Not so much on the actual clipping – I’ve done that plenty of times, and have the appropriate tools. But I now have a cat that strenuously resists being held – he doesn’t mind cuddling and lap sitting, but if he sees the clippers and starts to feel restrained, he is impossible to hold on to.
Somehow, the grooming salon gets it done – they get him out of his carrier and into a harness; and once tied up the clipping proceeds without incident.
Any suggestions on how I can do this at home?
I had a cat for 19 years and my first thought would be to get the same harness the groomers are using. I’ll add that sometimes pets are easier to handle by folks who are not part of their social group.
Wrap her up in a bath towel or two.
I know what you’re thinking, this cat’s going ballistic if you tried that, and she will if you’re not careful. Slowly work her up to accepting the bath towel, a little at a time. Make sure she associates the bath towel with extra affection, love her up real good while you slowly cover her with the towel. You know her limits and so never pass them, take it slow, several if not many sessions to get her used to it.
Food rewards are especially helpful when conditioning cats, if 9 out of ten times she gets a special treat for letting you wrap her up in the towel, she won’t notice the tenth time you clip her claws.
Thank you for not de-clawing her, that’s evil and dangerous and all kinds of other nasty things.
Cover him with a towel.
We have a scratching post. (Well, a cat tree.) The cats trim their own nails.
Get a time machine and start practicing as a kitten, or at least do that for your next cat. The 3 cats that we practiced on can be trimmed solo (one with a bit of complaining but she doesn’t escape). The 4th is a two person job and she’s the one we got as an adult.
Failing that, I remember seeing vets use something that can hide all but one or two paws at a time. A towel will be the DIY option. I give them a treat afterwards, although I disagree that all cats will get used to it!
Here are some products I found on Amazon but I have no personal experience with them and you can find others there:
http://www.amazon.com/Top-Performance-Nylon-Grooming-Large/dp/B001VP61N8?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Cat-Sack-Royal-Large/dp/B000306BCS
I had one who I had to wrap in a towel the first few times I trimmed her nails at home (adopted as an adult). I think she was actually anticipating it to hurt, as in someone had quicked her in the past. It only took twice of toweling her and trimming just the tips so she knew I wasn’t going to hurt her, before I was able to use the kitchen table and just tuck her under my arm to trim from then on.
Also, maybe see if you can get one or two at a time, just while kitty is relaxed and being sleepy/cuddly. I keep the trimmers in a bowl (with some other stuff) on the coffee table where they’re easy to reach when the opportunity presents itself.
Pop kitty treats in kitty’s mouth. It calms my Maine Coon kitty down when I trim her nails. She’s not happy but she submits.
We stumbled on a novel approach with a cat we used to have. We tried everything, the towel trick, treats, anything we could do to keep her calm, and nothing worked. She fought it like crazy. One night I got a random memory of how people cover bird cages to keep them quiet and covered the kitty’s eyes with my hand. She tolerated that quite well, as if because she couldn’t see what was going on it didn’t upset her much. Once she learned it meant getting clipped, she struggled a bit but still nothing like the other methods. I could hold her by gently pressing her into the bed with one hand over her shoulders and the other hand lightly covering her eyes while hubby clipped her claws.
Success! (mostly) Using the towel, and treats before and after, I was able to get his claws clipped. He struggled mightily but the towel at least made it easier to keep hold of him.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens next time – if he associates the towel with the horror of a pedicure, and runs and hides.
I recommend asking the vet for sedation. And have her do the cat’s nails while you’re out. . . 
The reviews for the kitty duffel bag above, include one whose title was absolutely perfect: “Gotcha, you little shit”. 
Trim a cat’s nails???
Why don’t you do something easy instead, like solve the Arab/Israeli dispute.
I don’t trim my cats claws, they need them sharp to defend themselves from each other. I’m sure it helps them with their hunting chores. I really don’t like mice.
All of mine get trimmed. It hurts when they knead on me, they are indoor only with bugs as their only live prey, and I’m not interested in eyeball laceration repair.
My spouse is a groomer, I’m sometimes the “assistant.” If you wonder how we get it done when you can’t, I’ll tell you. We’re not allowed (in this state) to sedate anything. If my spouse can’t get the nails trimmed on a cat, I come out and hold the cat firmly by the scruff of the neck. My hand is right in the middle of the neck, a little lower of the ears, where I can grasp some skin. I elevate the cat and suspend it in mid air. It’s unable to bite me, and this somehow takes away their thought of using their paws to scratch. The nail cutter then has two hands to manipulate the cat: one holding the nail trimmer, the other at large. Never had any problem getting the job done with this two person technique.
I’d go to the towel and this assistant’s hold if the cat’s limbs went into motion, but they usually don’t. Often my spouse uses this hold with one hand and his other hand operates the clippers to cut hair, without any help from a second person.
Using the same technique, we’re also able to get any cat entirely shaved down, when the owner requests it.
Of course, it’s about 50-50, some cats are combative, and some are passive. It’s just as often one person can do the job as is the frequency that two people are required.