how to trim nails in less than ideal situation...

jmaroy247

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hello again- this is just my second post- thanks for your advice so far
my situation is that my cat that we have had for 4 years attacked us four days ago...vet has identified problem as displaced aggression (she heard a noise that scared her and went REALLY berserk- quite a severe attack)
so we have separated her from us and another cat, and very patiently and slowly started visiting her- for the last 2 days she has been completely normal with us- sitting on our lap, purring, no hissing at all

here is our problem- she is still separated from our other cat, and we are reintroducing them slowly- she has shown no aggression to her at all when she sees/smells her, but I am afraid because the day after the attack she seemed totally fine, so we let her out and after 2 hours she heard a noise and freaked out again and attacked us and our other cat. I am worried that no matter how normal she seems right now, she may get scared again and attack if we let her out.
so before we let her out we have to make sure she can't do all that damage again, and at the minimum cut her nails, and hopefully apply soft paws. she never liked getting her nails cut, and because she scratches her scratching post every single day, we didn't trim her nails- just when she goes to vet. so she is not used to it, and the last thing i want to do is cause her more stress. so i guess my question is would it be best for me to try to trim them, for me to bring her to vet's or for me to try to get someone to come in to trim them for her?
right now she feels safe in her room and I don't want to change that, but i also don't want to scare her even more by taking her to the vet's... I already have feliway in her room, and i just started giving her rescue remedy- so we are doing all we can to reduce her stress, but i was just looking for some advice...thanks a bunch
 

tuxedokitties

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I would try to trim them at home yourself, but make it a slow process - just do a single nail, and try to make it a positive experience with pets or treats or something she likes. Then try another nail much later in the day, or the next day, and so on, to avoid stressing her.

Trying to put soft paws on her when she's so stressed is probably not a good idea just yet - they're great, but it does require a lot of paw handling, and trimming is probably enough to prevent harm from her claws for now.

Poor kitty- I'm glad you're taking your time and trying to help her adjust.
 
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jmaroy247

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thank you- that is very helpful advice. it's confusing to know what to do in this kind of situation,
I really appreciate it. I'll start with one toe, and lots of treats and see how it goes....
 

abigail

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I trim my kittens paws when she is really calm and sleepy, she barely notices, I have made a habit of always petting her paws when she is comfy and pressing her paws. She loves to make "biscuits" (kneading) so its taking advantage of her natural tendency to press her paws open when she snuggles. Maybe that would startle some cats and they'd be worse off but Abi tolerates it best then. So I trim them once a week or more.
 
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