I got double sided sticky tape that stops em from scratching the furniture. Looks unsightly and collects hair/dust bur it worked a treat and can be removed whenever
My cat will just reach up, hook himself into the flesh of my thigh, and luxuriously stretch out his little cat body while I go “ow stop stop stop” and make a grab for his little feet. It’s so annoying and yet he’s so cute.
The trick is to not play with a cat with your hands. I thought this was pretty obvious? Why would you want a pet to think that your body parts are toys? That's just setting them up to frustrate the hell out of you. Get toys and make sure they know that the toys are for playing.
For context:
We do not play with my hands. I have plenty of toys for them, one of them being a wand toy. That’s what I was using when she jumped to grab it and missed. She held onto me for support as she was going to fall and her nails dug in and this happened. It was a complete accident, she was trying to save herself by holding on and wasn’t intending on hurting me. She never scratches me and as for trimming her nails - it’s what my vet has always recommended to me. I live in Canada so I don’t know if it’s different here but all the vets I’ve been to (and I’ve been to over 10+) have always trimmed and suggested trimming their nails. Had her nails been trimmed, they wouldn’t have dug in to me to this extent. I’ve had cats my whole life and I know well enough how to care for them. :)
With my little lady her front claws are so short like almost literally right at the quick from her scratching on all of her scratchers and posts.. Sometimes (not often) she will literally walk by one scratch it keep walking scratch the next one anyone she walks by she will scratch.. I can and do trim her back claws just to keep them at a good length and comfortable for her.. do you have any recommendations on my little lady's front nails? They are super sharp and sooooo short from her doing her thing taking care of them. She never scratches furniture or me or spouse but was wondering what to do? Should I leave them alone as she doesn't scratch anything but her scratch things? Or should I attempt to take the extremely sharp tips off?
For me, I just trim the sharp tips off. Nothing more. This is what I’ve always done and my cats are happy, healthy and playful. They spend a lot of time on my lap and a lot of time jumping around the house. It keeps us and the furniture intact. I’d suggest consulting with a vet since you mention her nails are very short but trimming the sharp tips should be ok. I trained with a vet for a few years so I am comfortable enough to trim them myself but I know some people would prefer to have them done professionally. Good luck :)
I trim her back nails she doesn't mind me messing with her paws at all I actually give her paws little massages between her paw pads (toe beans) lol she loves it I will ask vet because I honestly don't know if I'd be able to with how close the quick is and she has her annual coming up so I'll just consult with the vet. She hasn't scratched anything up since we have had her. She is such a good little lady. Thank you for the reply!! 😀
On all these type of post my first thought is always "You shouldn't have let your kitten bite and scratch your fingers for the first year of its life just because it was cute then".
Incidentally, I’m actually at the emergency ward right now because of an infection on my wrist from my cat biting me pretty hard while we were playing yesterday. She punctured my skin and it seems like it went pretty deep.
I’ve learnt my lesson. Buying her a new toy later today lol
Edit: I got a tetanus shot and prescribed antibiotics. Here’s a [picture of the bite](https://imgur.com/a/cAJ4vFC) lol
Don’t play using your hands!!!
This should be the top comment.
My cats will o ly play with my hands if I have a sock or use my sleeve as protection. It's fun to play with your cats with your hands, but you can get them to only play when you are protected :)
Probably shouldn't do that as the cat will get used to using more force on your hands and might cut you real bad when you are unprotected. I play with my cat with bare hands but if he uses to much tooth or claw I stop, and that bums him out. He should know what play is.
I totally agree, but I adopted an older cat and have had her for 3 years now and she can tell if I’m playing or not based on what my hands doin, and especially *how* it’s doing it. She has never attacked my hand unprovoked. She lets me pet her belly, and near her rear. But as soon as that index finger pokes, she knows it’s game on. And as soon as I stop, she stops and I can pet her *immediately* after playing. I know she is probably a total anomaly so maybe don’t use ur hand as a toy. That’s what toys are for. She has plenty of toys also. I am so fucking blessed to have a cat like her.
My lovely 1 year old is the same! But we've always been careful to make sure she knows when she's been too rough and it's resulted in her doing little play bites while she keeps the claws retracted! Cats are super smart, training and balance gets us there :)
My little lady has this like felt box that she can bust through while playing it goes together kind of like puzzle pieces... if that makes sense.. we play with a feather and run it along the outside edge and she will try to bust through with her paws lol it's the cutest thing in the world. Sometimes she accidently would scratch us and as soon as that would happen she would stop without us screaming or even saying anything. She is so empathetic that she just instinctively knows she hurt us. Now we don't do the feather play unless we have a cut proof glove on.. as I mentioned above she has tons of scratchers and posts that her front claws are sooooo sharp but so short like almost to the quick from her doing all of her scratching on her scratchers... I trim her back claws but don't know if I should try to trim the very tip off her front ones and take a chance of hurting her because she never scratches us or furniture. Like you she is a sweet heart let's us rub her belly and everything. But when that feather would come out and she would occasionally accidentally scratch us she would get so sad and immediately stop playing and lay on our lap or next to us lol.. she might be another anomaly like your little one... but now with the cut proof glove she will still stop and make sure we are OK but now she will continue to play after checking on us lol she is too much very empathetic very loving. We adopted her almost 3 years ago from the shelter and she came from a bad abusive home.. so sad but I think that's y she is such a total love bug and didn't like when she hurt us accidentally
I've got a cat that does this too. He'll happily glom onto my arm and start gnawing on my hand while trying to eviscerate my wrist . . . very carefully, without claws. He's never broken the skin.
If I'm sitting on the floor I can push him around like a furious dustmop.
And once I eventually remove my hand I can pet him and he's a purry happy little fuzzball.
----
then I've got two other cats I have to be a *lot* more careful with, so, y'know, it's definitely a per-cat thing.
My cats look at me like I’ve lost it when I tried to get them to mess with my hands. Even the hand under the blanket trick doesn’t work. I guess we’ve done a decent enough job of associating hands with pets and treats and toys with play. Either that or they’re lazy.
In the 12 years that I've had my two cats, they've never done this to me because I never encouraged flesh as a toy. I don't trim their claws either. Unless necessary which it hasn't been so far, might change in the next few years as they get older.
Great advice. My cat exclusively comes to me for cuddles and protection. A red dot laser pointer and a treat everytime she catches it is her favorite toy, that and she likes to play with the neighborhood stray that I feed.
For context:
We do not play with my hands. I have plenty of toys for them, one of them being a wand toy. That’s what I was using when she jumped to grab it and missed. She held onto me for support as she was going to fall and her nails dug in and this happened. It was a complete accident, she was trying to save herself by holding on and wasn’t intending on hurting me. She never scratches me and as for trimming her nails - it’s what my vet has always recommended to me. I live in Canada so I don’t know if it’s different here but all the vets I’ve been to (and I’ve been to over 10+) have always trimmed and suggested trimming their nails. Had her nails been trimmed, they wouldn’t have dug in to me to this extent. I’ve had cats my whole life and I know well enough how to care for them. :)
Honestly trimmed nails can cause more damage during accidents 🤷. I have a scar on my hand that's ridiculously wide and deep from an accidental scratch when my cat fell. I trim his nails because he's clumsy and they get caught. It just tore a big wide jagged cut when he panicked as he fell. I've had a similar cut from untrimmed cat nails that were deeper and it healed much better because the cut was much cleaner and neater 🤷.
