how do i calm my cat down when i am trying to trim his claws?

Question

he stays still for the people at petco but when i try to do it he freaks out

Answer 1

Wait until he's asleep. They sleep pretty heavily during the day. Go slowly and quietly and clip 1 or 2 and quit. When he goes back to sleep, slowly and quietly clip a few more.
This works best when you don't put the clippers away. If he sees them out, it won't provoke a fear response and he will be more comfortable.
Don't get tense yourself. Stay calm and relaxed.

Answer 2

The vet has only trimmed our cat's claws once. I do it all the time. My husband holds them and I trim them. If they are skittish or squirmy, he holds them by the scruff of the neck (for all the longer it takes-30 seconds or less). We talk to them and tell them how good they are and I pet their bellies while I am cutting the claws. Works for us. When done I kiss them and praise them. Sometimes the run out of the room like they have a fire up their behinds but they are never mad at us. Good luck.

Answer 3

You have to be very careful when trimming your kitty's claws. Cats have a Pink area in their claws that if trimmed is very painful to them and can cause bleeding. Only cut the very tip of the claw where it is white/clear. Perhaps your trim was a little too short for kitty and it hurt or it could be that since a "stranger" trimmed him he was scared stiff so to speak. Good Luck!!! :)

Answer 4

First try getting him used to you playing with his paws by gently touching his paws and rubbing them. Over time he should get used to this, and it will put him in a relaxed state if he likes it. My kitty is only six months and he got used to me doing that, and now he falls asleep whenever we trim his nails. Every once in a while if he's hyper it's just not gonna happen, but it helps if you have an extra helper around. Make sure you don't cut where it's pink on his claw.

Answer 5

My vet told me to get him used to me touching his paws when he is sitting near me, then after about a week or so of that, he didn't think much of it when I played with his feet while he was sleeping. Then I would just "play with his feet" while he slept and slowly trim his toenails. Start by just doing one paw at a time, even the best cat can get squirmy after the 2nd or 3rd paw.

After the first 2 or 3 times he was fine with me trimming his nails. Now I do it while he is awake and he is fine, I actually think he likes it.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

My pets do the same thing - act fine at vet's; if I do the same thing at home, they act as if I'm killing them. They're trying to evoke sympathy so that you stop doing what they don't like. Your best bet is to get it over with as quickly as possible by whatever means works best for both of you (towelling is a great idea, by the way). Afterwards, offer him a bit of a treat as an "apology" and then leave him alone. He'll go sulk for a while but will soon be back to his regular self. Good luck!

Answer 7

I didn't have too much luck with that either Nina,
Sooooooo.... How far to petco?? lol
but if you must...Wrap his back paws in a light towel, then pin the darn thing..... those back ones are dangerous! wrap the rest of the towel around a single foot clip the nails.If you live thru that
do the rest tomorrow lol.

Answer 8

My personal reccomendation is for you to not trim his nails. Get him a scratching post or something. The whole reason why they scratch stuff is to wear down their nails. You could also try giving your cat a small sedative or something.

Or, if not trimming his nails is not an option, it's always better to force it on someone else.

Answer 9

most cats thinks that their owners or some body else will hurt them by cutting and triming their claws with wrong cats clippers . maybe you should ask the petco people who does carefully does do the good job by triming and cutting cats claws with right tools. maybe they can teach you how to do it before you planning to it for yourself on youre cat .

Answer 10

At Petco, he's outside his territory, cats are more submissive when they are on someone else's "turf". With mine, I like to sneak up on them when they are asleep, especially "twitchy" sleep, and I can get 1 or 2 paws done before they are awake enough to fight it. Or you can wrap em in a towel with just one leg out at a time. My old girl will lay on her back in my lap and just let me do it, it only took me 12 years to train her to do that : )