Do you have a cat that often walks around outdoors and scratches his nails on tree bark or scratching post? There is a good chance that you will not often have to use the cat nail clipper. By walking outdoors and scratching the cats nails they will be shortened in a natural way. If your cat mainly stays indoors and uses te scratching pos a little, you will notice that your cat’s nails get too long. You can hear the nails ticking on the floor when the cat walks across the floor. Sometimes a cat cannot even pull in his nails or he starts biting his nails. Then a pawdicure is really necessary. Special nail clippers for cats are available.

How many nails do cats have?

A cat has 18 nails, 5 on each front paw and 4 on each back paw.

How far can you clip your cat’s nails?

The nails have a living part. If your cat has clean nails you can clearly see this. You see the vein running through the nail, never clip  the vein. Clip a few millimeters in front of the vein. If your cat has dark nails, then this is hard to see, then it is better to get help from the vet with clipping the nails.

Clip your cat’s nails

It is best to start clipping the nails as young as possible so that your little cat friend can get used to this. Of course it is also possible to start this at a later age.

If you have the opportunity, first try to clip the nails with 2 people. So that a person can hold the cat and calm him down. The other person then has full attention to clip the nails.

Take your cat on your lap

Take the paw of which you want to cut the nails and press the foot pad gently. When pressure is applied to the sole of the paw, the nails become visible.

Never cut into the living part (vein) of ​​the nails, stop a few millimeters before the vein ends.

Cut the nail with a special nail clipper.

Repeat this with each paw whose nails you want to clip.

Reward your cat with his favorite treat afterwards.