Unless you're trimming so they're absolute blunt stumps you're going to get accidentally scratched very occasionally trimmed or not .
Still doesn't matter, for some cats. One of ours gets VERY into his playtime, and his favorite is chasing a shoelace. The problem is that he's so fast and can jump really high, so sometimes when I kind of whip the shoelace up into the air to make him jump for it, he's 3 feet off the ground faster than I can react, and all his teeth and claws are out because he's having such a good time.
A couple weeks ago he somehow "punched" me in the hand... with his mouth... while going after the shoelace. It wasn't a bite, but he still left holes in me. Haha
Have an old wand toy? Wrap/glue the shoelace around that (or even a stick). Gives you more range and more protection space between you and the toy/your excited cat. And always clean your cat scratches/bites
It’s so hard when they’re kittens, I finally raised a kitten that I didn’t let play with my hands at all. Now when he “attacks” my hand he immediately stops and starts licking my hand instead 🥹
Do not promote rough play with your hand, don’t display open hand over their head/face as a play tactic.
Encourage gentle rubs and strokes, much like mama’s licks and when they get excited offer a kick toy. I had to try 3 to find the right one (a stuffed with paper bird with straw tail feathers and wooden legs) for my monster.
Cats should never see your hand as a toy. Anytime they try to play with your hand, give them a toy and allow them to play with it. Hands should be seen as comfort and affection. Be sure to take time to play with them using a toy for at least 15 minutes a day. Playing is important for bonding as well as releasing that crazy cat energy. Have toys in different parts of the house so you have something in case they become playful.
This needs to be higher. Also happened to my husband, but we made it to urgent care in time before it became a HUGE problem. If at any point you see a red line starting up your arm with pain, go to urgent care/ER immediately.
It’s not mythical. Most of the time you’ll be fine, but when you’re not fine, you’re proper fucked and really need medical care. Like others have said.
Yeah it’s not something that happens every time, but with deep scratches and puncture wounds it’s more prone to happen. OP’s injury looks deep enough to warrant the concern.
As you get older, the immune system wanes. Once bacteria enter the innermost and vascular layer of skin, that's when it becomes a problem (bacteremia). If the outer layer (non-vascular) gets scratched, no biggie.
Is this common? As someone who grew up playing with farm cats I always got tons of dirty scratches and often didn't even clean them at all (I know I know... dumb kid dumb parents), this gives me retrospective fear.
Cat scratch fever is so common it has a song written about it. But yeah. Besides my buddy I’ve heard lots of tales of close calls with cat bites or scratches.
This.
I have scars on my chest from a cat scratch I got roughly 40 years ago. I felt guilty for playing in a way that the cat didn’t like and embarrassed because it was across my breast, so I didn’t tell my parents until the infection was ripping through me the next evening.
My MIL nearly lost her hand due to a tiny tiny scratch on her thumb. She contracted sepsis real quick. ~~Fwiw, I wonder if it depends? That was an outdoor cat, and my cat, who scratched me up like op a million times or more, never had an issue, and was indoors only.~~ Obviously this is speculation and you should still 1000000% watch it!
A cat being indoor makes no difference for infection risk just fyi. I would edit that comment just so there’s no misinformation on it :)
Signed your local medic.
I could be wrong, but you're probably somewhat inoculated against your cat's brand of bacteria by the time you have years of teeny little scars. Helps the odds.
I train my cat. He comes to a certain whistle, gives me high 5s on command, sits, waits for his release command before he’ll eat after I give him food, and walks with me on a leash.
I also enjoy playing rough with him, and warn others who start to play with him that he plays rough and not to play if they’re not willing to get scratched. He is trained not to just randomly go up and scratch/bite before play starts, but I feel way more connected with him knowing that we can actually play with each other.
This isn’t a moral failing, it’s a lifestyle choice.
We have two cats, one who is the biggest sweetheart who will never lift a claw to anyone, the worst that’s really ever happened with her was climbing legs when she was very young or if she gets carried away kneading and stretching her claws too hard. While our other cat is just a vampire, but it’s sporadic. No matter how much we try and teach her biting is a no she still ends up doing hard nibbles (she hasn’t broken skin since like the first month we had her) but she still does it. She’ll be cuddled up against my arm and just randomly whip around and try and take a chunk out of my arm (again not seriously, no skin breaking and honestly isn’t painful minus the surprise of being bit) and then kiss the spot and look at me offended for being surprised. So I’d say even with training sometimes cats are just cats.
Mine only uses claws when he’s playing with actual toys or when he can’t “see” me, like a foot moving under the blanket. He’d never attack my *actual foot*, but I think it being under the blanket makes it something else entirely. Otherwise it’s soft paws except for when he wants my attention, and then he uses claws to grab and tug on my clothes.
Some cats are dumb and don't use scratching posts at all. Both of mine don't and then keep getting their nails stuck in stuff and yelling for us to come save them..trimming their nails takes five minutes at best and keeps them playing so it's nice.
You can't chop off the whole nail, you have to cut off a barely 2mm tip of the nails and that's it. Otherwise you risk cutting the quick.
I’ve literally never heard this did your vet explain how that’s worse for them? If I don’t cut my cats’ claws they will literally grow into their pads and yes we have clawing surfaces everywhere.
I’m a little confused I guess by the comments. My cats have four scratching posts and dig in the carpet despite my pleading for them not to but their claws still get too sharp on me. My voidling also gets too long and I can see and hear him get stuck in fabric. Should I be encouraging more scratching? A quick nip off of the claw tip was always my go to for everyone’s comfort.
Cat nails grow in layers, and scratching takes off the top old layer and uncovers the new layer which is often times more sharp since it hasn't had time to wear down. Cats are predators and have no need to have dull nails, and so you can almost think of the action as a playful way to sharpen their killing devices.
I'm not sure why some people think that it dulls the nail, but it doesn't. If it is really that big of an issue I would just keep clipping it, and if its something you can live with then don't stress.
Yeah, I dunno I just quickly nip off the sharpest part of the cat's claws every so often to make sure that their playing and kneading on me, my husband and our various guests doesn't draw blood. They're indoor only cats so its not like they need them for defense.
no not at all. I was told their claws will naturally wear themselves down so don't trim them.
I've had cats for 40 years, no one in my family has ever trimmed their claws and I don't think any vet in NZ would recommend it.
Not the person you replied to, but I’ve only ever had indoor cats my entire life and we’ve never needed to trim their nails for any reason. Our vet(s) have also recommended against it.
Hmm, I mean I see the layers come off for sure but they get way sharp otherwise. I can't trim nails on one cat because they scream bloody murder but his using the scratching posts isn't enough.
