New Member

Posts: 5
From:Georiga, US
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 10-15-2002 01:31 PM            

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As I have mentioned in a recent post I have just taken in a cat that someone could no loger care for. The cat seems to be good health. Other then a slight peeing problem I have noticed that he bites on his back nails quite a bit. The pads of his paws look like they are peeling or that they are cracked. There is some dark suff between his nails mabey dried blood? Should I clips his nails and if so is this something that I can do? How hard is it to do? There in nobody in my town that grooms cats.

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New Member

Posts: 2
From:Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 10-21-2002 10:15 PM            

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I hope this helps. I trim my cats nails all the time. I use a regular large nail clipper to cut them. I do it when they are in a good mood and relaxing. I straddle over the cat (me on all fours) with the cat underneath me. Be careful not to squish him in the process. I talk calmly to him while holding a foot. I carefully push his nail out of his toe and trim the end of his nail without cutting the vein. If the nails are clear you can see it if not just trim a little of the end to be sure. When I am finished I give him a treat. The more you do it the more the cat is comfortable with the process. I hope this helps!

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Posts: 3
From:Lexington, Kentucky USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 10-23-2002 09:47 PM            

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Try touching and petting your cat's paws when you pet him. Get him used to you touching his paws. I would go to a pet store or Wal-Mart and buy the cat nail clippers. These are clippers that trim the nail in a circular fashion which avoids splitting the nail. DO NOT USE REGULAR CLIPPERS. Human nail clippers shatter the nail and can cause problems. The clippers at Wal-Mart are only a couple of bucks anyway.

I sit on the floor with my legs straight out and place my cat on his back in between my legs to keep him from moving. Then you just gently clip his claws making sure you don't go too deep and clip the vein. Mine are so used to it that they don't even pay any attention to it.

Since you don't have a groomer and no one wants to give a bath to a cat that you haven't trained from day one to give a bath too, I would recommend wiping his paws with a wet paper towel to clean off all of the dried . If it starts to come back, I would take him to the vet just to be sure he doesn't have a skin allergy to your litter or something in your home. Hope that helps!

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Member

Posts: 473
From:NY, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 10-25-2002 11:41 PM            

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Here is a really nice site with instructions and picture on trimming nails: http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/cat_nails.htm

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New Member

Posts: 3
From:Olive Branch,Ms.,USA
Registered: Nov 2002

posted 11-28-2002 10:20 PM            

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My 9 month old cat thinks he's human,he really enjoys getting his "nails done"-Once a week,I cut them or file them dull. I think he is just very used to this and has become quite tolerant. I've done this to him enough that he actually expects it-

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