Clipping Claws

Oh, Buffy made it seem so easy! When I first adopted her she'd just sit
in my lap and let me clip, clip, clip. Front and back. It was okay the
second time around, too. Next attempt, uh uh, no way, reorrrw!!

Buffy has never really learned to retract those needle-sharp
instruments. A couple of mornings ago she tapped me on my back to wake
me up and she stabbed me. OUCH! Enough is enough, young lady! I'm
clipping those claws!

Yesterday I got out an old towel and laid it out on the floor. She got
curious. What's this doing on the floor? I got down and I wrapped her
in it and proceeded to clip her claws. I got one front paw done before
she escaped.

I laid the towel back on the floor. Silly girl, she came back to it and
started rolling around on it. Ah ha! Gotcha! I managed to clip the
nails on other front paw even after she wriggled out of the towel.

No more stabbing me with her front claws. For now.

I am afraid I'll need help (someone holding her) to clip her back claws.

Why was it so easy the first time? It was a BCT! Lulling me into a
false sense of security...

Jill

On Fri, 15 Jan 2016 10:16:37 -0500, jmcquown
wrote:

Oh, Buffy made it seem so easy! When I first adopted her she'd just sit
in my lap and let me clip, clip, clip. Front and back. It was okay the
second time around, too. Next attempt, uh uh, no way, reorrrw!!

Buffy has never really learned to retract those needle-sharp
instruments. A couple of mornings ago she tapped me on my back to wake
me up and she stabbed me. OUCH! Enough is enough, young lady! I'm
clipping those claws!

Yesterday I got out an old towel and laid it out on the floor. She got
curious. What's this doing on the floor? I got down and I wrapped her
in it and proceeded to clip her claws. I got one front paw done before
she escaped.

I laid the towel back on the floor. Silly girl, she came back to it and
started rolling around on it. Ah ha! Gotcha! I managed to clip the
nails on other front paw even after she wriggled out of the towel.

No more stabbing me with her front claws. For now.

I am afraid I'll need help (someone holding her) to clip her back claws.

There is no need whatsoever to clip a cats back claws. If you watch
her jump up on the sofa or wherever, you can see she uses the back
paws as stabilisers. They don't claw people or furniture with their
back claws, only the front ones. It's actually unkind to clip back
ones, she could have a nasty fall.

Why was it so easy the first time? It was a BCT! Lulling me into a
false sense of security...

Jill

On 1/15/2016 10:46 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jan 2016 10:16:37 -0500, jmcquown
wrote:

Oh, Buffy made it seem so easy! When I first adopted her she'd just sit
in my lap and let me clip, clip, clip. Front and back. It was okay the
second time around, too. Next attempt, uh uh, no way, reorrrw!!

Buffy has never really learned to retract those needle-sharp
instruments. A couple of mornings ago she tapped me on my back to wake
me up and she stabbed me. OUCH! Enough is enough, young lady! I'm
clipping those claws!

Yesterday I got out an old towel and laid it out on the floor. She got
curious. What's this doing on the floor? I got down and I wrapped her
in it and proceeded to clip her claws. I got one front paw done before
she escaped.

I laid the towel back on the floor. Silly girl, she came back to it and
started rolling around on it. Ah ha! Gotcha! I managed to clip the
nails on other front paw even after she wriggled out of the towel.

No more stabbing me with her front claws. For now.

I am afraid I'll need help (someone holding her) to clip her back claws.

There is no need whatsoever to clip a cats back claws. If you watch
her jump up on the sofa or wherever, you can see she uses the back
paws as stabilisers. They don't claw people or furniture with their
back claws, only the front ones. It's actually unkind to clip back
ones, she could have a nasty fall.


Thanks, lucretia, that makes sense. They are sharp, though. She leaps
onto my lap and sometimes those back claws dig in. I'm not a sofa!

The front claws definitely require clipping. OUCH! Please don't
attempt to tap my face. Buffy simply doesn't know how to retract those
claws when she's trying to be friendly. At least I got the front ones
clipped. Whew.

