Help With Claws
Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2019 10:27 am
I have a small female cat who is about 10 years old, her name is Cookie. She is only 7.5 lbs but she can be dangerous.
She has always been a aggressive even since she was a kitten but i was managing it with regular play time and slow, careful introductions to any new people or animals. She peacefully lives with another cat that belongs to my roommate, and sometimes lets the roommate pet her.
In the last year or so, she no longer will let me clip her claws. I used to be able to do it one or two at a time here and there without her even noticing, but now she goes into a panic soon as I touch her paw.
When I say “she doesn’t let me” I don’t mean she just doesn’t like it. She goes into full fight or flight mode, hissing and snarling. She thinks she is fighting for her life, and doesn’t even seem to recognize me anymore. She will bite into me so hard, one time she broke a blood vessel in my hand and it was really bad. I’m afraid I will end up in the emergency room if I force it. I’m also afraid it will traumatize her and undermine the trust I’ve built up between her and our roommate situation.
So I took her to the vet, and even with two people in full protective gear, they had to net her and sedate her to avoid her hurting someone or herself. The whole experience was traumatic for both her and for me, so I doubt I’ll bet do it again. Not to mention it would be expensive, and probably a bad idea medically for me to get her sedated every time she needs a clip.
I also tried claw caps one time to see if she would find that less scary, but it didn’t work. The vet put them on while she was sedated, after they clipped her. Although I was relieved of her claws for a while, she was nervous the whole time and started losing patches of fur. So I decided not to do it again.
It’s been about 6 months since the last clipping attempt. Her claws are so long and sharp that she hurts me even when she’s just happy kneading.
That’s the main issue. Her long claws don’t seem to be getting ingrown or bothering her. The problem is that she scratches me up constantly. She is a very needy and affectionate cat. When she wants food, treats, attention, pets, anything, she crawls up and puts her claws right on my neck or in my face. She has even stuck her claws in my eyes while I was trying to sleep.
When she does that, it isn’t like she is trying to angrily swipe me. She puts her paw on me and slowly extends the claws a little more and a little more until I react. She doesn’t understand that she is hurting me, she just knows that I stop ignoring her if she puts her claws on my exposed skin.
It isn’t as if I ignore her a lot, either. I work from home and I spend most the day in the same room with her, I take breaks to pet her and play with her and she can sit in my lap while I work. She sleeps in bed with me. She even follows me into the bathroom and I talk to her while I take my showers. But she is constantly wanting more attention and pops her claws when I don’t give it.
I have got the kitty calm spray, the pheromone plug-in, I gave her food the vet suggested, and all kinds of stuff to try to make her more calm and it did help with her anxiety (patchy fur is gone at least), but this behavior continues.
The short version is: my cat freaks out if I flip her claws, but she also uses her claws to demand attention from me.
I would like help either discouraging her claw tactic, the need for quite so much attention, or some ideas for clipping her so that it isn’t so dangerous when she does do it.
She has always been a aggressive even since she was a kitten but i was managing it with regular play time and slow, careful introductions to any new people or animals. She peacefully lives with another cat that belongs to my roommate, and sometimes lets the roommate pet her.
In the last year or so, she no longer will let me clip her claws. I used to be able to do it one or two at a time here and there without her even noticing, but now she goes into a panic soon as I touch her paw.
When I say “she doesn’t let me” I don’t mean she just doesn’t like it. She goes into full fight or flight mode, hissing and snarling. She thinks she is fighting for her life, and doesn’t even seem to recognize me anymore. She will bite into me so hard, one time she broke a blood vessel in my hand and it was really bad. I’m afraid I will end up in the emergency room if I force it. I’m also afraid it will traumatize her and undermine the trust I’ve built up between her and our roommate situation.
So I took her to the vet, and even with two people in full protective gear, they had to net her and sedate her to avoid her hurting someone or herself. The whole experience was traumatic for both her and for me, so I doubt I’ll bet do it again. Not to mention it would be expensive, and probably a bad idea medically for me to get her sedated every time she needs a clip.
I also tried claw caps one time to see if she would find that less scary, but it didn’t work. The vet put them on while she was sedated, after they clipped her. Although I was relieved of her claws for a while, she was nervous the whole time and started losing patches of fur. So I decided not to do it again.
It’s been about 6 months since the last clipping attempt. Her claws are so long and sharp that she hurts me even when she’s just happy kneading.
That’s the main issue. Her long claws don’t seem to be getting ingrown or bothering her. The problem is that she scratches me up constantly. She is a very needy and affectionate cat. When she wants food, treats, attention, pets, anything, she crawls up and puts her claws right on my neck or in my face. She has even stuck her claws in my eyes while I was trying to sleep.
When she does that, it isn’t like she is trying to angrily swipe me. She puts her paw on me and slowly extends the claws a little more and a little more until I react. She doesn’t understand that she is hurting me, she just knows that I stop ignoring her if she puts her claws on my exposed skin.
It isn’t as if I ignore her a lot, either. I work from home and I spend most the day in the same room with her, I take breaks to pet her and play with her and she can sit in my lap while I work. She sleeps in bed with me. She even follows me into the bathroom and I talk to her while I take my showers. But she is constantly wanting more attention and pops her claws when I don’t give it.
I have got the kitty calm spray, the pheromone plug-in, I gave her food the vet suggested, and all kinds of stuff to try to make her more calm and it did help with her anxiety (patchy fur is gone at least), but this behavior continues.
The short version is: my cat freaks out if I flip her claws, but she also uses her claws to demand attention from me.
I would like help either discouraging her claw tactic, the need for quite so much attention, or some ideas for clipping her so that it isn’t so dangerous when she does do it.