Elderly cat, long claws

[SandyAndy]

My 18 yr old cat is still going strong, despite having a heart murmur, arthritis, going a bit deaf and missing several teeth. Bless her, she's generally a happy moggy! Recently she has been having trouble getting her claws stuck in furniture, blankets etc. She does manage to free herself but its obviously a bit distressing for her. They do look long to me.
Do any of you do anything to your cat's claws? Am a bit scared to try in case I hurt her, also she is a bit of a wimp and hates being held (was a rescue cat 17yrs ago! - loves laps and strokes!) so I don't know how far I'd get.
Any advice gratefully received!

Sandy unfortunately most vets are poorly trained in detecting chronic pain in cats - the signs you are waiting for are signs of severe pain. What he's showing now are signs of moderate pain - it's best not to let it worsen www.pledgeagainstcatpain.co.uk

There used to be concerns over the impact of painkillers like metacam on cat's kidneys but recent research has shown that these concerns are unfounded and metacam is safe for older cats

We tried Metacam for a while with our Ancient Mog, but she started being sick, and the vet took her off it again in case that was the problem.

I seem to get different answers from each vet at the practice, though, so maybe she should be having something.

i used to clip previous cats' claws....just nail clips and take off the tips, it's the same sort of scale as human nails, just the ends

only tip i would say is to hold the clippers vertically...when you clip your own the nail slots in between the blades so the clippers are also horizontal...for cats claws they are flatter on the sides so a vertical position works better.

You can't always tell how an individual cat will react to a particular drug, Lance, even though it may generally have been found to be a very safe one. I'd have a chat with them because the pain won't have gone away.

(My own lad attends a practice that is very strong for older animals and was put on meloxicam almost immediately he started showing some symptoms. He's been fine on it for some years although his arthritis is now so severe that he requires supplementary pain meds on top of it.)

We took one of ours to the vet for it because she was so feisty. She was also the smallest one & looked adorable.

Poor vets.

Ah.

Thanks, Cozie, will do. She has enough oomph in her to see off the younger CST if it dares look at her food, but otherwise tends not to do much, so she's probably very achy.

CST? Cat. Stoopid phone.

Maybe read the ICC arthritis guidance I posted up above on the thread? Even if you only carry out those environment assists that you can manage, that will help a lot.

Thanks, I'd missed that earlier. We've done many of those things including very low litter tray (currently using seed trays!) but not the dietary supplements. She hates anything that looks like a cat bed and prefers sofas and chairs. Are the heated pads for cats any good?

My own lad actually has a permanently switched on electric blanket on the bed. (He likes to lie long because his arthritis is pretty bad - he's much older than your girl.) I'm afraid I don't know much about the latest heated pads, therefore, but he really loves/luxuriates on his hot blanket. Pleasurable stretches and even - sometimes - little pleasure noises.