She made it so easy when I first adopted her. Now she just doesn't want
to have anything to do with it. I'd rather not go through life being
punctured by this loveable, snuggly, adorable orange stripey cat.

Jill

On 1/15/2016 9:46 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jan 2016 10:16:37 -0500, jmcquown
wrote:

Oh, Buffy made it seem so easy! When I first adopted her she'd just sit
in my lap and let me clip, clip, clip. Front and back. It was okay the
second time around, too. Next attempt, uh uh, no way, reorrrw!!

Buffy has never really learned to retract those needle-sharp
instruments. A couple of mornings ago she tapped me on my back to wake
me up and she stabbed me. OUCH! Enough is enough, young lady! I'm
clipping those claws!

Yesterday I got out an old towel and laid it out on the floor. She got
curious. What's this doing on the floor? I got down and I wrapped her
in it and proceeded to clip her claws. I got one front paw done before
she escaped.

I laid the towel back on the floor. Silly girl, she came back to it and
started rolling around on it. Ah ha! Gotcha! I managed to clip the
nails on other front paw even after she wriggled out of the towel.

No more stabbing me with her front claws. For now.

I am afraid I'll need help (someone holding her) to clip her back claws.

There is no need whatsoever to clip a cats back claws. If you watch
her jump up on the sofa or wherever, you can see she uses the back
paws as stabilisers. They don't claw people or furniture with their
back claws, only the front ones. It's actually unkind to clip back
ones, she could have a nasty fall.

Why was it so easy the first time? It was a BCT! Lulling me into a
false sense of security...

Jill

It depends on the cat. Some cats like to lie on their backs when
playing and kick with their back claws. There's no harm if they are
kicking a toy (although they can destroy them), but it is painful if
they decide to do that to a person's leg or foot.

MaryL

On 1/15/2016 11:26 AM, MaryL wrote:
On 1/15/2016 9:46 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jan 2016 10:16:37 -0500, jmcquown
wrote:

Oh, Buffy made it seem so easy! When I first adopted her she'd just sit
in my lap and let me clip, clip, clip. Front and back. It was okay the
second time around, too. Next attempt, uh uh, no way, reorrrw!!

Buffy has never really learned to retract those needle-sharp
instruments. A couple of mornings ago she tapped me on my back to wake
me up and she stabbed me. OUCH! Enough is enough, young lady! I'm
clipping those claws!

Yesterday I got out an old towel and laid it out on the floor. She got
curious. What's this doing on the floor? I got down and I wrapped her
in it and proceeded to clip her claws. I got one front paw done before
she escaped.

I laid the towel back on the floor. Silly girl, she came back to it and
started rolling around on it. Ah ha! Gotcha! I managed to clip the
nails on other front paw even after she wriggled out of the towel.

No more stabbing me with her front claws. For now.

I am afraid I'll need help (someone holding her) to clip her back claws.

There is no need whatsoever to clip a cats back claws. If you watch
her jump up on the sofa or wherever, you can see she uses the back
paws as stabilisers. They don't claw people or furniture with their
back claws, only the front ones. It's actually unkind to clip back
ones, she could have a nasty fall.

Why was it so easy the first time? It was a BCT! Lulling me into a
false sense of security...

Jill

It depends on the cat. Some cats like to lie on their backs when
playing and kick with their back claws. There's no harm if they are
kicking a toy (although they can destroy them), but it is painful if
they decide to do that to a person's leg or foot.

MaryL

As some may remember, Persia (RB 2014) was front declawed. (I didn't do
it!). But she had some wicked sharp back claws. One night I
indavertently reached down and rubbed her belly. She was stretched out
on her back beside me. I was half asleep. I just wanted pet her. She
wrapped those front paws around my hand and held on tight while she
bunny-kicked with her back paws. I have pictures of the damage she did
to my arm.

As I said, I was half asleep. Just giving her a gentle pet. Ooops,
OUCH, DAMMIT!!! She ripped my forearm to shreds with those wicked back
claws.

I do think she felt bad about it afterwards.

Jill