Never trimming your cat's claws is like never cutting your fingernails. You don't want your cat to end up like that freakish man from India whose fingernails are curling talons of horror do you? Come to think of it, even HE cut his nails in 2018. So grab some trimmers - we're going to cut some cat claws.
Meet Ernie. The subject of today's medical lesson. Ernie is a 100% purebred stray cat. A genuine feral, tortoiseshell, mutt, polydactyl cat. She's very rare.
I've owned many ( many = 3) cats and never declawed any of them. I've come close, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I try not to judge anyone who has their cats declawed, because I know how utterly infuriating it is to buy a piece of furniture that cost 3 weeks pay only to have a cat look you in the eye as it tears massive hunks out of it. Repeatedly.
Happy with its handiwork the cat usually strolls away with a wiggle in its walk, tail straight up in the air, presenting you with its anus.
I found Ernie on our front porch a few winters ago, curled up on my wicker furniture, covered in a dusting of snow. She was gone by the morning but came back every night. After months of taming, cajoling and calming I finally got that little cat into my house, only to discover she's a polydactyl. That'd be a cat with an unusual amount of toes. Many toes. A LOT of toes. Which of course means ... a lot of claws. Go ahead. Go back to the picture above and take a look at how big her paws are. That cat could take out a pot bellied pig with one swipe.
I knew for my furniture to have any hope in hell of making it, I had to start trimming her nails immediately. I was a bit worried that as a formerly wild cat she wasn't going to go down without a fight, but by the time she came to live in the house she was so happy to have a warm place to live and lots of food, she'd pretty much let me do anything to her.
So now every few weeks I wrangle her and trim their claws. I did the same with Cleo until she died. And this is how you do it ...
How to Trim Cat Claws
- Buy some cat claw trimmers at your local pet store. You can also get them on Amazon if you prefer not to venture out into the real world.
2. Holding your cat firmly in your lap, take one of its paws and push down on their knuckle with your thumb. This will make the claw extend out.
Take a good look at the claw. You'll see a dark portion in the nail. That's tissue. The quick. And you DON'T want to knick it, so be aware of where it is. If you do cut into the quick it will hurt the cat and bleed a little. It's not the end of the world, but it's not nice either.
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3. While still pushing down on their knuckle to extend the claw, line your trimmers up to just before the tip of the vein and clip. You're just taking the sharp curved end off the claw.
The younger the cat is when you start doing this the easier it will be.
For first timers.
If you've never trimmed your cat's claws before, get your cat used to you handling their paws before you actually trim them. Just sit them in your lap and hold their paws for a little bit. The next day do the same thing but squeeze the paw so their nails pop out so they get used to that. Once the cat is comfortable with you handling their paws you can try trimming.
Just take the tip off the first time you trim your cat's claws. The more you trim a cat's claws the more their quick will recede. So you'll be able to trim their claws shorter and shorter as time goes by.
All of the cats I've owned have been fine with trimming their front claws. The odd time their back nails get to be so long and sharp you have to trim them, but not as often. These are a tad more difficult to negotiate, but it can be done.
To start trim your cats claws every 2 weeks or so. This will be enough to prompt the quick to recede and keep your furniture intact.
If you are bound and determined to grow your fingernails until they resemble a corkscrew tree, that's your business. Just don't let force the same sideshow fate on your cat.
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caroline
my 6 pound feral antichrist aka clee clee will only submit if i kneel down behind her and gently wedge her little body between my knees. then it's lots of treats followed by a swat and parting hiss spit. now off to get some of that tape for my swiss cheese furniture.
Karen
What is it about polydactyls just showing up at homes? We too, have a polydactyl male who just showed up meowing at our doorstep with his baseball mitt paws. Do the other farm cats send them packing?
Nikki Kelly
We have 2 kitties (Tubbs and Barbara) that have destroyed these fake leather benches we have in the dining room, but they've never touched our real leather couch. Anyway, we buy those cardboard scratchy things for them and as long as we don't let them get too mangled and gross they leave the still to be replaces benches alone.
