Do I have to clip his nails?

A little history before I ask my question:

My husband and I adopted a brother/sister pair of tabbies about 6 weeks ago. They are 2.5 years old and shy, especially the female. The male is more outgoing, but it was a full month before he would let me pet him and brush him (he still won't let my husband touch him). He loves being brushed and purrs his head off, rolls onto his back, is in his happy place. But he is still tentative with me and will run off if he is startled and hide under the bed. He also won't come and sit with me on the sofa or get into bed with us. The female hides under a bookshelf most of the day, won't allow us to pet her or brush her, doesn't want to be approached unless we have her food.

We got them from a foster home where they had been since they were kittens. They were treated well by their foster mom, but her other cats (large males) definitely ruled the house there and we're thinking the kitties we adopted were somewhat afraid of them, though they were never, to our knowledge, attacked or harmed in any way by the other cats. Their foster mom said that they really didn't like having their nails clipped, especially the male, though she did clip them.

Over the past couple of weeks I've tried a few times to clip the male's claws, but he runs off before I can do it. I've tried bribing him with treats and clipping while he is eating, but he just runs off. I'm afraid if I force the issue, it will damage the tentative bond we have and make him afraid of me. He doesn't do any damage with his claws to us, his sister, or our furniture. Same with the female, no damage. We have a number of sisal scratching posts and cardboard scratchers available for them and have seen both cats, but especially him, using them. She may use them at night when we are sleeping and she feels more free to explore the house.

My question is, how important is it that I clip their nails? Is it uncomfortable to them to have them not be clipped? My previous cats were already declawed (front paws) when I adopted them, so I'm new to the nail clipping situation and I'm sure that isn't helping when it comes to trying to do their nails since I'm not practiced in how to do it and so can't do it quickly.

Thanks for reading this long post and for your help!

No, it's not necessary for most cats. If he's not causing any damage you don't need to clip his claws; they aren't like dogs who usually need nail trims to keep them short. Cats have self-maintaining claws .

Disclaimer: Some cats, especially older cats, will let their claws get overgrown. So you do need to check now and then. But most cats do a good job of keeping their claws in fine shape.

I have not seen this, but I have read that nails can sometimes grow long enough to get caught in the paw, which leads to a painful condition requiring vet intervention.  I also had a kitten get a claw that had grown too long stuck in furniture, causing him to panic and scream until I was able to get the claw free.

Also your furniture and body will thank you, if you keep your cats claws clipped.

Thanks for the advice. My biggest concern in clipping his nails is that our bond still is kind of fragile and I don't want to scare him. I've tried giving him Rescue Remedy and calming treats, but they seem to just result in him hiding under the bed and sleeping, so I can't reach him to clip his nails. I guess for now I will just keep an eye on his paws and make sure the nails aren't curling. He doesn't mind me touching his paws when I brush him but runs from the clippers.

Did you clip into the quick by accident?  Or maybe he doesn't like your trying to clip his claws while he's sleeping?  You never want to do that unless you're sure he is deeply asleep and won't wake up.

There are other posts on this, but basically you can get him used to claw clipping gradually.  Start with paw touching and proceed gradually to pressing on the paw pad to extend the nail.  Let him see the clippers without trying to do any clipping; let him sniff & bunt them, and give him a treat to make a positive association.  Then try clipping ONE claw, and give a treat immediately afterwards.  Don't fight him at any stage; you don't have to clip all nails at one sitting.

I didn't clip the quick, because I've never been able to clip his nails in the 7 weeks he has been with us. He is fine with paw touching and even pressing on the pad---I do this when I brush him. I've also done what you said with the clippers, shown them and given a treat, let him sniff and given a treat. Once the clippers are in my hand and I reach for a paw, he runs off. I guess I just need to proceed more slowly with him maybe, just get to where he is ok with the clippers touching his paw, ok with the clippers touching his paw while I hold it, etc. and eventually work up to clipping one nail. I'm not a very patient person by nature, so looks like I will have to learn some patience with him.

Wow, now I feel so mean with how I clip the kitties' nails lol.

The first time I clipped the kittens' nails, they FREAKED. I finally picked up Oliver (he was the worse of the two) and told him this was going to happen so he might as well get used to the idea and deal with it! He just looked at me, and we continued the clipping with him struggling and afterwards, him bolting. They still hate it, they still scream as if I'm murdering them (no, not hitting the quick, they just hate it that much). But no bond being broken. Oliver freaked out more over me trying to look at his ear the other day - now that resulted in him running away every time he saw me for about a week. But we're friends again, for the moment, lol.

If the cats aren't damaging anything, it's not necessary to clip their claws. If they get too long, the claws will splinter off in the scratching posts. This is what happens in the wild when cats scratch trees. Don't worry about it. I clip Mingo's front claws because he plays rough sometimes and scratches me. I never clip his hind claws, and I've noticed that he himself will chew those down if they get too long in his opinion.

Oliver likes to "make muffins" on me at night, and those little claws are quite sharp! So those babies get trimmed for sure. Oscar likes to try and shred my fleece blanket. For some reason he's out to get it! haha. 

I agree, as long as you keep an eye on them to make sure their nails don't grow too long and curl under, I don't think nail trimming is something you really need to pursue at the moment. Maybe in the future when your relationship is much stronger you can try again, but for now I think keeping interactions as positive as possible is a good strategy.

You dont really need to clip their claws unless theres a reason to... such as tearing into things they dont mean to be, or claws getting stuck on bed sheets. 

We normally do it before vet visits or before going away on a trip... so if they get into a scuffle their claws wont be that sharp.

anyways if they NEED it or not I think it's a good idea to start them out on the idea that clipping isnt bad.

I am very lucky that my cast mostly dont mind me clipping, but before I tried I watched a lot of videos and here are some tips I remember.

1.. try clipping when the cat is asleep.  let them hear your voice so they know your there and then gently move into work. (half asleep is the only way I can clip my cats)

2.  Start by gently rubbing the cats paws till he's comfortable with you touching them.  Then try gentle pressing the the paws "fingers" one at a time so the cat gets use to the feeling of his claw coming out when you want it to. Do this every few days till they seem alright when you touching and manipulating the paws and are ready for a clipper.

3. It's ok to not get all the nails at once.  If you only get through 5 and the cat is obviously not into it anymore stop and let the clipping end on a good note.  Try again the next day.

4. give treats after as a reward.  Remember if they think good things will happen they will be less likely to freak out.  If it becomes a fight everytime the cat will keep thinking its a horrible experience and doesnt want it.

Hope this helps.