Our bonus daughter is a true inspiration for doing expert level cat nail trims. That is, learning to easily trim my cat’s nails. I had a video chat with our bonus daughter, Summer, last night. Summer is a lovely young Vietnamese woman who lived with us for two years as a high school exchange student. I told Summer that I am training Sunday to relax while I trim her nails. Then she said that when she had her cats, that was her thing. She was really good at trimming her cats’ nails! I want to be like Summer.
Basically, regular cat nail trims are important for a cat’s overall health. I don’t want her claws to get too long.
Potential cat nail problems if you don’t trim them
- Stuck in fabric – furniture and clothes
- Grow inward
- Infections
- Inability to retract
If your cat is like Sunday, she is squirmy when you try to trim her nails. That is, unless you prepare her to get comfortable with the process first.
What is desensitization?
Desensitization means you help your cat comfortable with something they are naturally uncomfortable with. When Sunday faces something unfamiliar, she wants to fight or flee. Other cats might scratch or even yelp. You need to have a lot of patience to help your cat get less sensitive to the nail clippers.
The power of treats
To begin with, I use high value treats, that is a treat that Sunday is willing to really work for. It is the treat that your cat just goes crazy for! For Sunday, that means lickable treats like Churu. We train with dry cat food, which is a low value treat. Anything beyond her regular kibble is considered high value to Sunday. Treats serve as a reward. This is given after I expose her to something she might normally avoid. An example is having her paw held.
I teach Sunday to accept nail trims through positive associations. Here is the step-by-step process I follow:
- Show Sunday the nail trimmer — let her sniff it and get familiar with it
- Reward her with a high value treat like Churu
- In a separate session, gently hold her paw
- Reward her again before she pulls away
- Gradually work up to touching each nail, then eventually trimming
Show the behavior you’re working toward. Do this before you introduce the reward. Reinforce the behavior, not just the moment.
I keep training sessions short, take it slow, and celebrate small victories. My goal is to create a positive nail trimming experience for Sunday. Especially important, I want to prevent those claws from ever curling back into her paw pad.
Lastly, make sure to get a nail trimmer that is designed for cats. Dog nail trimmers are probably going to be too big for your car. Therefore, I bought this trimmer from Amazon: gonicc Professional Pet Nail Clippers and Trimmer
So far, I really like it.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Do you trim your cat’s nails? I’d love to hear how it’s going in the comments!
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