Nikki @ the ambitious procrastinator
Shannon
Good post, I'll need to start doing this myself soon, as my formerly indoor/outdoor kitty is now an indoor kitty.
Your Ernie is beautiful! She looks a lot like my kitty, but with more fur (and toes LOL.) This is Georgette, aka "George"...also a female feline with a boy's name :)
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ev
Thanks for yet another useful and entertaining bit of info! We have two wonderful outdoor cats (alas-too many of us are allergic here). So I have never clipped feline nails, but have given liquid meds and pills! What fun. We love our animal friends a bunch!
Lesley
Can we trade cats??? The first time I tried to trim Evil Pye's talons she slashed my upper eyelid. Once the swelling had gone down and I could see again I gave it another try. This time she sank her teeth into my hand.
Sadly I adore her so I'll just live with the shredded furniture.
Karen
Lesley - I have a slash on my upper lid too! I had to go to the hospital for it! I startled her. ~ karen
Ramona
Karen, I am so impressed with your ability to wrangle a cat and take a good close-up photo at the same time!
I can only clip my cat's nails when she's just up from a long nap and still sleepy AND there's enough bright daylight so I can actually see the nails.
jen
we started trimming our cat's claws as an 8 week old kitten, with our regular nail trimmers. we've never had an issue at all! but we double-team it. one of us pets him so he has a good purr going and then the other goes "clip clip clip" and it's done! we do front and back and just take off that hook end that snags everything. but our cat has never ever scratched furniture either, so maybe he's just an odd cat!
Katie @ Wildwood Creek
Great tutorial! I'm the pushover in the family and can't stand to see my pets in distress; therefore, I let my husband trim the cat's nails. Maybe with this tutorial I could give it a shot.
Nancy
My fella does the trimming of our 7 beauties..He uses one of those rotating nail files for pets..they listen to him pretty well but I'm sure they wouldn't to me as they know what a softie I am..They only have one chair that they like to shred which will be leaving here soon so I don't know what will happen then..I am also interested in checking out the double sided tape mentioned above..Beautiful kitty Karen..
cyn
the past twenty five years, some of our cats were happy to have claws trimed and some would have no of it.Ttherefor the nails had to go. I will not have a cat destroy every thing I have had to work hard for when the cat in the house lives in the lap of luxery. I am just cranky that way. The current three cats we have two are declawed and on is fine with out clawing everthing. One cat we had, had been happy with nail trims for 7 years a re-locating of the family; caused this normaly happy cat in to a psyco-cat.. It was hard but things had to be changed, he lived a happy 4 more years. Each cat has its own personality. Go with it. As I said I get cranky when I am gettin hurt and or the things have are getting desstryed. Sure they are things, but my things none the less. A house is not a home with out pets.. we have always had lots of them. Cats, dogs, birds, fish, reptiles, rodents... alot of different ones and some we were happier with than others.
Barbie
I was wondering about the photography Karen.....like how you did that while holding a camera and shooting a pic! Thanks for clearing that up! LOL I always have to do that too, but don't do nearly as good a job as you! I do use my tripod sometimes though. Great Post...as always.
PS: Thanks so much for the shout out yesterday. :)
Karen
Barbie - I used a tripod (I usually do because of low lighting in my house), the timer button AND a remote control. :) ~ karen
Amy
I suspect you'll get lots of comments on this post. Cats on the interwebs and all that. I can't resist myself...
I don't usually have to trim any cat's back claws, but for one cat I lived with who thought kicking was part of playing, I managed to do it. My housemate and I figured out that if one of us snuck up on her sleeping and rubbed her face until she blissed out, the other could do pretty much anything to her, including trim all claws, front and back, and she wouldn't even notice. Team work was the key. (No, we never did pull out the sharpies and draw on her, but I doubt she would have noticed that, either!)
