BIG cat...BIG claws....need help A.S.A.P!

neat59

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Our cat Meanow is now a "inside cat" and it is now time to trim his nails. The problem is he is big cat weighing in at 14 pounds and his nails are so long that they get stuck in our carpet, our furniture, clothes...basically everything he walks on. It is frustrating for us and Meanow!!! I tried wrapping him in a terry-cloth beach towel while my daughter tried clipping his nails but he is too BIG to hold down and he put up a fight and got away from us. We have no problems with our other cat Sam who is only 8 pounds and smaller in size. She occasionally puts up a fight but she is small enough to handle and we can get the job done quickly. Meanow is the complete opposite. If anyone who has a cat the size of Meanow and if you trim their nails we would greatly appricate all the advice you can give us...as soon as possible!!! Thank you all so much
!
 

sandie

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LOL, Our Jack is about 19 pounds. He is pretty fussy when it comes to brushing and nail clipping too. It takes the 2 of us, but I sit on the couch and he sits opposite of me. I put Jack in my lap and set his butt on my lap. I put my arm under his front legs and my husband clips away. I can hold his with both my arms this way and he cant get away. I have a cat who will get even more violent if I try to put her in a towel, so we dont try that one anymore
 
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neat59

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Thank you so much! We did what you said you do and it worked....we have one more to go on his front paw and now we have to work on his back feet. The worst part is done. Right now he is very mad at us. We had to let him go so he can take a break. When I let him go he went to the wall and turned his back to us with his nose pressed up against the wall and wipped his tail so fast that there was a breeze...:laughing: He is cooling off and we will work on the rest...as for Sam...it only took 3 minutes to do the front and back...they are the complete opposite...thank you for your help
 

sandie

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You are very welcome, I am glad you got him done. I have had my fair share of difficult cats and I know that pouty ticked off attitude you are talking about. I have a cat who HATES to be brushed and she is a long hair. We have to do her a little bit at a time and let her cool off. I am glad you got the response tonight and he can walk without getting cought on everything
 
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neat59

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The good news is "We got Meanow's front nails clipped" and the bad news is...we woke up this morning to find "my couch" scratched up and shredded...it was scratched so bad that the stuffing was outside of it. He had to be soooo mad
that he wanted to get revenge on us for clipping his nails. Even though we clipped his nails...he still did damage to the couch. He never even once tried to use our furniture as a scratching post before. He had to be "one mad cat" while we were sleeping. We were shocked to wake up to a torn up shredded couch...We were going to clip his back nails tonight but we might just wait now... We are wondering if anyone else has this problem after clipping nails... is this a revenge thing? He had to be scratching the couch for awhile for it to be in the condition it was in when we woke up. We are so clueless as to why he would do this to the couch....
 

sandie

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Well, I would not say he did it for revenge per say. Its more of a redirected aggession. He was upset and it was what he found most attractive to take it out on. Does he use a scratching post he normally uses? I would think after the nail clipping it actually felt good to shed any more dead nail tissue. I would think he would have gone and scratched where he normally would. Yikes, I bet you were in shock when you got up!!
 
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neat59

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we were pretty much shocked when we saw the couch!! he doesn't have a scratching post...but we will soon be getting one! We just didn't really think he would have any interest in one because we never saw him scratch at anything and our other cat doesn't scratch at anything either. Now that he scratched the couch up hopefully he will leave it and the other furniture alone until we get a scratching post! This was the first time he has ever scratched the furniture as if it was a scratching post.
 

sandie

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I would bet that after he had the nail trim he had a pretty good urge to scratch off all the dead nail tissue. When cats scratch there's 2 main goals, one is to shed the nails and the other is to stretch. I am glad you are getting him something he can use now. When you first get one, just make a big deal when he uses it and maybe put some cat nip on it to let him know that it is his.
 

bdraymond

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I have a 21 pound cat but he just rolls over and hands me his feet for claw trimming. His 11 pound mother is impossible to trim by myself. We have a routine that works every time with the difficult cats. I hold the cat in my lap while my husband rubs the area above the cat's eyes in a gentle, non-stop motion. It totally distracts the cat and she isn't even aware that I am cutting her claws.
 

threeleggedkat

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bdraymond; What an EXCELLENT piece of advice!


I can't wait to put it into practice on my furry (anti-pedicure) babies!

I see that you only have 2 posts, so you are new! WELCOME to TCS!

Please, go into the Lounge and introduce yourself and give other members the chance to say Hi!


Glad to have you with us!


TLK and her 6 =^.".^= 's
 
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neat59

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thank you everyone for the advice. i have also found that it is easy to clip his nails when he is sleeping. Meanow is a very very deep sleeper and if i move quickly i can have his back feet done in a minute before he wakes up
. only if we knew about clipping his nails in his sleep before we went through all of the trouble...thank you all so much
 
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