My cat was declawed before I found him, so he only has rear claws. But clipping them by myself (no other humans here) is always a struggle.
I wrote a response in some other thread about learning how to pill him (see here for that specific post for more background: Cat remembers the gabapentin from the last vet trip and won't eat the pill pockets now. Any other suggestions for his vet appt next week? )
Basically, for pilling I initially did the towel-wrapping thing, made sure he couldn't squirm, etc. But I never could get nail trimming to work using similar techniques.
I've done the exposure to feet touching already. He couldn't care less when I grab his rear feet, or even when I press on the paw pads to extend the claws. But as soon as I use the nail clipper, he starts "bunny-kicking."
Also let him smell the nail clipper first, etc. And I've most successfully (when I've actually been able to accomplish this) done it with a human nail clipper, which is a dedicated one just for him. It's not used on me or anyone else.
I wrote a response in some other thread about learning how to pill him (see here for that specific post for more background: Cat remembers the gabapentin from the last vet trip and won't eat the pill pockets now. Any other suggestions for his vet appt next week? )
Basically, for pilling I initially did the towel-wrapping thing, made sure he couldn't squirm, etc. But I never could get nail trimming to work using similar techniques.
I've done the exposure to feet touching already. He couldn't care less when I grab his rear feet, or even when I press on the paw pads to extend the claws. But as soon as I use the nail clipper, he starts "bunny-kicking."
Also let him smell the nail clipper first, etc. And I've most successfully (when I've actually been able to accomplish this) done it with a human nail clipper, which is a dedicated one just for him. It's not used on me or anyone else.