How often should a cat's claws need clipping?

[CanadianJohn]

My rescue cat is about 12 or 13, and a wiggle-worm. I find it impossible to clip his claws. I arranged an in-home visit from a young woman who works in a pet store, and she managed to get all his claws except 2. She had a hard time with the wiggle-worm, and said it would be easier at the store, where they have a kind of harness they can put the cat into.

The thing is, perhaps due to the wiggling, she didn't clip his claws short enough, and after only a week if he kneads me, he draws blood.

If I take him to the store, or a groomer, and he gets a decent clipping, how often would it need to be done? He doesn't like his travel cage either.

Is he an indoor or outdoor cat? If he goes out, they really shouldn’t need clipping at all.

Does he have enough things to scratch on? You should have a scratching post higher than his full height on every floor of your home as a bare minimum.

Sorry to double post but just wanted to check why you think his claws need clipping? If he goes out they are important for lots of reasons, and it’s best to leave them alone!

You don't need to clip them. Get a scratching mat or tree if it's a completely indoors cat but otherwise they maintain themselves just by walking or the occasional scratch of a fence post.

Sorry but I really have to disagree - outdoor cats also need things to scratch on like scratching posts.

He is an indoor cat only. He has a 6' high cat-condo with all kinds of scratching surfaces, but he much prefers the dining room chairs. I got the cat from the Humane Society, and I don't know his background. Lots of missing teeth, including one of the canines missing, so he eats sort-of sidewise.

OK but do his claws actually need clipping, or do you just not like him scratching things? Those are categorically not the same thing.

I guess the OP is American? isn't it normal to clip cats claws there, its not usually done in the UK.

I've never once clipped any of cats' claws. They have scratch posts and go outside.

I live in Canada. We've had cats for 50 years, and every time any cat goes to the vet for a routine visit, the vet clips its claws. It could be, of course, that the vet is running up the bill, but I don't think so.

I think it's a thing in North America but definitely not in UK.
I recently asked my vet if I should be doing this and they said absolutely not.

It’s not normal practice in the UK to clip a cats claws.

I cut ours every 3 weeks more or less. He doesn't bother with his scratch post or pads very much but I only take the tip off to dull the sharpness of his nails. He's also an indoor cat. I was advised to do so by the vet.

I've never ever clipped any of our cats claws. I risk my life just trying to put a collar on her never mind trying to clip her claws, it's never been necessary and not something the vets here do.

My cat bites her claws to keep them the length she wants, it's very cute. Sorry, that didn't answer your question, OP.🐈

The only time mine has had her claws trimmed is when she was spayed. The thinking was that she wouldn’t be outside for a little while to wear them out and hadn’t been outside before so they were a bit long.

I understand that getting them removed entirely is a thing in North America!

I have to clip one of my cats’ claws, but he has 3 legs and struggles with the scratching posts. He also has the most massive feet and longest claws I’ve ever seen on a cat. Other than this particular beast, I’ve never had to clip a cat’s claws.

I had an indoor cat who we sadly lost last year but he absolutely needed to have his claws trimmed. My benchmark was always when he started sticking to the sofa. The vet used to do them for me when he went for his annual jabs too.

Never. They're out and about a lot and use their scratching posts. Maybe try a couple of different scratching options, boards etc? Has the vet checked his teeth and gums? Something called FORL is fairly common. May explain the prior missing teeth

All the cats my parents have had and mine have favoured a wooden post in the garden or fence panel, countless bought scratching posts have been unused. Other cats will be different but if your cat goes outside frequenty you probably won't need anything indoors for them to scratch on.

Very interesting answers, I suspect I would get different opinions on a Canadian or US cat website. In Canada, it used to be legal to remove a cat's claws entirely, but not any more. The cat would much rather scratch the furniture than his cat condo, and he loves to knead me... maybe I just have to start cat-resistant clothing... leather, a stab-vest, or a suit of armour!

In the UK regular clipping of cat's claws isn't a thing.

I have 2 indoor cats, has never occurred to me that they need their claws clipping and the vet has never done it either.

If you want to deter them from scratching furniture that's a different challenge- basically giving them better things to scratch and consistently deterring them from the furniture. And TBH lowering your standards helps.

I'm I right in thinking cats tend to be indoors only over there, do to the risk of been eaten by your more hard core wildlife? Here almost all cats go outside so claw clipping isn't needed or culturally normal to us (hence the bemused responses)

Never- my cats used to go out but now are indoors only and I have never clipped their claws. Never clipped any cats claws-

I didn't even know this was a thing. In all of my years of owning cats I have never come across this. All of our cats have been outdoor cats though and spent plenty of time climbing trees and garden fences dso needed their claws.

Cats bite their own claws to ‘trim’ them and they also obviously scratch things as well to ‘slough’ the old bits off. However as they age and maybe lose teeth they can’t do this. My old boy actually had a claw grow into one of the pads of his paw. The vet from then on clipped his claws. It would have been very painful if the claw embedded into the pad area. The vet told me that clipping is only a problem if the cat still goes outdoors and needs to climb to safety. My old boy was not going outside anymore at this point. I can’t remember how often they were clipped. I don’t remember them needing doing that often.