Nail Trimming (and bathing)

[lostbutnotforgot]

Is nail trimming good, bad, or otherwise? I've been training my two kittens to sit and accept it as it's important if they do manage to attack my dad they don't do much damage. If you trim your cats nails, how often do you have to do it? How do you go about it; can you do it yourself or do you need someone to hold the cat?

On bathing, how old is to late to start teaching cats to tolerate a bath? My kittens are both 9-10 weeks old now and I was wondering if they're too old to learn. They both stink a bit, as they're always getting into stuff, and I think teaching them to at least tolerate water might be a good thing.

[Catlady711]

Is nail trimming good, bad, or otherwise? I've been training my two kittens to sit and accept it as it's important if they do manage to attack my dad they don't do much damage. If you trim your cats nails, how often do you have to do it? How do you go about it; can you do it yourself or do you need someone to hold the cat?

On bathing, how old is to late to start teaching cats to tolerate a bath? My kittens are both 9-10 weeks old now and I was wondering if they're too old to learn. They both stink a bit, as they're always getting into stuff, and I think teaching them to at least tolerate water might be a good thing.


Trimming nails is a good thing. Nails can become overgrown and curl around to poke into the pad and cause painful infections. Starting your kittens out early to accept nail trimming is a great thing to do and no 9-10 weeks is not too old to learn with patience on your part and gentle reassurance given.

How often you have to trim depends on the cat, how they use their claws, and wear them down. You'll just have to keep checking the claws to see how long they are.

I personally use a human toenail clipper to do my cats, it's more of a personal preference but I wouldn't recommend that if your kitties are wiggly or you aren't sure of yourself because the sharp open point on the end can be very tricky to make sure no one is injured. I have also used baby nail clippers on kittens with good success. They make several types of nice nail trimmers available at your local pet store. My boss prefers one called a 'guillotine type' it has a changeable blade for when they get dull.

You only need to trim off the points of the claws, assuming you keep up with the trimming.

Here is a great article with pix of a cat nail trimming.
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/clientED/cat_nails.asp

As far as bathing goes, my experience has been either cats love it, tolerate it, or outright hate it by nature. Starting young does help them to learn to at least tolerate it. Be sure to use a shampoo that says for kittens and look for one that says tearless. Try to find one without flea meds in it because those can be harsh on the skin and dry them out more. Also during hot humid weather be sure to get them dried well to avoid a skin fungus infection. You shouldn't bathe any pet more often than every 2 weeks, or longer if you can help it because it dries their skin out. I bathe mine (indoor cats) about 2-3 times a year.

Good luck

[Medusa]

Catlady711 gave you the best advice. All I can add is that it appears that my fur posse needs their nails trimmed approximately every other week. As for bathing, maybe once a season. They're all indoor cats and as long as I brush them every day and groom them (remove mats, clean ears, etc.) once a week, they stay awfully purty! :p

[Kater]

The video on this site does a great job of showing a good technique for trimming nails.

http://www.felinevideos.vet.cornell.edu/

I would trim the kitties nails every 7-10 days assuming you want to keep them pretty short. :)

I really have no experience bathing cats, but starting in kittenhood is definitely the way to go! ;)

[lostbutnotforgot]

Thanks for all the advise! I've been trimming Their nails about once a week, and neither of them mind it too much.

I did bathe them today and it went well enough. They both struggled a bit, which is to be expected, but I didn't get scratched at all. :D

[catmandu]

I trim some Ctas nails especially the Older Found Ctas who dony=t use the scratching posts as much as thier claws have a greater tendacy to grow too long. Michaels actually grew into the paw pad one time!
I clipped that quickly and do My Orangie once a month, Princess too.