My cat's back claws are not as healthy looking as they should be. My OH says that because his claws are quite long they don't fully retract so they get a bit freyed when he walks on stone surfaces.
His front claws are fine and he uses a scratching post all the time and is perfectly healthy except for the back claws. I have had lots of cats over the years but have never needed to trim claws. Any advice would be greatfully received.

I trim mine regularly, I just take the ends off :)

how easy/difficult is it Peaches? having never done it before and my cat being a bit on the beefy side ive got visions of him being rather upset if i try trimming his claws. I have been on the reciving end of his front claws before and don't fancy a repeat experience!

You could try doing a couple first time and as long as you remember which ones, next time you pick him up and calmly recommence, you'll know which ones to start with. Ive done that with more stressed out cats before. Use a good pair of nail scissors or better still (because they dont have sharp points) wire clippers/ cutters -I prefer the angle of these to scissors.
Pick him up when hes feeling chilled out or been napping and either get someone else to do the clipping (whilst you hold his paw out and gently get his claws to protrude) You or your helper should then nip only the tips of the claws - if your cat has pale/ pink or white claws, you'll be able to see the 'quick' running down the centre of the inside of the claw - as long as you don't cut as far as the quick, you'll be OK and your cat won't end up with bloodied claws. Oh and give plenty of fuss and maybe a reward afterwards, so he associates the experience with pleasant things, not nasty ones.

Claw clipping isn't essential but if you've got housecats or cats that dont seem to keep theirs short for very long (or even if you're sensitive to being jabbed with feline Freddie Kreugers like me and the other half), it's good practice to get cats used to it from an early age, that way it's not so stressful, hopefully. Our Norwegian Forest Cats have got monster claws - long, thick daggers - they seem to hone them into talons the minutes you've trimmed them, but then again, wegies were originally farm cats in their native land and renowned hunters.

I did it no bother, just get him used to you feeling his feet, then progress onto extending his nails, then clip one at a time :)

Whatever you do, remember that less is more when it comes to claw clipping. The blood supply comes a long way down the nail and if you cut off too much you'll cause your cat pain and make their claws bleed.

If you cut off too little then you can always go back and cut off more- that's infinitely preferable than overdoing it.

I didnt think you should cut a cats nails cause they need them for essential things such as climbing and jumping???

I think if they arent causing the cat any problems then it should be fine to leave them...I've never cut any cats claws and i worked in a grooming parlour, dogs are a yes because they can grow and curl back into the paw pads but cats can use scratch posts and stuff to keep their nails down.

I didnt think you should cut a cats nails cause they need them for essential things such as climbing and jumping???

I think if they arent causing the cat any problems then it should be fine to leave them...I've never cut any cats claws and i worked in a grooming parlour, dogs are a yes because they can grow and curl back into the paw pads but cats can use scratch posts and stuff to keep their nails down.

In 30 odd years of cat owning, I've never needed to trim a cat's claws - but, then, I've never had a cat with claws so long that they don't fully retract! A slight trim might make the cat more comfortable and it's unlikely to stop them climbing, they should still be able to grip OK.

I didnt think you should cut a cats nails cause they need them for essential things such as climbing and jumping???

I think if they arent causing the cat any problems then it should be fine to leave them...I've never cut any cats claws and i worked in a grooming parlour, dogs are a yes because they can grow and curl back into the paw pads but cats can use scratch posts and stuff to keep their nails down.

Surely that depends on the cat stropping their claws properly? It's common with older cats not to have enough activity to remove the excess claws themselves, and there are other groups which are more likely to have problem claws too (including cats with disabilities, cats with polydactyly and cats whose claws don't retract fully and so can catch them on things inappropriately.

Getting a claw caught is pretty uncomfortable for both cat and the person they're caught on!

If you're not confident enough take them to a groomers they normally charge about a fiver to clip nails.

Just remember to take the bare minimum off if you've not done it before, Have someone hold them and then push under her paw pad to make the claws come out and then start slow and take more off if needed.

A good way to look at it is to just cut off the hooked end.

If you go on google there's a few images that show you a rough guide.

sorry lol i didnt know anything bout cutting cats claws i understand now.

sorry lol i didnt know anything bout cutting cats claws i understand now.

I think you might have been confusing cutting claws with the appalling American practice of having cats actually de-clawed! Luckily, that's illegal in this country.

I dont know, i have just never heard of anyone doing anything with cats claws before cause cats have a way of keeping them down.

De-clawing is a disgusting practice and should be illegal everywhere!!!

some cats have serious talons no matter what scratch devices you give them to keep em down- our Wegies have little flick knives on the ends of their paws (ouch!) I swear they must sit there with nail files making sure they're good n spiky - and the foster cat that was living rough outside has painfully sharp claws- and she will have had plenty of access to trees n other places to hone them.

No idea about cats specifically I'm afraid but we had similar problems with our rabbit. If you haven't done it before I would advise taking it to a professional for the sake of £5 - the rabbit went ballistic, despite being the most placid bunny you can imagine.

We took it to the vet where the student clearly thought the lovely fluffy little bunny obviously wouldn't do him any harm... shortly before the explosion of fluff and claws!! It was much easier having the older, qualified vet do it - I think the fact that he was calm and knew what he was doing made it much less stressful for Biscuit. I imagine this would apply to groomers/cats too!

Mission accomplished! He wasn't too keen on it being done but I did one at a time over a couple of days and they look a lot better now. Thanks everyone for the advice. Oh, by the way, it was only his back claws that were overgrown and he can't use these on the scratching post which is why the front ones are ok but the back ones are long.