innocent kitty claws in your leg

I love my cat, and when he sits and lays down on my lap it is so awesome, but I hate when he kneads my bare legs with his claws, it hurts!! Now I know hes probably having a great time and enjoying himslef, but I can't stand claws poking into my skin. What's the best way you peopel handle this problem? He is not young, so training him might not be too easy. Any advice anybody? I tell him no nicely and push back on his exposed claws, but I don't think that does too much.

With so many cats, I have various methods that I use on different ones depending on their age and temperment:

1) Put a towel or blanket or t-shirt on your lap when he sits in it - when he reaches out to kneed you, make sure the towel is between him and you.
2) Put your hand under their kneeding paw and let them kneed your hand.
3) Hold their paw in your hand and don't let them kneed.
4) Shift them in a different position so that they are not on the bare skin.
5) Kick them off your lap if they don't allow any of the above.

Most of my cats do not like to sit on bare skin. Since I accustom them to sitting on cloth, they typically avoid the skin after a while.

Trim his claws on a regular basis. It won't hurt as much.

I have an old towel that I keep next to where I sit. Whenever the cat joins me I simply put the towel over my legs. She can knead to her heart's content with no pain to me!

I've never used them, but would someone who has know if soft claws would help?

Originally posted by yayi
Trim his claws on a regular basis. It won't hurt as much.

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Thanks everyone for the advice, I will probbaly end up trying them all until somethign works. But yayi how exactly do you trim a cat's claws? Is it uncomfortable to them? and is it hard to do?

Click here to read a thread on how to trim their claws. Good Luck!

Suzy...Soft Paws would work as well.

ok i tried trimming his claws and he was nice and cool with it for the most of it, until i got to the last 2. i made sure like i read in the thread not to cut down too far at all, but this time he stood up abruptly and jumped off the bed onto the floor. He didn't cry or anythign so I couldn't tell if i hurt him or just made him uncomfortable. I waited a little while, and went for it again and made absolutely sure to snip off only the tip, maybe 2 millimeters deep. Again he did the same thing, and now the sight of clippers scares him a bit. What could I do? And what did I do wrong?

aww and now the poor thing hes scratching on weird stuff like my bookbag, i hope hes comfortable with his claws like that.