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.

So in summary - depends very much on the individual cat and it's lifestyle!

My outdoor cat is old now so doesn’t go out much now.
When I clip is claws (very carefully), I wrap him in a towel and get somebody to hold him tight, then I cut his claws and also use the same method to administer medicine.

We get Elton's claws trimmed - not clipped in the sense I think is being used by some people on this thread. He's largely an indoor cat and due to his issues doesn't seem able to keep his own claws at a satisfying length. If we don't get them trimmed he gets tangled up in blankets etc which is more distressing.

Use catnip spray on the scratch posts. Have them horizontally for a while so kitty can roll around on them. There's anti scratch spray for the sofas and you should use that too. Use persistently and that should establish the scratching behaviour in the right place x

Have owned cats for 30 years and never once considered clipping their claws. 😜

I've had cats my entire life and have never once trimmed their claws.
Mine are indoor now so they have lots of things to climb and scratch (and one completely destroyed chair which is apparently better for sticking your claws into than anything that was specifically designed for that purpose)

Our elderly indoor (by his own choice) cat has his claws clipped occasionally by me or by the vet as if we didn't they grow so long they start to curl back under. I know they need doing when he starts making a trippy-trappy noise on hard floors instead of a pad-pad-pad.

I think there's a couple of people on this thread confusing the perfectly normal and safe practice of clipping a claw with the abhorrent practice of declawing.

Never one have I clipped my cats claws. I think it's cruel . Obviously if it was a medical issue it would be different , but not a Normal practice in uk

For a healthy cat with access to scratching opportunities, never.

We're talking about clipping...not declawing.

Erm - you SURE you're not getting clipping aka trimming mixed up with de-clawing?

What we are talking about here is exactly the same as trimming your finger or toe nails with nail clippers. In fact I used to use my own nail clippers to take the tip off Boycat's claws, you just have to be careful you don't go too close to the quick.

Dogs get their nails clipped regularly, you cut babies nails, horses get their feet trimmed by a farrier, most farm mammals need their feet checked & sometimes trimmed, cage birds often need their claws clipped

It's actually impossible to "declaw" a cat by just drawing the claws as is done with some exotic animals as the claws are attached firmly to the bone of the top joint in the toe, so the only way to declaw is to actually amputate that top bone at the joint. That IS cruel, and is banned in the UK and many other countries.

Please read the rest of the thread, where this has also been explained

I know.

Sorry I replied to wrong comment and couldn't delete it

Ok. No worries. 🐈🐈🐈