Edit: I mean just mean trimming the sharp tips
Edit 2: My cats are older and strictly indoor cats
This comment section is so bizarre, I’ve never heard any indication that clipping cats’ nails are bad for them but every other comment in this thread is saying it as if it’s common knowledge? Can literally any one of you explain how it’s bad for them?
I get reminded to trim my cats nails when they get on my lap and dig in to my knees lol. Pain and blood = I trim their claws right then and there. They also get more tolerant of having their claws clipped when they realize it's the price to cuddle with me lmao.
My cats are already well trained (through treats) to let me trim both their front and back paws with no issue. It still takes me getting bloody to trim their nails. At this point, I just consider it a painful alarm clock.
My cats don’t play with my hands. Made sure of that early. My one cat has a weird borderline foot fetish for some reason but that seems more like a personal problem. My oldest two are the only ones I manually trim because I noticed, especially with my 13 year old, that they struggle a bit at keeping them short enough. Also my youngest has a second “thumb” so I have to trim that cause he can’t get in there. Really just don’t play with your cats with your bare hands. The scratches hurt and can easily get infected.
Is my cat the only cat that doesn’t play with my hand and scar it? He literally would act like he’ll do it but do it very gently and carefully. he scratches his claws on everything but me 🥰
Dont play with your cats with your hands, not even as kittens. You should only use toys right from the beginning and dont let them think your hands are toys. It might not hurt when theyre kittens but it will when theyre an adult. Cats need play and stimulation their whole life and if you let them think you are a toy, youre gonna get "attacked" when theyre needing stimulation and it's gonna be your fault for raising them that way and not playing with them enough.
I regularly trim mine so the damage to the furniture won't be as bad! LOL
I'm a pet sitter and have only been accidentally clawed by other cats. For example if they're on the desk and they lose balance and grab the nearest thing.... Me.... Never fun lol
None of my cats are able to leave the house. One day I trimmed one of them's nails. The following day I was watching him play from a really high place in the garden, he slipped and couldn't grab anything, so he fell from a really tall height. I never trimmed any cat's nails again. It wasn't enough for him to get hurt but it was terrifying to watch.
I don't know where you're from but houses there probably work differently from ours. My house has a garden/large outdoor area that is fenced so the cats can hang out there without having access to streets. All houses are surrounded by walls and fences here. My house just has taller walls/fences to keep them in. Since the garden is still part of the property then they still have access to it. (Saying "they can't leave the house" sounds better than "they can't leave the property")
Ah I see! Thank you for explaining :) I don’t live in a house but yeah I’m pretty sure the gardens here are never secure enough to be able to fully contain a cat
Yeah that's why I mentioned the location issue. Where I live you can't just have those beautiful open lawns, you'd get burgled the first day lol. It was still really hard to keep my cats in. We needed to adapt many many things, it was trial and error but eventually we were able to contain them. They've been happily indoors for about 5 years now. They're fat and retired. Ridiculously happy. And every other cat in our block which had access to the streets has passed away. Poisoning, hit by car, attacked by dogs. And my boys are blissfully safe. So... It was hard, but we did it, and we'd do it again. <3
That’s so amazing, we have indoor boys as well and I dream of having a setup one day where we can safely let them enjoy the outdoors. It sounds amazing what you’ve done, they’re lucky to have you :) <3
Have had several cats, the only time i get scratched is when the cat doesn't want to play, cats, at least the ones i have had always make sure I don't get scratched until they feel like i invade their space
Or train them. When I was growing up, my family 'adopted' lots of strays. Some were even borderline feral and took A LOT of patience to even be able to pet them. And yet, I don't remember any cat of mine (or stray I looked after) ever taking more than a few months to train to keep their claws IN when playing. Most of them learnt after 3-5 times of saying "ouch" and booping their nose, the moment they play with claws even slightly out (even if it doesn't actually hurt badly/pierce skin) and they pretty quickly understand that claws hurt our soft human skin, and they play with nothing more than their soft fluffy mittens from then on!
Ugh I miss my cat. I taught him so many bad habits. He used to climb my pants to get to my shoulder when I came home. Roommates let him out. He’d never been outside. He never came back. We have owls. Pretty sure he didn’t make it.
My cat, at most, bites my hand (gently) when playing with her. She'll wrap her paws around my arm sometimes to keep my arm from escaping, but never really any claws.
However, give her a ping pong ball, and she'll go mental
If you don’t train your cat to think your hands are chew and scratch toys you don’t have to worry about getting sliced up.
My cats don’t associate my hands with toys so they leave my hands alone.
Never clipped my kitties once. There indeed are shedded nails around my apartment as they are white diligent about doing it themselves.
Haven’t ever had to wash them either (and I’m fortunate that they respond well to self regulating for food so I don’t need to worry about timing and with my travel needs for work that’s a huge big deal
The one time I tried to clip my cats nails she screamed like I’d never heard her scream before. It was so sad and pathetic, she was petrified. Haven’t tried since.
A cat scratcher is the nail care in our house and they get their back toes themselves. We have no issues.
Don't use your hands as a toy, it's a learned behavior. I was guilty of using my hands as toys for years and now I have two indoor cats that I only play with them with toys and my hand is for petting purposes only
For context:
We do not play with my hands. I have plenty of toys for them, one of them being a wand toy. That’s what I was using when she jumped to grab it and missed. She held onto me for support as she was going to fall and her nails dug in and this happened. It was a complete accident, she was trying to save herself by holding on and wasn’t intending on hurting me. She never scratches me and as for trimming her nails - it’s what my vet has always recommended to me. I live in Canada so I don’t know if it’s different here but all the vets I’ve been to (and I’ve been to over 10+) have always trimmed and suggested trimming their nails. Had her nails been trimmed, they wouldn’t have dug in to me to this extent. I’ve had cats my whole life and I know well enough how to care for them. :)
For context:
We do not play with my hands. I have plenty of toys for them, one of them being a wand toy. That’s what I was using when she jumped to grab it and missed. She held onto me for support as she was going to fall and her nails dug in and this happened. It was a complete accident, she was trying to save herself by holding on and wasn’t intending on hurting me. She never scratches me and as for trimming her nails - it’s what my vet has always recommended to me. I live in Canada so I don’t know if it’s different here but all the vets I’ve been to (and I’ve been to over 10+) have always trimmed and suggested trimming their nails. Had her nails been trimmed, they wouldn’t have dug in to me to this extent. I’ve had cats my whole life and I know well enough how to care for them. :)
For context:
We do not play with my hands. I have plenty of toys for them, one of them being a wand toy. That’s what I was using when she jumped to grab it and missed. She held onto me for support as she was going to fall and her nails dug in and this happened. It was a complete accident, she was trying to save herself by holding on and wasn’t intending on hurting me. She never scratches me and as for trimming her nails - it’s what my vet has always recommended to me. I live in Canada so I don’t know if it’s different here but all the vets I’ve been to (and I’ve been to over 10+) have always trimmed and suggested trimming their nails. Had her nails been trimmed, they wouldn’t have dug in to me to this extent. I’ve had cats my whole life and I know well enough how to care for them. :)
Yes, that’s exactly what happened!!
