Claw Trimming Craziness

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juststevie
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Claw Trimming Craziness

Post by juststevie »

So, I've had cats all my life; I'm not new to trimming and maintaining a cat's claws, and I know many of them aren't really fans of it. A few months ago, I adopted a new kitten who is now nearly six months old. I have NEVER seen a cat react so badly to trimming it's claws. If he's relaxed and I touch his paws or poke at them or even press on his toes to make his claws come out, he doesn't really like it, most cats I've met don't, but he simply pulls them away without much fanfare--no biting, no vocalizations, nothing--so it doesn't seem like his paws are hurting. But the second we try to trim them? He turns into a wild man. He tries desperately to get away--like when you try and capture a feral cat--and he screams, the ear-piercing kind that leaves you hearing ringing. I feel like I'm not describing this well, but it's definitely not normal "I don't like this put me down" kind of cat protesting. I have never heard a cat scream that loud for that long outside of ferals, cats in genuine terror/pain, and knockdown, drag-out fights. The minute you put him down, he's fine again and will come right over for treats and allow you to pet him, though it'll be a hot minute before he lets you pick him up again. He doesn't limp or hide or lick his wounds--he turns right back into his normal self.

Like I said, I'm not new at this. We've tried taking it slow, trimming them when he's relaxed or asleep, wrapping him in a towel, etc., and there's always more than one of us--one to hold and one to trim. We've never accidentally trimmed too much and made him bleed, and he's never had an experience with us where he was hurt during handling. I had hoped he'd get used to it and calm down, but he hasn't so far. He was a rescue, so we don't know his history.

I'm going to speak with our vet on Monday, I have to call them about our other cat anyway, but I figured I'd give this a shot, too. Do you know of anything that might help with this? This is obviously regular maintenance that he needs for his health, but it's so stressful for him (and for us) every time, and I'm afraid I'm going to hurt him when he's thrashing around. Any advice would be appreciated!
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Mollycat
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Re: Claw Trimming Craziness

Post by Mollycat »

Just one question - why the need to trim his claws? I am on my ninth cat and we don't trim claws, we never have.
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Ruth B
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Re: Claw Trimming Craziness

Post by Ruth B »

I would also ask why you feel they need to be trimmed, all the younger cats I've had have managed to maintain their claws themselves, and only as they have got older have I had to trim them. If you don't let your cats outside then maybe investing in a wide range of scratchers would help, a mix of material and a variety of horizontal and vertical ones.

As for his behaviour, he does remind me of Blue, a Ragdoll i used to have, who in his later years needed his claws trimming, and he hated it, the noise he made would make you think you were trying to cut off the entire paw. We asked the vet to do it a couple of times as I knew i was a bit inexperienced and thought maybe i had a bad technique. The first time oursoppy, laid back Ragdoll, turned in a monster, struggling and biting, fortunately i had a wax jacket on and he couldn't get his teeth through that otherwise someone would have ended up with blood running down their arms. The next time he was howling through out it, probably a similar noise to what you experienced, one of the nurses at the vets actually came into the surgery to check what was happening, it must have sounded like he was being mutilated to anyone outside. In the end I learnt that the best way forward was familiarity. I would spend time handling his paws when I wasn't intending to try and trim them, and give him a lot of fuss and praise afterwards, so he associated it with something nice. Eventually he let me trim a claw, i could check which was the worst and trim that one, and that would be it, the next day I would do another if another needed it. I never again tried to do a full claw trim, only one or possibly two at a time as he accepted that and it didn't stress him too much, but i could tell when i started how well he was taking it and whether I would be able to to one, two or even none that day. I never knew what caused Blue to hate having his claws trimmed, but as I got him as a rehomed cat when he was about 3 years old I always wondered if someone else had trimmed his claws and gone too low and cut into the quick, perhaps something similar happened to yours before you got them.
The only other thing I will mention is that while I did try a pair of proper cat claw clippers I have found that a good sharp pair of side clippers, the type you use for removing model kits from their sprue work better for me as I find I can position them quicker and easier.
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Mollycat
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Re: Claw Trimming Craziness

Post by Mollycat »

What is it with Ragdolls who didn't read the meowmo on what they are supposed to be like!

Boo my retired stud lived in a pen before I got him and it took him a few weeks maybe a couple of months to exercise and learn to retract his claws just that little bit more for walking on carpet. Then the vet trimmed his claws without permission and we were back to square one. I don't know what they used but they were a ragged broken mess, you'd think he had been in a road accident not a vet's surgery with clippers.

But his dew claws always needed attention, they don't always seem to get enough attention from the scratch posts, and the soft material underneath, on the inside of the claw curve, used to end up staying there and going hard if I didn't scrape it out regularly. I swear that's what ends up as an ingrown claw. Of which I have only seen and dealt with one but ugh.

Molly was also trimmed by the vey under anaesthetic and the first I realised was when her paws kept sliding off her scratch posts. Being a little insecure anyway, not having her claws made her quite fearful and defensive for a couple of weeks until the tips were razor sharp again.
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