Trimming Claws

[SavannahLuv]

When you say that scruffing him is ineffective, do you lift him off the ground when you scruff? In order for scruffing to be effective he needs at least his front paws to be pulled off the ground, and ideally all four paws suspended off the ground for trimming.

I've tried both, just scruffing & scruffing & completely lifting. If anything, it actually seemed to make him angry. Once I'd let go, he used to lunge at me; however, I have been working very diligently with that and now if he's upset over it he just runs to his cat tree when I let go, climbs to the highest part & gives me stink eye.

I did have my sister show me the proper way to scruff (since I originally was grabbing too low). Shango has improved with how he reacts after scruffing so hopefully he continues to improve.

 

[SavannahLuv]

I have tried since the 1st week I had him as well, but unfortunately his hate of the clippers has only grown. When I had Kai, I did the same thing and he ended up adjusting and not minding the clippers... as long as I trimmed his claws when he was sleepy he just napped while I did it and actually seemed to enjoy having his paws rubbed. Shango appears to be the complete opposite.

 

[SavannahLuv]

I did read of a procedure that just removes the claw only on a breeders website, like if you would only remove a fingernail, and sometimes with that I read, the claw will grow back and have to have it done again......if I decide to declaw, that's the ONLY way I would go. So far, he is good with clipping.

My vet did tell me about that procedure and it is the only one they will even recommend...CORRECTION, my vet does NOT recommend. I took Shango to the vet last week to have his nails trimmed and he has officially been given the title of worst behaved cat at the entire vet office Since he gets rather worked up/stressed, my vet started discussing types of declawing. The procedure that only removes the claw, my vet will not do because she said there's a very good chance the claw will grow back and when it does, it's extremely painful for the cat (it's having to break through the skin) and it almost always grows back deformed which can also be painful and then they have to go through the painful process of having it removed all over again. She will also not use the guillotine method for several reasons. She said if she has to declaw (which she doesn't like to) she uses a scalpel since it's more precise. When she has to declaw she prefers to do it on young kittens (sometimes even before they are old enough for spay/neuter) because they tend to re-cooperate faster and are lighter so they don't have as much weight to put on their paws. The older/bigger the cat, the more pain. She discussed it being an option for Shango so that he wouldn't have to deal with the stress of regular trimmings for the rest of his life, but did make a point to make sure I knew how painful it would be for him. Since he's bigger/heavier, the heal time would be longer. Since he also puts a lot of weight on his front paws when he does his serval pounce, she also cautioned that could cause bleeding and again longer heal time. She said 4-6 weeks worth of pain might be worth not putting him through a life time of stress having his nails trimmed, but I'm still set with my opinion that declawing (any type/procedure) is wrong. I've went from every 2 weeks to only having his front nails trimmed once a month to help with less stress. I still think he'd rather get upset for 5-10 minutes each month while he has his nails trimmed and he calms back down vs the alternative of having his "fingers" amputated.

 

[maryannb6843]

In my over 30 yrs of being a cat owner I never had a cat I couldn't trim their claws until I got Puma my Savanah. I did everything with him the same as the others starting as a kitten. But even as a kitten he was hard to hold.
Now it's impossible. I had to resort to my vet doing it. The look of trepidation
on their faces when I walk in is well understood by me. A stranger would think I was bringing them a full grown lion by the looks on their faces. But they have more people to hold him.
A little over a year ago we tried glueing on those plastic nail tips since it would mean less visits. The first time was as bad as a nail trim. The second time he needed a light sedative, equivalent to human Benadryl. The third time they said he would have needed general anesthesia so that was the end of using those. They were cute though.
I'm also lucky he doesn't claw furniture. He sticks with his scratch posts and boards all over the house. I do recommend though you never get a Jute Rug.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cbain]

Our spoiled F3 male Cody grows his claws off the chart so a friend who is a licensed vet does his trim, she has done the big cats at the Columbus OHIO ZOO , if you can't handle your cat get your Vet, she can handle Cody claws like the little panther that he is,get a friend who is a Vet.