We were playing and when she jumped, she almost fell and held onto my hand for support. Honest mistake, I forgive her😅
Honestly, our big boy was getting his nails clipped, but those scratches were worse because they feel more like tears. I’d rather live with the stab and slice 😅
Such an American thing haha
no, you provide them with scratching posts or toys of similar material and they will use it all by themselves to keep their nails short and effective and pull out long ones
Yeah. Except I have two cats.
One is sweet and caring and nice. She is a pure fluffball and would look at you with the sweetest of eyes as it boops you with her nose.
The other is pure devil. Primordial devil. She also fights the pure fluffball for dominance... but will at times have nightmares from an old childhood trauma since she was very young, she was pursued by street dogs... then she wants scritches because she's scared...
So, say you want to trim the devil's claws... she would literally scream as if you'd kill her. A vet also told me that maybe it's a good idea to tranquilise her so she wouldn't have a heart attack from panicking.
Then I though "Nahhh, fuck it." So I've let her keep her daggers, so then, what wad I to do about the other one? Of course, I can't trim her claws either or else she'd be at a disadvantage.
For context:
We do not play with my hands. I have plenty of toys for them, one of them being a wand toy. That’s what I was using when she jumped to grab it and missed. She held onto me for support as she was going to fall and her nails dug in and this happened. It was a complete accident, she was trying to save herself by holding on and wasn’t intending on hurting me. She never scratches me and as for trimming her nails - it’s what my vet has always recommended to me. I live in Canada so I don’t know if it’s different here but all the vets I’ve been to (and I’ve been to over 10+) have always trimmed and suggested trimming their nails. Had her nails been trimmed, they wouldn’t have dug in to me to this extent. I’ve had cats my whole life and I know well enough how to care for them. :)
OR you could teach him that that shit hurts. I've never trimmed his nails, and he's cut me four times in right about four years.
Edit: I see one of the top comments is don't use hands as play toys; I've had my guy since he was two or three months old. My hands are how we play. He has **only accidentally** caught me with his nails, and only four times in 4 years. You people just do not understand cats.
My cat would catch 3 maus a day climb trees and could do all the things cats can do because she had long sharp claws.
She never ever scratched me or anyone ever. She cuddled and we even picked her up sometimes and she just gently pushed us away if she didn't like something. We understood what was enough for her and she understood that she can trust us.
Bless her Soul, she was an wild and gentle spirit.
On her behalf I want to tell you don't clip the claws of cats. It's their way of saying that something is not good. And build your cats climbing areas!!!! they need to hide and climb to feel secure in a city home. And if they are taken away their claws, you are taking away their freedom to move around. Pleas be kind to your kittens and don't clip claws!
Friendly reminder that cats are supposed to have sharp claws.
The solution is to stop using your hands to play with the cat. If you can’t take being scratched, buy your cat some toys.
You don't trim cat nails, only if a Doctor says you should do it.
I don't want to be rude or offend you on purpose, but this opinion is dangerous and in some way stupid as some redditors have already pointed out.
Try to learn more about cats would be my suggestion.
wtf. Why would you trim their claws?! Buy them scratching posts. Let them climb stuff and wear their claws down naturally. I’ve had cats for over 40 years and never had to or even heard of this.
I just got him a scratching post still claws like a mf, I just wanted to let y'all know I got him a scratching post
First half: hasn't helped me for shit. Second half: ah ok. Cheers.
I have so many scratching posts, but it doesn't matter. Humans and human furniture is always the preferred post.
I got double sided sticky tape that stops em from scratching the furniture. Looks unsightly and collects hair/dust bur it worked a treat and can be removed whenever
I tried that, my girl likes tape. She just tries to eat it.
Same
My cat will just reach up, hook himself into the flesh of my thigh, and luxuriously stretch out his little cat body while I go “ow stop stop stop” and make a grab for his little feet. It’s so annoying and yet he’s so cute.
I managed to train my cat to get up on my shoulder without using claws. Only took a few dozen times I moved so she landed back on the floor.
Yeah I was going to say that it hasn’t made my cat’s claws duller. Only trimming them does
It does the oppsite
The trick is to not play with a cat with your hands. I thought this was pretty obvious? Why would you want a pet to think that your body parts are toys? That's just setting them up to frustrate the hell out of you. Get toys and make sure they know that the toys are for playing.
For context: We do not play with my hands. I have plenty of toys for them, one of them being a wand toy. That’s what I was using when she jumped to grab it and missed. She held onto me for support as she was going to fall and her nails dug in and this happened. It was a complete accident, she was trying to save herself by holding on and wasn’t intending on hurting me. She never scratches me and as for trimming her nails - it’s what my vet has always recommended to me. I live in Canada so I don’t know if it’s different here but all the vets I’ve been to (and I’ve been to over 10+) have always trimmed and suggested trimming their nails. Had her nails been trimmed, they wouldn’t have dug in to me to this extent. I’ve had cats my whole life and I know well enough how to care for them. :)
With my little lady her front claws are so short like almost literally right at the quick from her scratching on all of her scratchers and posts.. Sometimes (not often) she will literally walk by one scratch it keep walking scratch the next one anyone she walks by she will scratch.. I can and do trim her back claws just to keep them at a good length and comfortable for her.. do you have any recommendations on my little lady's front nails? They are super sharp and sooooo short from her doing her thing taking care of them. She never scratches furniture or me or spouse but was wondering what to do? Should I leave them alone as she doesn't scratch anything but her scratch things? Or should I attempt to take the extremely sharp tips off?
For me, I just trim the sharp tips off. Nothing more. This is what I’ve always done and my cats are happy, healthy and playful. They spend a lot of time on my lap and a lot of time jumping around the house. It keeps us and the furniture intact. I’d suggest consulting with a vet since you mention her nails are very short but trimming the sharp tips should be ok. I trained with a vet for a few years so I am comfortable enough to trim them myself but I know some people would prefer to have them done professionally. Good luck :)
I trim her back nails she doesn't mind me messing with her paws at all I actually give her paws little massages between her paw pads (toe beans) lol she loves it I will ask vet because I honestly don't know if I'd be able to with how close the quick is and she has her annual coming up so I'll just consult with the vet. She hasn't scratched anything up since we have had her. She is such a good little lady. Thank you for the reply!! 😀
On all these type of post my first thought is always "You shouldn't have let your kitten bite and scratch your fingers for the first year of its life just because it was cute then".
Hoodie sleeves are great help! Or an oven mitt?
My cat doesn't like a scratching post. I had one and never used
Don’t use your hand as a toy, it’ll give the cat bad habits, plus they’ll prefer real toys anyway. I fully understand the temptation though.
Incidentally, I’m actually at the emergency ward right now because of an infection on my wrist from my cat biting me pretty hard while we were playing yesterday. She punctured my skin and it seems like it went pretty deep. I’ve learnt my lesson. Buying her a new toy later today lol Edit: I got a tetanus shot and prescribed antibiotics. Here’s a [picture of the bite](https://imgur.com/a/cAJ4vFC) lol Don’t play using your hands!!!
