut nails. Most were pretty cooperative if started young. Only had a problem with my turkish angora and it took me 2 days to trim his nails.

I wasn't cutting Seamus's nails and like the previous poster, didn't see the need, until recently. But, being a bratty two year old, he likes to play by jumping on me and smacking me in the face, never with claws out. His nails were getting sharper and longer without a trim, and he caught me in the face. I had to explain for three days that my cat was just playing with me and that was why I had three claw scratches on my cheek, so I grabbed him when he was calm and just went to it. I just trimmed what I could see, didn't go too far down because he wasn't being cooperative. Boy was he mad at me. He got over it in like 20 minutes and I was able to do the other front claw. They forget fast, especially when they know you'll throw them a treat or two when done I just wish I had fought with him and done it when he was littler because he's not easy to fight with at his age and size.

While I have never cut a cat's claws, I did have a dog whose claws I trimmed because they were painful to me when she jumped on me, but as it turned out the cut and unnaturally shaped claws actually hurt more, and got stuck in the rug more. So I never did it again. I've also never seen a cat's claws get 'too long and curvy', but I have dogs'. Cats are usually very good about grooming, pruning, preening and pulling off the old claws as newer ones grow in. Of course once in awhile claws will get stuck in something once in awhile, oh well, so did my little girl's shoe buckles. It happens.

I've seen plenty of "dagger" nails that were far too long on indoor cats. Some nails (especially the thumb ones) can grow so long they will curl back into the pad, creating a problem and possible surgery!

I've never experienced that with cats, dogs, yes. I had a dog whose dewclaw grew into its dangling pad on her back leg.*ouch*

Clipping a cat's nails should be no different than clipping your own nails. Bijou is a very loving cat and loves to knead my face and neck before bedtime - if I didn't clip his claws, I'd look like Edward Scissorhands had attacked me.

I clip the claws of the kitties at the shelter where I volunteer as well - one poor sweet kitty had the soft pad in her cage catching on her claws every time she moved.

Also Bijou got his claws stuck in my hubbies amp and it took both of us to get it out without hurting him. I can't imagine what would have happened if we had not been home at the time. Well, I guess I can - I found 2 bloody claws on his feet one time so assume this is the sort of thing that happened and we weren't there to help.

Someone suggested playing with their paws to get them used to being handled and this has always worked for us. When I need to do Bijou's claws now, I honestly don't even need to hold him. He will lay on the chair, I crouch down, pick up his paw and do his nails without touching anything other than holding the paw.

If anyone has a cat whose claws have never needed clipping - you're either very lucky or your cat has been de-clawed.