over enthusiastic rescue cat's claws

[dorothymichaels]

I adopted two sisters in May. They had been with the same owner since kittens and had never been outside. From what we could gather they had been spayed but never to the vet since.
They are lovely cats - very different in personality. One is incredibly placid. She comes and sits next to us, has no demands, and mostly just likes sleeping and being stroked. She seems to favour DH.

The other was much more scared when I brought her home and initially disappeared up the chimney (now blocked with a cushion). Over time she has developed what can only be described as an infatuation with me while she tolerates everyone else. She miaows at me as soon as she sees me and jumps up onto my chest purring loudly and licking me! It's very sweet but she digs her claws in for balance and I'm covered in scratches on my shoulder from when she has tried to climb up there or when she decides to jump off suddenly. If I try to lift her off and she's not ready to leave she digs claws in more! The only way to get her off is to sit down - I think she likes being high up.

I've taken to putting on a thick hoodie every time I see her. Are there any other solutions or do I just have to put up with this? My shoulders are in shreds!

We took in a rescue cat and he does total regression love, which involves standing on my chest and padding his claws on my neck. He is particularly enamoured with actual skin. He goes into the pad pad pad kneading zone, then flops on me with his head under my chin. It's sweet but can be extremely painful! I just reckon he's a bit developmentally stunted. Best solution, I have a tshirt underneath my pillow and cover my neck up!

You can clip their claws. I had to with ours to protect the children. You just need to make sure you stay well up from the live bit of the nail. I had it done at the vets' the first time, but she got me to hold her down, which was the tricky bit as far as I was concerned. After that I got some cat nail clippers and did it myself.

A blunter nail is a lot less painful!

There is the argument that they are less able to defend themselves in a fight with another cat, though.

Some cats do like to be high up. Does she have lots of vertical spaces to explore?

It sounds as if your kitty may be anxious - especially if your more confident cat is dominating resources - silent conflict is really common in cats. Make sure she has plenty of space to move around including vertical space/shelving. Offer them separate feeding, sleeping and tooketing areas so they don't have to compete

This has some great info
icatcare.org/advice/making-your-home-cat-friendly
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1098612X13477537

I second the cat nail clippers, use them for my very lazy, prefers to stay indoors cat. Do it around once a month.

I second the cat nail clippers, use them for my very lazy, prefers to stay indoors cat. Do it around once a month.

You can use standard human nail clippers too - the claw is transparent, just keep well away from the pink bit inside. They soon get used to having their claws clipped, especially if they are good driven and get treats.

Thanks all. The nail clipping would have to be done at the vet under sedation I reckon. We tried to get her chipped but she went crazy and they thought she might bite. It took the vet and a vet nurse to do vaccinations. I'm really not that brave. If they look like they are bothering her I would arrange for sedation at the vets.

She certainly likes sitting on the kitchen table but mostly lounges on the windowsill or on chairs/under tables. I got them a cat tree and they ignore it! I'll have a think about other high spaces.

I don't think they compete.. they have a two sided food bowl and eat together quite happily when they share a sachet of wet food daily. The rest of the time they only have dry food. They have very minor spats but they never last. I have a litter tray for each of them which has been fine with no issues. May need to get another one but so far they've been ok.
I think she is anxious @veterinari but it's likely more to never having been socialised much and never being outside. She freaked when I opened the front door holding her the other day.
In the meantime I am wrapping a blanket round my shoulders or wearing a hoodie for cuddles!

Those links are really interesting, thank you!

You can use standard human nail clippers too - the claw is transparent, just keep well away from the pink bit inside. They soon get used to having their claws clipped, especially if they are good driven and get treats.