Many indoor cat owners, rather than subjecting their pets to expensive and potentially painful surgery, choose to trim their cat’s claws in order to preserve their furniture and protect their carpeting.  With a little know-how, pet owners can trim their cats' claws with a minimum of discomfort for either themselves or their pets.

Why Trim?

Many veterinarians and animal rights organizations maintain that declawing may cause your pet pain.  Whether or not this is true, the surgery is expensive; also, declawing renders a cat defenseless. While indoor cats may not have many enemies, if an indoor cat were to “escape” to the outside the consequences could be dire.  While a cat’s claws can be very destructive, there is no need for a drastic removal.   Trimming a cat’s claws is an effective way to curb the destruction of your fine fabrics.  Some pet owners ask a vet to trim their cats’ claws for a small fee, but cutting claws is relatively easy.  Any pet owner, with a little education and a lot of patience, can do this for their own animals.

Choosing the Right Trimmer

One popular form of nail trimmer, available in most department stores, resembles a pair of scissors with thick blunt blades.  On the edges of the blades are curved notches where the claw is to be placed.  This type of trimmer is ideal for a cat’s claws because it allows the owner greater control during trimming.  Dog nail clippers should never be used with cats.  Dog trimmers are usually large plastic devices in which the claw is inserted and snipped off.  This type of trimmer is usually rather noisy, which may be fine for our canine friends, but is not suitable for finicky felines. Some pet owners simply use human nail clippers, but these can be awkward to maneuver.