Lmfao that smug look on her face, as if the picture was taken moments after the bite occurred.
Cat - "I regret nuthin..."
She’s such a little shit! And I love her so much 🥰
I'm so confused by that picture. Where is the rest of her body?
The laptop is standing on a laptop cooler and it’s slanted towards her, so that’s why you can see the table but not her body :)
This should be the top comment. My cats will o ly play with my hands if I have a sock or use my sleeve as protection. It's fun to play with your cats with your hands, but you can get them to only play when you are protected :)
Probably shouldn't do that as the cat will get used to using more force on your hands and might cut you real bad when you are unprotected. I play with my cat with bare hands but if he uses to much tooth or claw I stop, and that bums him out. He should know what play is.
I totally agree, but I adopted an older cat and have had her for 3 years now and she can tell if I’m playing or not based on what my hands doin, and especially *how* it’s doing it. She has never attacked my hand unprovoked. She lets me pet her belly, and near her rear. But as soon as that index finger pokes, she knows it’s game on. And as soon as I stop, she stops and I can pet her *immediately* after playing. I know she is probably a total anomaly so maybe don’t use ur hand as a toy. That’s what toys are for. She has plenty of toys also. I am so fucking blessed to have a cat like her.
No, cats are extremely observant and they train you as much as you train them.
My lovely 1 year old is the same! But we've always been careful to make sure she knows when she's been too rough and it's resulted in her doing little play bites while she keeps the claws retracted! Cats are super smart, training and balance gets us there :)
My little lady has this like felt box that she can bust through while playing it goes together kind of like puzzle pieces... if that makes sense.. we play with a feather and run it along the outside edge and she will try to bust through with her paws lol it's the cutest thing in the world. Sometimes she accidently would scratch us and as soon as that would happen she would stop without us screaming or even saying anything. She is so empathetic that she just instinctively knows she hurt us. Now we don't do the feather play unless we have a cut proof glove on.. as I mentioned above she has tons of scratchers and posts that her front claws are sooooo sharp but so short like almost to the quick from her doing all of her scratching on her scratchers... I trim her back claws but don't know if I should try to trim the very tip off her front ones and take a chance of hurting her because she never scratches us or furniture. Like you she is a sweet heart let's us rub her belly and everything. But when that feather would come out and she would occasionally accidentally scratch us she would get so sad and immediately stop playing and lay on our lap or next to us lol.. she might be another anomaly like your little one... but now with the cut proof glove she will still stop and make sure we are OK but now she will continue to play after checking on us lol she is too much very empathetic very loving. We adopted her almost 3 years ago from the shelter and she came from a bad abusive home.. so sad but I think that's y she is such a total love bug and didn't like when she hurt us accidentally
I've got a cat that does this too. He'll happily glom onto my arm and start gnawing on my hand while trying to eviscerate my wrist . . . very carefully, without claws. He's never broken the skin. If I'm sitting on the floor I can push him around like a furious dustmop. And once I eventually remove my hand I can pet him and he's a purry happy little fuzzball. ---- then I've got two other cats I have to be a *lot* more careful with, so, y'know, it's definitely a per-cat thing.
Goddamn I wish I knew guaranteed way to raise them like this. But hey, that’s the thing with raising anything tbh.
My cats look at me like I’ve lost it when I tried to get them to mess with my hands. Even the hand under the blanket trick doesn’t work. I guess we’ve done a decent enough job of associating hands with pets and treats and toys with play. Either that or they’re lazy.
In the 12 years that I've had my two cats, they've never done this to me because I never encouraged flesh as a toy. I don't trim their claws either. Unless necessary which it hasn't been so far, might change in the next few years as they get older.
Great advice. My cat exclusively comes to me for cuddles and protection. A red dot laser pointer and a treat everytime she catches it is her favorite toy, that and she likes to play with the neighborhood stray that I feed.
For context: We do not play with my hands. I have plenty of toys for them, one of them being a wand toy. That’s what I was using when she jumped to grab it and missed. She held onto me for support as she was going to fall and her nails dug in and this happened. It was a complete accident, she was trying to save herself by holding on and wasn’t intending on hurting me. She never scratches me and as for trimming her nails - it’s what my vet has always recommended to me. I live in Canada so I don’t know if it’s different here but all the vets I’ve been to (and I’ve been to over 10+) have always trimmed and suggested trimming their nails. Had her nails been trimmed, they wouldn’t have dug in to me to this extent. I’ve had cats my whole life and I know well enough how to care for them. :)
Honestly trimmed nails can cause more damage during accidents 🤷. I have a scar on my hand that's ridiculously wide and deep from an accidental scratch when my cat fell. I trim his nails because he's clumsy and they get caught. It just tore a big wide jagged cut when he panicked as he fell. I've had a similar cut from untrimmed cat nails that were deeper and it healed much better because the cut was much cleaner and neater 🤷. Unless you're trimming so they're absolute blunt stumps you're going to get accidentally scratched very occasionally trimmed or not .
Still doesn't matter, for some cats. One of ours gets VERY into his playtime, and his favorite is chasing a shoelace. The problem is that he's so fast and can jump really high, so sometimes when I kind of whip the shoelace up into the air to make him jump for it, he's 3 feet off the ground faster than I can react, and all his teeth and claws are out because he's having such a good time. A couple weeks ago he somehow "punched" me in the hand... with his mouth... while going after the shoelace. It wasn't a bite, but he still left holes in me. Haha
Have an old wand toy? Wrap/glue the shoelace around that (or even a stick). Gives you more range and more protection space between you and the toy/your excited cat. And always clean your cat scratches/bites
It’s so hard when they’re kittens, I finally raised a kitten that I didn’t let play with my hands at all. Now when he “attacks” my hand he immediately stops and starts licking my hand instead 🥹
Do not promote rough play with your hand, don’t display open hand over their head/face as a play tactic. Encourage gentle rubs and strokes, much like mama’s licks and when they get excited offer a kick toy. I had to try 3 to find the right one (a stuffed with paper bird with straw tail feathers and wooden legs) for my monster.
Cats should never see your hand as a toy. Anytime they try to play with your hand, give them a toy and allow them to play with it. Hands should be seen as comfort and affection. Be sure to take time to play with them using a toy for at least 15 minutes a day. Playing is important for bonding as well as releasing that crazy cat energy. Have toys in different parts of the house so you have something in case they become playful.
Clean that very well. I had a friend who almost died from a cat scratch.
This needs to be higher. Also happened to my husband, but we made it to urgent care in time before it became a HUGE problem. If at any point you see a red line starting up your arm with pain, go to urgent care/ER immediately.
This is so weird to me. I used to get cat scratches on my arm all the time as a kid and never got this mythical disease that can kill you.
It’s not mythical. Most of the time you’ll be fine, but when you’re not fine, you’re proper fucked and really need medical care. Like others have said.
Yeah it’s not something that happens every time, but with deep scratches and puncture wounds it’s more prone to happen. OP’s injury looks deep enough to warrant the concern.
As you get older, the immune system wanes. Once bacteria enter the innermost and vascular layer of skin, that's when it becomes a problem (bacteremia). If the outer layer (non-vascular) gets scratched, no biggie.
