I used to put Soft Paws on my cat, he’s very docile and only protested a little by biting me (not hard). But even if I held him and petted him for 15 minutes to let the glue set he’d fuss with those things and bite at his nails until he had them off. It sometimes took a couple of days but he’d always manage it. He would literally spend hours biting at his paws to get rid of those things.
Finally we gave up. Now I just trim his claws every couple of weeks or so. He still bites me while I’m doing it but if I’m gentle he submits and I always give him a treat after.
Another reason it’s sometimes required (this is why we did it on our cat) is if the cat is allergic to something or stressed out and scratching themselves to the point that they draw blood. For awhile our older Singapura, Tenshi, was doing this, so we put him in SoftPaws so he couldn’t hurt himself. We never did figure out what his problem was, but he eventually just stopped doing it so we gave up on the SoftPaws.
He hated them and tried hard to pull them off, but they did keep him from mutilating his own skin.
We have used those caps and they are kind of a pain. It seems like a nail trim now and then is easier and just as effective at preventing destruction of furniture?
How far back can you or do you need to trim them back? Do they have a quick like a dog?
yes you can draw blood trimming a cat’s nails. I just looked at the product in question and I can’t imagine them being comfortable for a cat. The nail is designed to retract.
Whatever method you decide to use, make sure you record it and show the results on youtube. Bonus points if the cat jumps up and claws you in the crotch.
I’m surprised vets don’t put the caps on the cats claws under anesthesia.
My Chihuahua has been put under twice for teeth cleaning. Chihuahua’s get a lot of gum disease and often lose their teeth by 7 or 8 years. We’ve made sure that didn’t happen with my Chihuahua. He got his teeth cleaned at 2 and 5 years old. Due again next summer for a third cleaning. No gum disease at all. No loose teeth either.
How long do those cat caps work? Don’t the claws grow longer and push the cap off?
I had fairly tolerant cats because I started trimming their nails when they were kittens. If they tried to bite or claw me they got thumped on the forehead and if they were good they were well rewarded. I would expect an older cat to put up much more resistance and require a longer training period.
My experience with both cats is that they liked to sharpen their nails one at a time. Nails that weren’t sharp were in more of a half moon shape and not the highly curved needles of a sharpened nail. In that case, I would scrape the back of the nail to help promote the sides sluffing off. Cat nails are like rock shale in that they grow in layers.