Trimming Floki’s nails is just about the most difficult thing my wife and I have ever attempted. Before Floki came along Chris was our most difficult cat but at least trimming his nails was possible. I started bringing Floki to the vet for his nail trimmings but getting him into the carrier was nearly as difficult as trimming his nails.
Since moving in late August, his nails have only been trimmed once by a pet groomer that I don’t want to go back to. The local vet here requires his vaccinations to be up to date which they are if you are from the local animal control reading this.
We decided to catch Floki the other day and try again to trim his nails so we wouldn’t have to go through the hassle of finding someone to do it and then trying to put him in the carrier. We were inspired by Chris’s ability to hold him down.
You may remember me talking about how Chris would hold Puck down by the neck. Sometimes he would even drag Puck across the floor. I’m sure Puck didn’t like it but he would tolerate it from Chris. Floki doesn’t like it either but Floki is not afraid to let Chris know he doesn’t like it. He screams and hollers the way Siamese cats do until Rose or I release him from Chris’s grasp.
It is important to understand that Chris, one cat, can do what two grown humans cannot. Rose was convinced that holding Floki by the scruff of the neck was the key so she assigned me that task. I tried that before so I was skeptical that it would suddenly work this time but I said okay.
We found Floki lying on our bed Sunday evening so we set our plan in motion. Rose quietly got the trimmers and I sat next to Floki and pet him until Rose came near and then grabbed him by the scruff while wrapping my other arm around him and putting my body close on top of him. He squealed, twisted and bucked like a stallion. Five seconds later he was free and I had scratches and puncture wounds on my arms and legs.
I now have to find a vet or groomer and bring him in this week.
Bad Cat Chris 
we could make a double appointment with Floki and Phenny… I bet the vet sells shoes in future like Al Bundy or is a permanent guest on the couch of a shrink doc ;O)
Hahaha. I don’t know if I would want to be responsible for creating another shoe salesman.
Teddy absolutely HATES the nail trim thing but we muscle through with it – David holds Teddy and he will squirm violently which, for a 21 lb. cat, can be rather amazing. I can get one nail trimmed and Teddy pulls his paw back – and on and on and on until they are all done. Takes about 100 times longer than it would if he’d just RELAX. Sammy was a peach compared to Teddy and Sammy wasn’t crazy about it either!
Pam
Rose can’t understand why Floki would rather get carted off to the vet but cats live in the moment, they don’t think too much about future consequences.
Oh boy is THAT ever true!
Yikes! None of us here mind the claw trimming thing at all.
Some cats are better than others, obviously.
It’s the most traumatic thing to deal with!
It sure is.
Wow, he is a tough case! Even Binga is easier – my human’s boyfriend used to be a vet tech and he has an awesome hold that he uses for her (double handed and holds her on her side) while my human trims her claws. Boodie and I basically act like we are getting nice pawdicures… which we are!
When I brought Floki to our old vet they trimmed his nails with no problem. I don’t know how.
Wow, that sounds difficult indeed ! Purrs
More like impossable. 🙂
We don’t like our nails trimmed either. The mom tries to do it when we’ve been sleeping.
Yikes! The vet techs can’t even do KaTwo’s so we gave up.
That’s bad when a vet tech can’t do it.
When we were novice cat owners, we didn’t realize that there were actually trimmers for cats. My husband clipped too close a couple of times, and that was it for Rascal. From the point on, it was a constant fight. (I didn’t blame her, but I still dreaded holding her for it)