With out pulling back a shredded stump?
First, read the instructions.
Second, trim the nails before you attempt to cap them.
Third, squeeze some glue into the nail cap and hold it on the claw for a bit so it can start to set.
Good luck.
It also helps to enlist a patient friend. When we use to put them on one of our cats, I wouldn’t have even thought of trying it by myself. You either need at least three hands, an extremely mellow and patient cat, or the dexterity of Jackie Chan. 
I know- every time I read someone recommending them, I think that their cats must be very different from my cats. They would never tolerate such nonsense.
If your cat isn’t naturally passive, and you want to do it sucessfully you need to do a lot of prep-work. Like 6-8 weeks worth. This prep consists entirely of you gently playing with kitty’s paws, including squeezing them and forcing the nails to come out. Just for a minute or two, several times a day. What you’re doing is laying down the basis for kitty accepting such paw manipulations without freaking out and deciding you’re trying to kill him/her when it comes time to trim the nails and put the caps on.
FTR, I recommend only putting the caps on the front claws if there’s any chance of kitty getting outside. Lady’s distructive behavior was effectively curbed by applying the nail caps every 4-12 weeks (the better you trim the nails and the better you get them glued on - 15 minutes of holding kitty after applying them, minimum, or they’ll be gnawed off while the glue is still setting - the longer between recapping) only to her front paws. The back ones were used to scratch people maybe 2-3 times in three years of capping her, and she couldn’t scratch the chairs with the back ones either.
I think that’s an inclusive or.
Kill the cat first.
Declaw the cat first.
Drug the cat first.
Tie the cat up.
Get a more tolerant cat.
Have someone else do it.
Have a friend with a prosthetic arm hold the cat down while you do it.
Have your arm amputated and get a prosthetic arm to hold the cat down.
Tie the cat to several posts in a spread eagle position and muzzle it.
Hide the nail caps in the upholstery of your favorite chair and wait until they slip on accidentally.
Hide the nail caps in the litterbox and hope they line up correctly next time kitty is due for a poo.
Some of these ideas may be better than others.
Enjoy,
Steven
This is really good advice. I don’t use caps on my cats’ nails but I do trim them, getting them used to you handling their feet takes some time and patience but it can be done. Mine still don’t like it, not at all, but they’ll tolerate it now without too much trauma or bloodshed.
You will need a second pair of hands - one person deals with restraining and holding, one deals with the caps and the glue. Some people find it easier to roll the kitty into a towel, purrito-style.
IMO, if you can trim the nails regularly (about every 2 weeks) the plastic caps are unnecessary. Also making sure there are sufficient scratching posts, that are heavy and kitty doesn’t think they will tip over, is also a good measure. Often, cats will prefer furniture for scratching because the weenie scratching post provided is not large or heavy enough, and kitty won’t use it if he/she thinks it may tip over. More than one post is recommended, and also sometimes a lateral scratcher in addition to vertical is good - one of my kitties is a lateral scratcher.
which begs the question, if you can trim the nail, why bother. Just trim their nails.
Maybe call groomers to do the first trimmings and capping. You can see how they do it and kitty will learn to be grateful that you do it yourself instead of doing the carrier/car thing.
I trim claws for free at adoptions. Any cat, I don’t care where kitty came from or how often I see kitty. Usually, the cat slave will get so comfortable after seeing me do it, explaining what I’m doing and then holding kitty so they can try, that they start doing it at home.
I’m guessing that a good groomer could help you with this in the same way.
This. (Three cat owner here.) Eventually they sit still for it (though it may take longer for some cats than others.) I wanted to go with the nail caps once for our cats and the store employee actively campaigned against them. If someone who has an interest in selling something discourages you from buying it, that is a red flag for me. (And for the record I did the same thing when I worked retail.)
Like I said, some cats submit to the trimming right away…some take more time…some take a LOT of time. But that having been said even our feral adoption sits for having her nails trimmed now.
I tried those once on Raven. For all that she was used to me manhandling her, she absolutely would not put up with those things. On the second try, she clawed my face and hit me half an inch away from my eye.
So, no more of those things.
For any non-insane kitty, I would recommend bringing in a friend to help, swaddling the kitty as much as possible, and also putting a blindfold on the kitty. That seems to calm them down a bit.
Maybe this would work, but it doesn’t seem to work on either of my cats.
We have two cats, one is relatively mellow and the other is very squirmy. My husband and I both do the claw covers. I hold the cat in my lap while he applies the glue inside the caps, then I put the caps on the claws.
With the squirmy one, he fills up 5 claw covers, then comes over, and both of us hold the cat (he holds her by the scruff of the neck) while I put on the covers. Then he prepared some more and we repeat the process.
To some of the previous posts: some cats absolutely will refrain from scratching the furniture no matter what you do re: trimming, scratching posts, etc.
It depends on what you’re capping them for. Lady’s biggest sin wasn’t scratching the furniture, it was using her claws while kneeding people. Yelling “ouch!” would make her purr her head off, so it was clear that she was doing it because she liked the reaction. Trimming her nails didn’t keep her from digging them into people when she really wanted to, so we capped them and she couldn’t leave people bloody any more. It was either that, or push an elderly cat away every time she climbed on your lap.
The following instruction manual, giving advice on how to give a pill to a cat, may have some useful information to assist the OP.
Ahh, OK. I had a cat that liked to kneed. I actually kinda liked it if she didn’t dig in. It was like a little tiny masseuse on my back. She would curl up and purr in my ear when she was done. Quite the stress reliever from a hard day in the salt mines.
If she dug in and ignored my cries of pain I would immediately trim her nails so she would associate my reaction to her pointy daggers.