- Joined
- Dec 6, 2020
- Messages
- 253
- Purraise
- 218
A little accomplishment, but my husband and I have been struggling to trim Sango’s claws for months. She was a hoarder rescue and has improved a ton in year as far as socialization goes. However, picking her up is something she’s still very uncomfortable with. She would thrash, pant, bite and even peed on me once being handled for a vet visit. For nail trims, we’d need to wear full protective gear and grooming gloves - she became fearful of the gloves and she’d hide if she’d heard us going into the bedroom together to change clothes- she’d starting associating us together as something bad. It was just stressing her and us out!
The vet prescribed liquid gabapentin when I told her about our experiences with handling her. However she wouldn’t take it in her wet food - it was a bitter flavor so I don’t blame her (I taste tested it, yuck!) I was going to have it compounded into treats, but knowing how picky she is with food, I just decided that I wouldn’t bother with nail trims anymore because she does wear them down somewhat. But there’s always some nails she doesn’t wear down,
Lately she’s taken to sleeping on my lap which is brand new. Those nails can hurt and I’ve got several small scratches on my legs. I got the idea from Jackson Galaxy/other posters to try get her used to have her paws touched. So for 2 months, I’ve been touching her paws and squeezing them. And last night, I took the bravery test and actually trimmed her nails! I got to 7 total before she realized what was up (admittedly I went overboard but I was too excited!). She’s actually sleeping on my lap tonight and has let me touch her paws again so I don’t think I stressed her out much.
Small victories but I’m so happy!
The vet prescribed liquid gabapentin when I told her about our experiences with handling her. However she wouldn’t take it in her wet food - it was a bitter flavor so I don’t blame her (I taste tested it, yuck!) I was going to have it compounded into treats, but knowing how picky she is with food, I just decided that I wouldn’t bother with nail trims anymore because she does wear them down somewhat. But there’s always some nails she doesn’t wear down,
Lately she’s taken to sleeping on my lap which is brand new. Those nails can hurt and I’ve got several small scratches on my legs. I got the idea from Jackson Galaxy/other posters to try get her used to have her paws touched. So for 2 months, I’ve been touching her paws and squeezing them. And last night, I took the bravery test and actually trimmed her nails! I got to 7 total before she realized what was up (admittedly I went overboard but I was too excited!). She’s actually sleeping on my lap tonight and has let me touch her paws again so I don’t think I stressed her out much.
Small victories but I’m so happy!