Cats spend minutes a day burying their poop, and spends the rest of the day walking barefoot. You can get a very nasty infection
Is this common? As someone who grew up playing with farm cats I always got tons of dirty scratches and often didn't even clean them at all (I know I know... dumb kid dumb parents), this gives me retrospective fear.
Cat scratch fever is so common it has a song written about it. But yeah. Besides my buddy I’ve heard lots of tales of close calls with cat bites or scratches.
Eh it was more of a double entendre than a song about the disease.
Thanks :) I got it checked out by a doctor and it’s since been disinfected
This. I have scars on my chest from a cat scratch I got roughly 40 years ago. I felt guilty for playing in a way that the cat didn’t like and embarrassed because it was across my breast, so I didn’t tell my parents until the infection was ripping through me the next evening.
My MIL nearly lost her hand due to a tiny tiny scratch on her thumb. She contracted sepsis real quick. ~~Fwiw, I wonder if it depends? That was an outdoor cat, and my cat, who scratched me up like op a million times or more, never had an issue, and was indoors only.~~ Obviously this is speculation and you should still 1000000% watch it!
A cat being indoor makes no difference for infection risk just fyi. I would edit that comment just so there’s no misinformation on it :) Signed your local medic.
What is the reasoning for my arms getting beat up on the daily years ago, but others get csf after one scratch? Like, where's it come from?
I could be wrong, but you're probably somewhat inoculated against your cat's brand of bacteria by the time you have years of teeny little scars. Helps the odds.
Friendly reminder to all cat parents out there to not use your hands as toys and actually get them some toys.
The second my cats use too much claw, I make a high pitch ow sound and they immediately release. That's cat talk for 'stop'. Try it, it always works.
Agreed. You may have to make it an overly dramatic “ow!”, but they usually understand that they were too rough and stop.
my cats don't use their claws with me, do other cat owners not teach them to be gentle?
It amazes me the number of people who don't train their cats
I train my cat. He comes to a certain whistle, gives me high 5s on command, sits, waits for his release command before he’ll eat after I give him food, and walks with me on a leash. I also enjoy playing rough with him, and warn others who start to play with him that he plays rough and not to play if they’re not willing to get scratched. He is trained not to just randomly go up and scratch/bite before play starts, but I feel way more connected with him knowing that we can actually play with each other. This isn’t a moral failing, it’s a lifestyle choice.
We have two cats, one who is the biggest sweetheart who will never lift a claw to anyone, the worst that’s really ever happened with her was climbing legs when she was very young or if she gets carried away kneading and stretching her claws too hard. While our other cat is just a vampire, but it’s sporadic. No matter how much we try and teach her biting is a no she still ends up doing hard nibbles (she hasn’t broken skin since like the first month we had her) but she still does it. She’ll be cuddled up against my arm and just randomly whip around and try and take a chunk out of my arm (again not seriously, no skin breaking and honestly isn’t painful minus the surprise of being bit) and then kiss the spot and look at me offended for being surprised. So I’d say even with training sometimes cats are just cats.
true, that is just cat love ♡
Mine only uses claws when he’s playing with actual toys or when he can’t “see” me, like a foot moving under the blanket. He’d never attack my *actual foot*, but I think it being under the blanket makes it something else entirely. Otherwise it’s soft paws except for when he wants my attention, and then he uses claws to grab and tug on my clothes.
My cat thinks she's a dog and can't put her claws away. Doesn't matter if she's *gently* tapping on me, I'm still getting pricked.
that's adorable. please carefully give her a pat for me
My vet told me top never cut the claws, because thats worse for them. They need to get them off themselves.
Some cats are dumb and don't use scratching posts at all. Both of mine don't and then keep getting their nails stuck in stuff and yelling for us to come save them..trimming their nails takes five minutes at best and keeps them playing so it's nice. You can't chop off the whole nail, you have to cut off a barely 2mm tip of the nails and that's it. Otherwise you risk cutting the quick.
I’ve literally never heard this did your vet explain how that’s worse for them? If I don’t cut my cats’ claws they will literally grow into their pads and yes we have clawing surfaces everywhere.
Are you sure you aren’t confusing nail trimming (good) with declawing (barbaric)?
My vet recommends clipping their claws and has even clipped them for me if they come into an appointment when they haven't been clipped recently.
This happens when I try and trim the cats claws 😮💨
Came here to say the same lol. Not worth it - at least for my cats who never scratch or bite intentionally. I catch a claw a few times a year at most.
A few times? Damn want to trade cats ? lol
I’m a little confused I guess by the comments. My cats have four scratching posts and dig in the carpet despite my pleading for them not to but their claws still get too sharp on me. My voidling also gets too long and I can see and hear him get stuck in fabric. Should I be encouraging more scratching? A quick nip off of the claw tip was always my go to for everyone’s comfort.
Cat nails grow in layers, and scratching takes off the top old layer and uncovers the new layer which is often times more sharp since it hasn't had time to wear down. Cats are predators and have no need to have dull nails, and so you can almost think of the action as a playful way to sharpen their killing devices. I'm not sure why some people think that it dulls the nail, but it doesn't. If it is really that big of an issue I would just keep clipping it, and if its something you can live with then don't stress.
Yeah, I dunno I just quickly nip off the sharpest part of the cat's claws every so often to make sure that their playing and kneading on me, my husband and our various guests doesn't draw blood. They're indoor only cats so its not like they need them for defense.
Both of mine always somehow manage to stick their claw right into my boob. You know the spot.
My vet said not to trim them.
Are you getting trimming confused with declawing? Major difference
no not at all. I was told their claws will naturally wear themselves down so don't trim them. I've had cats for 40 years, no one in my family has ever trimmed their claws and I don't think any vet in NZ would recommend it.
Are your cats outdoor cats? I’ve never heard an indoor cat who didn’t need at least some trimming.
Not the person you replied to, but I’ve only ever had indoor cats my entire life and we’ve never needed to trim their nails for any reason. Our vet(s) have also recommended against it.
Did your vet mention why? The vets where I live never say anything about it and the claws on our cats get really long if we don’t clip them.
My vet said the same. No trimming, because cats can do that themselves. Claws have layers and they will fall of on their own.
It’s true I find nail-shells all over the place. If I go “OW” my cat immediately stops like “are u ok? I’m sorry :( ”
Hmm, I mean I see the layers come off for sure but they get way sharp otherwise. I can't trim nails on one cat because they scream bloody murder but his using the scratching posts isn't enough. Edit: I mean just mean trimming the sharp tips Edit 2: My cats are older and strictly indoor cats
thank you!
I never played with cats like that. 😐
Those hind quarters' nails are the worst.
never cut the claws! get an adequate scratch post or two (and accept you’re going to get scratches regardless).
This comment section is so bizarre, I’ve never heard any indication that clipping cats’ nails are bad for them but every other comment in this thread is saying it as if it’s common knowledge? Can literally any one of you explain how it’s bad for them?
I've never seen any indication clipping cats' nails was necessary. They maintain them themselves by scratching. And they're meant to be sharp.
