What to do about kitten claws?

Ally's claws have finally hit the "sharp as can be" stage of development.

I've noticed in playing with her how much sharper her claws are, as they hook onto my fingers when she tags one of my fingers. Or when she rusn up my stomach at night to come say hello, it's like having a bed of nails placed on me.

It really became obvious just now when I gave her a bath.

At 5 weeks, giving her a bath was difficult because of her squirming and trying to get out. She'd try to climb up my arm and it would hurt a little bit, but wasn't terrible.

Today, at about 10 weeks, while she didn't mean to hurt me, giving her a bath resulted in my arms being covered in bleeding scratch marks. She was just trying to climb up my arms again. Her claws really hook into the skin now.

So, what are my options? I can't just stop interacting with her and stop caring for her. So, obviously, I need to figure out either how to deal with her claws, or make her claws more person friendly.

Ideas?

AT 10 weeks a pair of human clippers will work just fine to trim the nails. If you press on her feet the nails should push out and you can trim the sharp points off of them. by starting now it will make doing them much easier in the future.

Leslie

Trimming them will help

Or there's a neat product out there called Soft Paws. (if you search this site, you'll find a bunch of posts on them) Its a soft plastic cover that you glue onto your kitties nails, making them not sharp at all but kitty can still "scratch" at a scratch post, etc. with them.

Aside from the bath situation, disciplining will help her not use her claws. When Kizzy and I play, if his claws come out I gently take his paws, say a firm NO, and remove him. (if he's playing on my lap). He learned pretty fast

Clip them or use Softpaws if you're uncomfortable with clipping. I would suggest, since she is a kitten still, getting her used to having her paws handled and claws clipped. It is an easy and fast solution. Here is a good resource about clipping claws:

http://www.catscratching.com/htmls/article.htm

Any reason in particular you're needing to bathe a kitten so much?

Cally

Her nails need to be clipped weekly (maybe even 2x a week for the front). I start trimming nails about 4-5 weeks old. For now you can use regular fingernail clippers till she is a few months old. Then get some good cat nail clippers.

I like the scissor kind over the other heavy nail clipper. If you don't know how to clip them, you can take your kitten to the vets and the vet tech should be willing to show you how its done. Or you can read on the net of how to clip them.

Also you might want to put on the SoftPaws nail caps when she is older but you still need to clip them first before putting on the caps.

Originally Posted by CatMom2Wires

Any reason in particular you're needing to bathe a kitten so much?

Cally

Click to expand...

I had the same thought. Cats typically do a great job at keeping themselves clean. I bath my dogs every time they roll in something stinky. I've not had to bath any of my cats in 15 years.