Best "soft claws"

[dkperez]

Our small, 8-year-old, female, indoor-only cat has claws.  She's quite good and rarely scratches anything she shouldn't.  Not perfect but pretty good.  I keep her claws trimmed and that works pretty well.

I recently decided to the try soft claws covers since she does sometimes get a little goofy and scratch things we'd prefer she not.  Since she's very small - just under 5 pounds (yes, at the most recent vet visit last month she was a bit less than 5 pounds) I bought the SMALL size from Drs. Foster & Smith, and with my wife's help, installed them on her front feet.  They seem to be working fine, and after 3 days, she hasn't pulled any off, and doesn't seem to be bothered at all. 

BUT, we got them on the 4 front claws of each foot, but the claw at the back (side) of each foot SEEMS to be larger - although since they've been trimmed they were pretty short.  We couldn't get the covers on those two claws.  And we didn't want to push hard or do anything that would frighten her since she was being so good about letting us mess with her feet.

I haven't tried the MEDIUM size, but with such a small cat, I'd think they'd be WAY too big, so my thinking is to wait a week for the other two claws to grow out a bit, then apply the other two soft claws...

Does anyone who's used these things have any advice on how long the claws should be when we install them?  I normally leave a pretty large distance to the quick, but these last 2 claws seem just a bit too thick...  Thoughts?

 

[Willowy]

I've found that it's not necessary to put Soft Claws on their "thumbs". They rarely scratch anything with those claws---they're mostly for grabbing/holding things. If you keep them short I don't think you'll have any problems.

 

[dkperez]

Cool...  So far, she seems fine with them.  Doesn't appear to be chewing them or fighting them.  We'll see how it goes, but so far it's been working pretty well.

 

[dkperez]

Been continuing with the soft claws...  Skye doesn't seem to mind them.  She does shed the covers, but they almost always have the claw inside - the sheath?  AND she can happily drag her claws across things, when she has the uncontrollable urge and not cause problems.......

UNFORTUNATELY, the things are a big pain in the neck... 

First, I tried the small sized ones 'cause she's such a small cat - 5 pounds.  And they SEEM to work OK IF the claws are long and sharp.  If I've trimmed the claws at all, the blunt ends will NOT go in the small size.  I've tried squishing them so they're not so flat, but that doesn't seem to help.  SO, I got some of the MEDIUM ones.  They're a LOT bigger than her claws, but when the claw has been trimmed even a little bit at least the medium ones will fit on the claw. 

The BIGGER problem is the glue.  A kit comes with 3 or 4 applicators - NOT the glue itself, the pointed tips that go ON the glue.  Which means you have to be able to reuse the things repeatedly if your cat is like Skye and sheds the claws one at a time...  They CLOG.  A LOT...  As in EVERY TIME THEY'RE USED.  I've taken them off the glue and stood them upright.  I've blown AIR through them so there's (in theory) NOTHING left in the nozzle.  I've cleaned them with a safety pin.  They CLOG.  Every time I have to replace a claw, I have to take a push pin and mess with the nozzle /til I can push it through the hardened glue, THEN take a long safety pin and either push through the glue or the plug and get it cleared so I can put glue in the claw...

Nine times out of ten, by the time I'm done messing with all that, Skye has gotten tired of being bothered and jumps off my lap and the process repeats the next time she climbs up on me........

Eventually, I usually get things working well enough to replace the cover on whichever claw I have to, although she sometimes gets wiggly and I fail to get the cover on, by which time she's annoyed that I"m messing with her paw and she jumps down.....

SO, they WORK but applying them is a MAJOR PITA.........

Anybody got any ideas for keeping the glue nozzles from getting constantly clogged and gunked up with glue?