How to Trim Your Cat's Claws

Trimming your cat's claws is an important part of cat care. It will save your skin, your furniture, and maybe your other pets. You should trim your cat's claws every few weeks. Here's how:

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• nail clippers
• cat
• towel

1. The best time to trim your cat's claw is when it is sleepy or relaxed. Depending on the temperament of your cat, you may find it easier than you think. Gather your clippers and a towel, just in case.
2. Made for Cats! You can use regular nail clippers but I've found it's easier to use the ones made for cat claws. They look like this picture.
3. The first thing I do is to wrap my cat in a towel and gather her in my arms. She is used to being held, so while the towel is a little unusual, she's still fairly relaxed.
4. Taking one leg at a time out of the towel (leaving the others confined to avoid scratches and a struggle), I hold her paw and extend her claws. To do this, hold the paw in your hand while it's shaped like a fist and press down on the top of the cat's paw with your thumb.
5. With the claws extended, snip off the very tip of the claw, no more! You only need to remove the sharp tip. It's not like with dog nails where you need to trim the size of the nail.
6. Once you have completed one paw, wrap it back in the towel and extract the next one until you've completed the front and back legs. Don't forget the dew claw.
7. I always like to follow up a nail trimming session with a treat for both my dogs and cats so that they learn to associate nail trimming with a delicious snack afterwards. It makes them more likely to suffer through the trimming without acting out.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep styptic powder on hand in case you cut the nail too short and it bleeds.
• Keep your clippers sharps or replace them. Dull blades can be painful and dangerous.