4 Easy Steps to Trimming Your Cat’s Nails at Home
The thought of trying to clip a cat’s nails at home, by yourself, is enough to get the blood pressure rising in lots of folks. I get it; it can be intimidating! Our feline friends are very opinionated creatures, particularly when it comes to specific types of touch or restraint, and they’re not usually shy in telling us how they feel about it. Never fear, we’ve rounded up a step-by-step guide to get you and your own kitty on the road to becoming comfortable with performing regular pedicures yourselves.
1. Collect Your Kit
Make sure you’ve got all the right supplies at hand. You will need: a pair of nail trimmers (we prefer the smaller sized pet nail trimmers geared towards cats and small dogs), your cat’s favorite treats, and a favorite blanket or towel that your four-legged friend might like to lay on or sleep with. Maybe your cat’s favorite snuggle buddy is that old sweatshirt laying in the laundry basket? Hey, that works, too. Oh, and of course, you’ll need your cat.
2. Keep Kitty Comfortable
Our number one goal here is, as always, to keep your cat feeling as calm throughout this whole process as possible. If this means having to do the nail trim process in smaller steps – that’s okay! Better to calmly ease our kitties into this idea over a longer period of time, than to stress them into thinking nail trims are the worst thing ever by trying to do too much too fast. Try to do this at time when your kitty is tired, or relaxed (Perhaps 20-30 minutes after mealtime, or once they’ve laid down after a particularly exhausting game with the laser pointer). Go to your kitty, and place them either in your lap or comfortably on a surface in front of you with that favorite blanket underneath them. This helps your cat to be more comfortable by having something familiar, and gives you something soft and cozy to rest them on. Prepare your pet by gently touching their paws, and speak softly to them while you do this, in order to accustom them to your touch on their feet. This step is particularly important if your cat has never had their nails done before. Gauge your cat’s reaction to this, and stop or pause at any time if you feel your kitty is growing impatient with the process. Reward your cat’s good behavior with kitty treats and lots of affection.
3. Know Your Claws
For many people, the struggle with nail trimming lies in knowing where and/or how much of a cat’s nail to trim. The risk in trimming too short lies in nipping the area known as the ‘quick’, a tissue layer underneath the nail with blood vessels and nerve endings, analogous to our own nail beds. Clipping this on accident is usually a little painful, and may result in some bleeding, so we try to avoid this by being careful and conservative with our trimming. The good news is, since most kitty nails are transparent, this is usually easy to see as a pink colored triangle at the nail base.
Images courtesy of vetmed.wsu.edu
To start trimming, you will want to lightly press the paw pad to extend each individual nail so you can see the quick. Placing your index finger on the paw pad underneath, and your thumb above the paw, press gently to extend the nail. Generally, the nail narrows just slightly after the quick – this serves as a good guide for your trimming target location, which should be just a bit further past this (again – see visual guide). As a good rule of thumb, try to cut from the sides of the nail, rather than straight down from the top or bottom. This will not only give you better visualization of the nail as you’re cutting, but also usually makes the actual cutting easier. Again- gauge your pet’s response as you go, and take breaks if needed.
4. Keep Calm, Comfortable, and Confident
Be gentle, but intentional with your movements around nail trimming, and try not to retreat or react to your cat’s every slight move or objection – this will increase both your confidence as well as your feline friend’s feelings around nail trimming and their tactile perception of your movements. The more you trim your cat’s nails, the more confident and efficient you will become. The more calm and comfortable you are around nail trimming, the more at ease your kitty will be. Before you know it, you’ll be giving your kitty a full-service pedicure before they even know what’s happened.
Wrapping Up
When in doubt – it’s okay! Take each step day-by-day. Perhaps just try to trim one nail per day for a week or so, to acclimate your kitty to the idea and work up to more in one sitting slowly, over time. If at any point, you think you and your cat may not be cut out for ‘doing nails’ by yourselves, please contact your vet. Our trained technicians can always demonstrate by performing a nail trim in your own home, as well as offer guidance on what specific or personalized techniques may be best for your individual cat.
