Should you clip your cats' claws?

A young owner came in today with Harriet her cat who had exceptionally sharp claws. Harriet is a young tortoiseshell and is full of life as most tortoiseshells are (must be something to do with them all being females!).

Harriet was scratching her owner to bits and she pulled up the sleeve of her coat to reveal numerous fine scratches on her wrists. I advised her against cutting Harriets' claws as this appears to make them grow even faster. Not what she wanted to hear. I recommended the numerous scratching posts on sale or even a small tree trunk in the house for her daily scratch until Harriet could confidently go out.

wKittens play with such ferocity at times as they are natural hunters and are fine tuning their skills usually on their owners to start off with.

wAs healthcare in pets is so good today, it is not uncommon to see really old cats coming into the surgeries on a daily basis. They spend most of their time sleeping and are usually too old to bother about scratching, and these are the ones that I recommend have their claws clipped.

wThey can sometimes be so overgrown that they curl right back into the pad and just keep going, leaving sore infected wounds once they are cut and very guilty owners - ashamed that they did not notice this earlier in their old pets.

wSometimes their long, sharp claws can also get caught in the carpet or clothing and can hurt an old arthritic cat if it tries to pull away. Human nail clippers can be used and just the sharp tip cut away to avoid cutting the quick or nerve, but if you do not have the nerve to clip them yourself, then book your old cat into your vets.

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