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19 May When Claw Clipping Goes Wrong!
Tibbles is five years old. A fairly chunky, muscular little thing. She is particularly well-behaved, faithfully uses her litter tray and makes good use of all of her cat scratching posts. But, therein lies the problem….
Most of us know that your feline friend scratches to provide them with a feline manicure. The actual act of scratching their claws removes the outer sheath, resulting in truly honed instruments of un-adulterated terror…
She was around nine weeks into her Life when we met her for the first time in local shelter and as we attempted to discover how temperament, I made a valiant attempts at clipping her claws. Despite her young age, her passionate hate of this particular procedure became very quickly apparent. I tried as gently as possible to get near the end of her talents, being careful not to ruin a budding relationship in the process. But, suffice to say, things never got any easier….
Most of my other cats have usually been quite compliant — all it has required was to plant them on top of the countertop, tuck their bum end underneath my armpit, clip and the reward. If only things were so easy with Tibbles…
There was really no easy way of doing it. And despite all of my attempts, even clanking her in a jacket and using heavy gloves had little effect. The more we tried desperately, the more trauma we added to the ordeal and we eventually gave up not wanting for her to feel like we were the bad guys.
I even went as far as purchasing a Hannibal Lector looking contraction called the claw control restraint bag. But despite successfully clipping her claws at the first attempt, she quickly sussed out what was happening, making it impossible the next time when she witnessed the ‘death’ bag coming closer towards her.
No matter what technique I adopted, and no matter how many treats I gave her, it always ended up becoming a vicious and violent battle of wits. One day during a routine checkup at the vets, I asked the veterinarian to clip her claws and held my breath. To everyone’s amazement, she was perfectly calm and didn’t move an inch… She certainly knows how to wrap me around her little metaphorical finger!
I have tried telling her that it simply doesn’t have to be this way and she doesn’t have to be stuffed inside a scary bag each time. But, we shall see if she will eventually get the message although I’m not betting on it!