how do you clip a cat's nails?

Question

My cat bites me when I try to clip his nails. What is the best way of doing it?

Answer 1

If your cat puts up a real struggle, you might find it helpful to wrap him in a towel so as to limit his ability to maneuver and scratch you. Additionally, having a second person do the clipping while you hold the cat in the towel might help.

Answer 2

I have 4 cats and give their nails a trim about once a week.

Just hold the cat in your lap with him reclining back (belly facing up). Gently squeeze the pad to make the claw come out, then clip off the tip. You can see where the "quick" is (it's a pink spot). Just don't trim that low.

Each cat takes the clipping procedure differently.

My Siamese is a crier. She makes more noise than any of the others put together! She is still during the procedure, but yowls like I'm killing her.

My solid white longhaired hates his clipping worse than anything. He pulls his feet back and squirms. I just wait until he stops fighting, then clip one claw. He resumes fighting, I wait, then clip another claw. Repeat until finished!

My longhaired "part bobcat" baby is the easiest. He's so sweet. He just lays there calmly purring while I clip his nails. His claws are constantly peeling, so when they are clipped, the outer layer always splits and falls off.

And finally (if I can drag him out from under the bed), I get my grey striped tabby that weighs over 15 pounds! He lays in my lap, gets his clipping, then won't come to me for at least 2 days.

Clipping is much more humane than declawing. The cats get used to it being done, and it doesn't hurt them at all.

Answer 3

First off, it's best to start clipping them when they are young. Second, you should only use clippers that are meant for small dogs or cats. These can be bought at any petstore or Walmart. This is what I do but of course I've been doing this with them since they were 6months old so they are used to it now, even though one of them still doesn't like it much... but you should be careful when doing it, and try not to clip them too short, otherwise you'll find that they bleed because of the veins and nerves that the cats have in their nails. Good Luck!

Answer 4

It is very hard to clip a cat's claws. Like someone else said, it is something that you need to do very carefully, or else the cat can potentially bleed to death when too much is cut off.

When I trim my cats' claws, I usually start by kind of sneaking up on them while they are sleeping/resting because I can usually get a couple claws done before they realize what I am doing. When they do, I usually hold them close to me and I extend one claw at a time to clip. They fight, but as long as you have a good hold on them (and can withstand a little biting/scratching), you should be able to get them all clipped.

When I do the actual clipping, I only trim off about a millimeter or two at the MOST. When I first started clipping their claws, I would wet them a little bit because it helped me see the vein that runs inside their claws. I could probably clip a little bit more, but the one or two millimeters is more than enough to last about a month or so (at least for my cats).

If you are unsure about yourself, you could definitely take your cat into a vet or groomer to do the clipping for you. They have the experience to do it quickly and safely, but it varies on what they will charge you to do it depending on where you go.

I'm sure that a vet or vet tech would be able to do the procedure in front of you so that you could observe their technique so that you could perhaps clip them yourself, but I am not so sure about a groomer since they typically don't let the customers in the back where their equipment would be located.

Answer 5

I can give you best way to do it. I had to spend every week clipping 8 cats. The best time to do it is when they are napping. Just gentlymake there nail come out and clip, dont clip the pink spot in the nail clip a bit above that since it is flesh and will tick off your friend. Just do it until you have all nails done. If it wakes up just gently rub his head or chin making it happy. If you cant finish contiue on next nap.

just do a tip trim if your nervous about it. later on as you get better you can cut a lil shorter, but just clip the tip to get rid of the sharp end.

Answer 6

I have never had much of a problem clipping my cat's nails.
He sits on my lap and as long as i dont take my time a can do a pretty decent job. As for biting and squirming though, as long as you know the proper way to clip the nails so that you dont cut into the vein and can do it quickly and accurately, I would suggest you carefully and securely sawddle him in a thin towel, making shure to leave out only the leg/paw of which you plan to clip. Otherwise take him to a petstore thats grooms animals.

Answer 7

I buy the pet nail clipper they sell at the store (kinda looks like siccors with a hole on the blade). And I do take my precious time. Whenever she's napping, I grab one pack and push the nail out by pressing gently and clip, clip, clip. She'll get bored of me annoying her; so, i'll leave her alone and continue later. I really take my time, because I don't want her to fly at the sight of the clipper. You can try it, clipping very little at first until you get the hang of it. If you're cat refuses, please take it so a professional can do it.
Good luck

Answer 8

Please ask your vet and or check online.

When I had cats I would often sit on the floor in a bathroom (in other rooms they can run and hide under a bed).

I would hold her in my lap until she was comfortable with a towel around her. Slowly and gently I would take her paw and clip Only the end............not close to the middle or too low.

They usually resist. Or you could just pay the vet to do it every so often and watch how he or she does it. Better safe than sorry.

I never declawed any cat I had.

Answer 9

Most of the time a cat will not let you clip there nails. Try buying a scratch post, for him. I've never clipped my cats nails and i have 3 of them.

Answer 10

I taught my cat to tolerate this by saying "yes!" and then immediately giving him a treat for each claw he let me clip. If he won't allow you touch his paws, start with giving a treat if he allows you to hold his paw and work up slowly. Also, just do a few claws at a time over several sessions at first. The key is to start slowly, do short sessions at first and make it a game. If he is food motivated this will work.