Trim Your Cat's Claws
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How To Dog Proof a House
Close doors or section off areas where you think the dog might be destructive with a baby or dog gate. Sometimes, unfortunately, the only way to know the problem areas is from trial and error.
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You can use regular nail clippers but I've found it's easier to use the ones made for cat claws. They look like this picture.
The first thing I do is to wrap my cat in a towel and gather her in my arms. She is used to being held, so while the towel is a little unusual, she's still fairly relaxed.
Taking one leg at a time out of the towel (leaving the others confined to avoid scratches and a struggle), I hold her paw and extend her claws. To do this, hold the paw in your hand while it's shaped like a fist and press down on the top of the cat's paw with your thumb.
With the claws extended, snip off the very tip of the claw, no more! You only need to remove the sharp tip. It's not like with dog nails where you need to trim the size of the nail.
Once you have completed one paw, wrap it back in the towel and extract the next one until you've completed the front and back legs. Don't forget the dew claw.
I always like to follow up a nail trimming session with a treat for both my dogs and cats so that they learn to associate nail trimming with a delicious snack afterwards. It makes them more likely to suffer through the trimming without acting out.