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- Nov 18, 2014
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A little history before I ask my question:
My husband and I adopted a brother/sister pair of tabbies about 6 weeks ago. They are 2.5 years old and shy, especially the female. The male is more outgoing, but it was a full month before he would let me pet him and brush him (he still won't let my husband touch him). He loves being brushed and purrs his head off, rolls onto his back, is in his happy place. But he is still tentative with me and will run off if he is startled and hide under the bed. He also won't come and sit with me on the sofa or get into bed with us. The female hides under a bookshelf most of the day, won't allow us to pet her or brush her, doesn't want to be approached unless we have her food.
We got them from a foster home where they had been since they were kittens. They were treated well by their foster mom, but her other cats (large males) definitely ruled the house there and we're thinking the kitties we adopted were somewhat afraid of them, though they were never, to our knowledge, attacked or harmed in any way by the other cats. Their foster mom said that they really didn't like having their nails clipped, especially the male, though she did clip them.
Over the past couple of weeks I've tried a few times to clip the male's claws, but he runs off before I can do it. I've tried bribing him with treats and clipping while he is eating, but he just runs off. I'm afraid if I force the issue, it will damage the tentative bond we have and make him afraid of me. He doesn't do any damage with his claws to us, his sister, or our furniture. Same with the female, no damage. We have a number of sisal scratching posts and cardboard scratchers available for them and have seen both cats, but especially him, using them. She may use them at night when we are sleeping and she feels more free to explore the house.
My question is, how important is it that I clip their nails? Is it uncomfortable to them to have them not be clipped? My previous cats were already declawed (front paws) when I adopted them, so I'm new to the nail clipping situation and I'm sure that isn't helping when it comes to trying to do their nails since I'm not practiced in how to do it and so can't do it quickly.
Thanks for reading this long post and for your help!
My husband and I adopted a brother/sister pair of tabbies about 6 weeks ago. They are 2.5 years old and shy, especially the female. The male is more outgoing, but it was a full month before he would let me pet him and brush him (he still won't let my husband touch him). He loves being brushed and purrs his head off, rolls onto his back, is in his happy place. But he is still tentative with me and will run off if he is startled and hide under the bed. He also won't come and sit with me on the sofa or get into bed with us. The female hides under a bookshelf most of the day, won't allow us to pet her or brush her, doesn't want to be approached unless we have her food.
We got them from a foster home where they had been since they were kittens. They were treated well by their foster mom, but her other cats (large males) definitely ruled the house there and we're thinking the kitties we adopted were somewhat afraid of them, though they were never, to our knowledge, attacked or harmed in any way by the other cats. Their foster mom said that they really didn't like having their nails clipped, especially the male, though she did clip them.
Over the past couple of weeks I've tried a few times to clip the male's claws, but he runs off before I can do it. I've tried bribing him with treats and clipping while he is eating, but he just runs off. I'm afraid if I force the issue, it will damage the tentative bond we have and make him afraid of me. He doesn't do any damage with his claws to us, his sister, or our furniture. Same with the female, no damage. We have a number of sisal scratching posts and cardboard scratchers available for them and have seen both cats, but especially him, using them. She may use them at night when we are sleeping and she feels more free to explore the house.
My question is, how important is it that I clip their nails? Is it uncomfortable to them to have them not be clipped? My previous cats were already declawed (front paws) when I adopted them, so I'm new to the nail clipping situation and I'm sure that isn't helping when it comes to trying to do their nails since I'm not practiced in how to do it and so can't do it quickly.
Thanks for reading this long post and for your help!