Do you trim your cat's claws?

[Mog6840]

My 9 month old cat's claws are very sharp and they have started to get caught on things.

I never trimmed my previous cat's claws. She was an outdoor cat though and I think being outdoors a lot her claws didn't get so sharp whereas my new cat is an indoor cat.

I think he will be a nightmare about letting me cut them. Any tips??
My husband thinks it's something the vets could do but I don't know if it is?
TIA

I cut my cats claws every few weeks as she's an indoor cat . I find if I wake her up and have cat treats to hand and be as quick as I can . Usually I get the front done and the next time the back ones .

Vets will do it for sure - but easy to learn to do yourself too with special scissors.

It shouldn't be necessary in a young cat though - your indoor cat might need more surfaces to scratch on to sort them out, they are meant to be sharp though - they just shouldn't catch on things.

I have to trim my old cats claws regularly as when they age they can't retract them and she regularly gets stuck on things and gets distressed. If you cat isn't getting stuck you should leave them alone.

I have had cats all my life (40 odd years) and I’ve never cut their claws. They’ve always gone outside though, so have kept their claws in good condition climbing and whatnot.

No, he trims them himself by biting them, on his scratching post or outside. I think he might let me trim them but when I bought special cat mittens (yes they are a 'thing') to try and put on a wound on his paw near claw that he kept on licking red raw - he hissed at me, so I don't think I'll try that again in a hurry.

Well... I never cut previous cat's claws as he was always outside having adventures & he wore them down nicely.

Current cat is more of an old lady & while she is free to come & go she chooses to spend 98% of her time indoors. Consequently her claws are crazy. Initially I paid the vet £15 to trim them but I've subsequently bought clippers off of amazon. It's quick & easy to do he claws though she disagrees. It's easier with two people do one if you hold & the other clip.

Good luck!

I got some very neat clippers from, & was able to do my first 2 when they were younger, but they got very resistant after that but one of mine bites her own now which is helpful

They’re small scissor type so don’t look threatening

The biggest heaviest cat I have now, who perforates my legs if he leaps off in a hurry, wears down his back claws outside, but not the front ones. When he’s asleep on my lap I can manipulate his pads to make the claws protrude but if I start touching them he gets cross.

From zooplus that was meant to say

I quite like my eyes.....

Yes I trim the regularly as she's an indoor cat and then get really long and sharp.

I sit her in my lap like a human and she happily sits like that and lets me clip them. Just make sure you don't cut them too short or you will cut the fleshy bit and they will bleed.

I do it when Smurfcat is half asleep, press the paw out and take the tips off.

When needed I put her in a child's tee shirt as its small enough to pop over her head, and paws inside with sleeves behind her like a mini straight jacket

I clip one of ours; she's old and slow and sleeps 99.9999999% of the time, so they need it. Otherwise she gets stuck everywhere, the poor sausage.

The other one hasn't been out much this winter and for the first time ever, she's getting stuck too, but she absolutely will not allow me to clip them. I'm hoping that once the weather improves and she's out more, they'll sort themselves out.

I have an indoors cat and I've never had to cut her nails so far. She uses her scratch barrel a lot and also cleans/bites her nails often. I regularly find bits of her nails that have fallen off and collect them in a small box.

We clip our three, they are indoors and if we don't one starts to velcro to the carpet despite plenty of scratching posts, boxes, a corner scratcher on the banister and several balding spots in our stair carpet. The older two I just gather on my lap, hold the foot I'm clipping and nip the ends off, being very careful of the quick. The baby (over three years old now) hates being touched, hates people, doesn't like being looked at, won't take treats from our hands, thinks she's a person and should be treated as such. She gets wrapped in a towel and then one leg at a time is released, she's held by my wife and I clip them. End up with scratches and she hates it but we've made the decision that it's more important to get it done as quickly as possible than leave it. We've tried desensitizing and we've tried grooming her since she was a baby but she's just an antisocial cat. If we get the soft brush out for the older two she hisses and hides.

He would feel betrayed and I would feel bruised and bloodied, so no.

Thank you all.

I think I will get some clippers and give it a go with the help of my husband.

He has 3 different scratch posts but he don't use them. The only thing he likes to scratch is my leather sofa unfortunately but that's obviously not doing the job because he's getting caught things and he never did before.

Yes as Cheddar likes to make biscuits on my bare skin. It's very painful if her claws aren't trimmed.

Yes, he asks when he wants them doing
Sits on my lap and spreads his paw out and I trim them

No. I value my blood!

When we had long haired indoor cats we booked the mobile cat grooming service every 6 weeks or so - the service included claw trimming. It was a two person job because they hated being groomed.

2 indoor cats, brother & sister. Obviously have an identical lifestyle, both very fond of their scratching posts, and Boycat equally fond of scratching the wallpaper (sigh). Both happily gnaw at their claws & remove the claw sheaths, though Girlcat does this just a little bit more. I have to trim her claws once maybe twice a year, his at least 4-5 times a year.

Girlcat is really unhappy about having hers done, I need to get my DSis to come round & hold her while I clip them. Boycat is a dopey thing & as long as I time it right it can take him up to 2 feet completed for him to realise what's going on before he runs away.

I will admit to being incredibly lucky in that neither of them scratch or bite intentionally; only scratches I have had have been from them scrabbling to get away if I've picked them up.

Oh no! The last time I tried he went into psychocat mode! Had to be sedated at the vets before he would let them do it. He’s actually a really friendly cat as long as you leave his nails alone.