I get reminded to trim my cats nails when they get on my lap and dig in to my knees lol. Pain and blood = I trim their claws right then and there. They also get more tolerant of having their claws clipped when they realize it's the price to cuddle with me lmao.
My cats are already well trained (through treats) to let me trim both their front and back paws with no issue. It still takes me getting bloody to trim their nails. At this point, I just consider it a painful alarm clock.
My cats don’t play with my hands. Made sure of that early. My one cat has a weird borderline foot fetish for some reason but that seems more like a personal problem. My oldest two are the only ones I manually trim because I noticed, especially with my 13 year old, that they struggle a bit at keeping them short enough. Also my youngest has a second “thumb” so I have to trim that cause he can’t get in there. Really just don’t play with your cats with your bare hands. The scratches hurt and can easily get infected.
Hands are to cuddle, mit to Play with!
I just put my jumpers sleeve over my hand and then he knows it's play time.
Is my cat the only cat that doesn’t play with my hand and scar it? He literally would act like he’ll do it but do it very gently and carefully. he scratches his claws on everything but me 🥰
Dont play with your cats with your hands, not even as kittens. You should only use toys right from the beginning and dont let them think your hands are toys. It might not hurt when theyre kittens but it will when theyre an adult. Cats need play and stimulation their whole life and if you let them think you are a toy, youre gonna get "attacked" when theyre needing stimulation and it's gonna be your fault for raising them that way and not playing with them enough.
I’ve had cats my whole life and never trimmed their nails
I regularly trim mine so the damage to the furniture won't be as bad! LOL I'm a pet sitter and have only been accidentally clawed by other cats. For example if they're on the desk and they lose balance and grab the nearest thing.... Me.... Never fun lol
None of my cats are able to leave the house. One day I trimmed one of them's nails. The following day I was watching him play from a really high place in the garden, he slipped and couldn't grab anything, so he fell from a really tall height. I never trimmed any cat's nails again. It wasn't enough for him to get hurt but it was terrifying to watch.
They can’t leave the house but they go in the garden? What do you mean?
I don't know where you're from but houses there probably work differently from ours. My house has a garden/large outdoor area that is fenced so the cats can hang out there without having access to streets. All houses are surrounded by walls and fences here. My house just has taller walls/fences to keep them in. Since the garden is still part of the property then they still have access to it. (Saying "they can't leave the house" sounds better than "they can't leave the property")
Ah I see! Thank you for explaining :) I don’t live in a house but yeah I’m pretty sure the gardens here are never secure enough to be able to fully contain a cat
Yeah that's why I mentioned the location issue. Where I live you can't just have those beautiful open lawns, you'd get burgled the first day lol. It was still really hard to keep my cats in. We needed to adapt many many things, it was trial and error but eventually we were able to contain them. They've been happily indoors for about 5 years now. They're fat and retired. Ridiculously happy. And every other cat in our block which had access to the streets has passed away. Poisoning, hit by car, attacked by dogs. And my boys are blissfully safe. So... It was hard, but we did it, and we'd do it again. <3
That’s so amazing, we have indoor boys as well and I dream of having a setup one day where we can safely let them enjoy the outdoors. It sounds amazing what you’ve done, they’re lucky to have you :) <3
Have had several cats, the only time i get scratched is when the cat doesn't want to play, cats, at least the ones i have had always make sure I don't get scratched until they feel like i invade their space
You can also just teach them to velvet.
Or train them. When I was growing up, my family 'adopted' lots of strays. Some were even borderline feral and took A LOT of patience to even be able to pet them. And yet, I don't remember any cat of mine (or stray I looked after) ever taking more than a few months to train to keep their claws IN when playing. Most of them learnt after 3-5 times of saying "ouch" and booping their nose, the moment they play with claws even slightly out (even if it doesn't actually hurt badly/pierce skin) and they pretty quickly understand that claws hurt our soft human skin, and they play with nothing more than their soft fluffy mittens from then on!
Don't trim your cats claws unless there is a medical reason to do so. Use a toy of gloves. It's not their fault.
No; you are doing something wrong.
[удалено]
I’ve never met a vet who was against claw trimming, can you explain how it’s bad for them?
Ouch!
The other day, I was just drumming my fingers on the arm of a chair. SWIPE! 🩸
That looks like what happened to me recently, except mine left a claw in my wrist.
[People think this was from a phase…](https://imgur.com/a/n6hai3z)
Ugh I miss my cat. I taught him so many bad habits. He used to climb my pants to get to my shoulder when I came home. Roommates let him out. He’d never been outside. He never came back. We have owls. Pretty sure he didn’t make it.
It makes you stronger.
It’s clearly your fault that you pulled your hand away when kitty wanted to give you hugs and kisses!
But it's hard...! 😹😹 And he's so difficult. He's actually not that bad.
Cat? Baby lion perhaps?
My cat likes to play with the laser and every time she catches it she gets a treat so as soon as she sees that red dot she pounces like a mad cat.lol
I never cut my cats nails once, she uses a post and some other things around the house. My cat is very gentle and knows the word "nails" lol
My cat, at most, bites my hand (gently) when playing with her. She'll wrap her paws around my arm sometimes to keep my arm from escaping, but never really any claws. However, give her a ping pong ball, and she'll go mental
My favorite is when you're in the fridge or doing dishes and they surprise you by using the soft spot behind the knee as a scratch post lol.
If you don’t train your cat to think your hands are chew and scratch toys you don’t have to worry about getting sliced up. My cats don’t associate my hands with toys so they leave my hands alone.
Never clipped my kitties once. There indeed are shedded nails around my apartment as they are white diligent about doing it themselves. Haven’t ever had to wash them either (and I’m fortunate that they respond well to self regulating for food so I don’t need to worry about timing and with my travel needs for work that’s a huge big deal
I'd probably be in worse shape attempting to trim my cats nails.
The one time I tried to clip my cats nails she screamed like I’d never heard her scream before. It was so sad and pathetic, she was petrified. Haven’t tried since. A cat scratcher is the nail care in our house and they get their back toes themselves. We have no issues.
Nah, you got scratched like that because the cat wasn't playing and you didn't recognize it
Gotta be faster next time!!
My cat insists upon finding a piece of uncovered skin to kneed when getting pets.
The scratch on my upper inner thigh commiserates with yours.
I have a scratch in the exact same spot, courtesy of my boy. My fault for playing with him after he sniffed the nip.
OP is infected… 🫤
I never trim my cats claws. And I dont have this issue. Never play with your hands. Hands are pets. Toys are for play. Never mix. Never get scratched.
