kitten using claws

My little kitty is about 5 months old. She still uses her claws whenever she jumps up on my lap. Sometimes she starts to fall, and it can be very painful. Any suggestions on how to stop her from using the claws. My legs are very scratched at this point!

She also uses her claws during play, and I will tap her paw and say no, but I am not sure it is working. My other cat stopped using here claws at this age, or a little older, should I just be patient?

I definitely will not declaw either one. I can't stand how misrepresented that surgery is! Some vets act like it's no big deal, when it really is.

Hi Bren, I moved your post to the right forum, so you'll get more answers

My kitty does the same.

I try to keep him feeling safe when she is sitting on me, so he doesn't hang on with those claws.

And I tell him 'gentle' when he plays rough, and try not to get my hands close to toys when we are playing.

Mostly, I'm just waiting for him to grow out of it! He's not mean or trying to hurt me, just doesn't realize. I've tried to make him smell the blood when he scratches me badly, hoping he would recognize the smell and understand, but no such luck.

I've read that the best way to deal with this is how the cat's littermates would deal with it -- which is squeal and stop playing with the offending scratcher. So the minute the claws come out, gently put the cat down and walk away and ignore for several minutes. Only play or give attention when the claws stay in.

Cat's don't respond very well to punishment. So best not to make a big deal.

I keep my kitties claws trimmed. I do them about once every 2 or 3 weeks so they are blunt on the end. That way even if they do dig in, its not painful at all. I also think if you make a loud noise when they hurt you, that does help. I did that with mine, and they hardly ever even try to claw or bite me anymore. They figured it out that it hurts and now they are much gentler.

There is a thread around here in Care and Grooming about nail trimming, I think it has some good ideas. Maybe give it a try, especially if you start them young you'll have much more success.

Maui, You're right about the stopping play. If Molly tried to jump on my lap using her claws, I wouldn't let her get on me. The last few times she has tried, no claws. I'm not big on punishment, it's punishing a baby, which is senseless. I think she'll eventually grow out of this, I just never had a cat so young before.

A friend of mine has a couple of four month old kittens and one of them is very energetic, climbing everything in the apartment and just causing general havoc, so last night we trimmed his nails and put some Soft paws on his front claws. I was there for about three hours after we put them on and thus far it's been a total success. They stayed on fine, he ignored the fact that he was wearing them, and no furniture or people were getting scratched up.