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Any suggestions for clipping a cat's nails?
She will not calm down long enough near either of us owners. We have tried to hold her down, but she goes into ultra defensive mode. There has never been a time where we could clip her nails while she was resting either, and already calm. Once her paw is touched, even during the time we were trying to just get her use to us touching her paw, she lashes out at us.
We tried taking her to a professional groomer at a pet store, who returned out money and said it was impossible. Any other options any one can think of? I've looked online for many answers, tried all of them it seems!
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Member 772976
on Nov 26th 2008
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in Grooming
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My current kitty family is all really good about it but I had problems in the past. We used to wrap my girl Nikita in a towel and release one foot at a time. Dr. Fosters and Smith sells a "Klaw Kontrol Bag" That you can zip them up in. It appears to be along the same idea as wrapping them in a towel. But any of these will still be stressful for a frantic kitty trying to escape. You might try using Feliway spray on the towel or bag to help calm her down.
Allie
answered on 11/26/08.
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You can do it while she sleeps thats what I did with my cat before he got used to it. Of course she'll wake up but you can continue because she'll be sleepy but if that isn't the case then wrap her up in a towel like the other person said. :)
Pieci
answered on 11/26/08.
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It depends on the cat but some cats don't need their claws clipped if tehy use a scratching post. They just shed the outer layer of their claws as they scratch and their claws stay at a length that doesn't get snagged on carpets etc. If she's like this you can just live with it and not clip her claws.
If that won't work the Claw Kontrol Bag is good and I've used it on my cat Xena who hates getting her claws clipped. Once she's in the bag it has little zippers/holese at the corners where you can get 1 paw at a time out and clip her claws. Its still a bit stressful but being held tight by the bag seems to keep her reasonably calm. My vet rents out the bag for a few dollars a week so that you can try it out before buying one so that would be a good option for you.
If she's just too difficult to do yourselves, get the vet to do it. A cat specialist vets would be best and they are used to handling difficult cats. I think my vet charges approx $25 to clip their claws.
Xena
answered on 11/27/08.
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My vet charges $14.00. That's why I'm lucky that Izzie lets me clip his claws and I only have to pay for Delilah and Lily. Trying to forceably hold down a cat will cause it to fight back, even if it's a laid-backcat. Vet techs know how to do it and I've never had any problem with them not be able to clip Lily and Delilah's claws. Someone said on this site once that cats don't need their claws trimmed because they do shed them, but when I hear Delilah walking across the carpet and catching her claws in the pile, I wonder about the validity of that advice!
Izadore (Izzie)
answered on 11/27/08.
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