Laurel
My two current kitties, who I adopted from a shelter, use their scratching posts (I was careful to buy the same type they had been using at the shelter) and they haven't touched any of the furniture other than ripping the underside out of an ottoman to crawl up inside for a nap - I can live with that :S. Of course, most of my furniture happens to be leather, so hard to shred. Good tip for pet owners, buy leather furniture! Previous cats that have owned me haven't been so well behaved. I really enjoy trimming nails and find if you catch the animal at the right time - feeling relaxed, it can be a very pleasant experience.
Shauna
oh trust me - leather doesn't mean they won't shred it. As proof, I have two newly upholstered leather chairs that have claw marks all over it and a leather massage chair that looks the same.
Kari
You can also use regular baking flour if you accidentally nick the quick, it will stop the bleeding.
Tin foil will also deter kitties from jumping up on things they're not supposed to be on with the added bonus of making your home look like it's from the future.
Lou Cinda
Karen, I trim my cats' (all four of them) claws the exact same way. I still have a scratch board for them that I spray catnip on every week or two, but they still get a manicure/pedicure too! Only one of my cats, the oldest (18) doesn't like it. She lets me do it but the noises she makes are hysterical.....
Great tutorial....complete with injuries...
Lou Cinda
SG
As the live-in staff of Natasha, 7-lb Queen of the Jungle, I read this as fairy tale, something done by wizards in a land far away. I would be gutted like a mullet if I tried it.
Tina
LoL
Whitney W.
My 20 lb. Benevolent Overlord, Henry, is also making me wonder about this story here. And the other comments. Who are these people? Where do they come from? Are they absolutely SURE that they’re talking about CATS? As Henry reminds me often, he doesn’t need to be a “Benevolent” Overlord.
marilyn
oh karen my kitty is a she-devil. satans spawn! she even looks evil with a black stripe right down the middle of her face. she claws the furniture all the time but i dont think i could hold her long enough to even get the clippers positioned! and a scratching post? pshaw!! why use a scratching post when there is so much furniture to defile! but i am going to try...i will keep you posted...or you can come and visit me in the hospital. lol
Karen
Try the towel trick that someone else mentioned. (wrap she-devil in a towel first) Although .. if I tried to wrap Cleo in a towel she'd probably scratch my eyes out in a Kung Fu like manner, then run away. ~ karen
Tina
I wrap Bob (the apprentice kitten) in a towel to do his mani-pedis but it’s amazing, as soon as I start to wrap him up, he develops 12 legs! It’s terribly inconvenient!
Someone suggested making a body wrap to go around his entire body and across the front, then hang him (put straps on the wrap) from a hook in the ceiling or over a door. That leaves the legs free to trim but he can’t go anywhere. He can’t do anything but hang.
Vicki
I have one of those, too. We have tried everything and finally decided to just have his nails clipped at the vet.
Mary Werner
Great Post and helpful. My solution is to keep them outside but we live in Florida! Aluminum foil works like a charm when you tuck it onto the place they want to stretch and scratch. But they do know when you remove it for company - smart cats. After one shredded 5 of my 6 leather dining chairs, she got declawed and was never allowed out again as dogs would get her. (Didn't know about aluminum foil until the last chair.) Dogs have still gotten 3 of the clawed cats that didn't manage to get up a tree. Not my dogs and we have LOTS of trees in our yard. They would have been ok if declawed and inside but what kind of life is that? I still take in strays, fix them, buy heater beds for odd cold nights and feed them twice a day since I love birds too!
kerri
What a cutie! I had a kitty with many toes once too. She lived for 27 yrs! Maybe more toes = more years. Anyway, now I have 4 cats. 2 I found abandoned on the side of the road in a box.. terrified.. about to be eaten by god knows what being the tiny, adorable morsels they were. And one abandoned by her mother out in the cold. All were about 4 or 5 weeks when I found them. The fourth was just rescued from an old lady who made him too fat. None of these cats will part with their nails! If I see anything uncomfy, I'll suffer to help.. otherwise, the cats have spoken. I need a steady supply of couch covers, but they've spared the rest of the furniture, thank gawd..