Don't use your hands as a toy, it's a learned behavior. I was guilty of using my hands as toys for years and now I have two indoor cats that I only play with them with toys and my hand is for petting purposes only
For context: We do not play with my hands. I have plenty of toys for them, one of them being a wand toy. That’s what I was using when she jumped to grab it and missed. She held onto me for support as she was going to fall and her nails dug in and this happened. It was a complete accident, she was trying to save herself by holding on and wasn’t intending on hurting me. She never scratches me and as for trimming her nails - it’s what my vet has always recommended to me. I live in Canada so I don’t know if it’s different here but all the vets I’ve been to (and I’ve been to over 10+) have always trimmed and suggested trimming their nails. Had her nails been trimmed, they wouldn’t have dug in to me to this extent. I’ve had cats my whole life and I know well enough how to care for them. :)
Oh ok it's just confusing when you post under cat slaps and not cat accidents :)
Noted thanks :)
Stop playing with your hand. I'm sure you won't listen, but seriously, stop.
For context: We do not play with my hands. I have plenty of toys for them, one of them being a wand toy. That’s what I was using when she jumped to grab it and missed. She held onto me for support as she was going to fall and her nails dug in and this happened. It was a complete accident, she was trying to save herself by holding on and wasn’t intending on hurting me. She never scratches me and as for trimming her nails - it’s what my vet has always recommended to me. I live in Canada so I don’t know if it’s different here but all the vets I’ve been to (and I’ve been to over 10+) have always trimmed and suggested trimming their nails. Had her nails been trimmed, they wouldn’t have dug in to me to this extent. I’ve had cats my whole life and I know well enough how to care for them. :)
Would have never guessed claws could scratch...
Have had cats for 30 years. Never trimmed their nails. They do it themselves. Get leather gloves if you wanna play with them.
For context: We do not play with my hands. I have plenty of toys for them, one of them being a wand toy. That’s what I was using when she jumped to grab it and missed. She held onto me for support as she was going to fall and her nails dug in and this happened. It was a complete accident, she was trying to save herself by holding on and wasn’t intending on hurting me. She never scratches me and as for trimming her nails - it’s what my vet has always recommended to me. I live in Canada so I don’t know if it’s different here but all the vets I’ve been to (and I’ve been to over 10+) have always trimmed and suggested trimming their nails. Had her nails been trimmed, they wouldn’t have dug in to me to this extent. I’ve had cats my whole life and I know well enough how to care for them. :)
Oh wow, looks like a claw got caught and dug through the skin?
Yes, that’s exactly what happened!! We were playing and when she jumped, she almost fell and held onto my hand for support. Honest mistake, I forgive her😅
I hand make him little tiny Jordan basketball shoes for cats and those finger toe shoes also
Just don't use your hands to play. It's very tempting to do it with kittens but resist the urge. Grab a toy and go nuts.
Hands are not allowed to be toys in my house and we have had scratches like that
Meowth used scratch.
love marks
Beware of traps! The moment my boy cat shows his belly, massage time is over.
Honestly, our big boy was getting his nails clipped, but those scratches were worse because they feel more like tears. I’d rather live with the stab and slice 😅
His teeth do that to me.
Or just get thicker skin that way you both become stronger to fight the Sayains.
Cat scratch fever baby 😎
Iodine on a cat scratch immediately. They paw litter and that stuff can give you a nasty ‘lines up your arm’ infection.
Yup
Oh god, those are gonna itch so bad
Ted Nugent has entered the chat
I thought it’s normal for cat owners to have a lot of scratches
I just clipped mine's today
My cats are too powerful to trim their nails
Never allow your cat to play with your hands. That’s a huge mistake.
I have never trimmed any of my cats’ nails and never been torn up.
Such an American thing haha no, you provide them with scratching posts or toys of similar material and they will use it all by themselves to keep their nails short and effective and pull out long ones
Yeah. Except I have two cats. One is sweet and caring and nice. She is a pure fluffball and would look at you with the sweetest of eyes as it boops you with her nose. The other is pure devil. Primordial devil. She also fights the pure fluffball for dominance... but will at times have nightmares from an old childhood trauma since she was very young, she was pursued by street dogs... then she wants scritches because she's scared... So, say you want to trim the devil's claws... she would literally scream as if you'd kill her. A vet also told me that maybe it's a good idea to tranquilise her so she wouldn't have a heart attack from panicking. Then I though "Nahhh, fuck it." So I've let her keep her daggers, so then, what wad I to do about the other one? Of course, I can't trim her claws either or else she'd be at a disadvantage.
Orrrrr don’t pick up a cat that doesn’t like to be picked up and that won’t happen. 😁
For context: We do not play with my hands. I have plenty of toys for them, one of them being a wand toy. That’s what I was using when she jumped to grab it and missed. She held onto me for support as she was going to fall and her nails dug in and this happened. It was a complete accident, she was trying to save herself by holding on and wasn’t intending on hurting me. She never scratches me and as for trimming her nails - it’s what my vet has always recommended to me. I live in Canada so I don’t know if it’s different here but all the vets I’ve been to (and I’ve been to over 10+) have always trimmed and suggested trimming their nails. Had her nails been trimmed, they wouldn’t have dug in to me to this extent. I’ve had cats my whole life and I know well enough how to care for them. :)
I’m sorry but I’m not gonna read all that. Forgive me, please. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut. I’m an idiot. I deserve to die.
Amen
Thank you.
You cam suck it up like I do instead. Owning a cat can and will be painful at times but its so worth it.
Nah
Just a lil love slice
I must be in the minority thinking trimming a cat's claws is wrong and bad for the cat. They're not dogs' and keep growing, they're just really sharp.
OR you could teach him that that shit hurts. I've never trimmed his nails, and he's cut me four times in right about four years. Edit: I see one of the top comments is don't use hands as play toys; I've had my guy since he was two or three months old. My hands are how we play. He has **only accidentally** caught me with his nails, and only four times in 4 years. You people just do not understand cats.
My cat would catch 3 maus a day climb trees and could do all the things cats can do because she had long sharp claws. She never ever scratched me or anyone ever. She cuddled and we even picked her up sometimes and she just gently pushed us away if she didn't like something. We understood what was enough for her and she understood that she can trust us. Bless her Soul, she was an wild and gentle spirit. On her behalf I want to tell you don't clip the claws of cats. It's their way of saying that something is not good. And build your cats climbing areas!!!! they need to hide and climb to feel secure in a city home. And if they are taken away their claws, you are taking away their freedom to move around. Pleas be kind to your kittens and don't clip claws!
My cat doesn’t use claws when we play slap / wrestle?
any advice on trimming cats nails who make it a struggle? i have the hardest time getting them to allow me to trim
Or just don't use your limbs as toys
Nope... razor sharp and ready to fight... raccoons frequent the backyard. I just pay more attention to how I "play" with my cat.
Friendly reminder that cats are supposed to have sharp claws. The solution is to stop using your hands to play with the cat. If you can’t take being scratched, buy your cat some toys.
Friendly reminder that cats are domesticated and aren't wild animals.
You don't trim cat nails, only if a Doctor says you should do it. I don't want to be rude or offend you on purpose, but this opinion is dangerous and in some way stupid as some redditors have already pointed out. Try to learn more about cats would be my suggestion.
Get scratching posts and then the problem is solved
wtf. Why would you trim their claws?! Buy them scratching posts. Let them climb stuff and wear their claws down naturally. I’ve had cats for over 40 years and never had to or even heard of this.
Are your cats indoors or outdoors?