Not a cat owner, so actually curious:
I have a friend cat who always scratches me, which is quite painful and leaves marks. Is there a way to trim the nails so this doesn't happen, or is the only solution to avoid the cat?
I have a friend cat who always scratches me, which is quite painful and leaves marks. Is there a way to trim the nails so this doesn't happen, or is the only solution to avoid the cat?
Having said that, unless you get them accustomed to the process as a kitten, you may end up suffering more than if you hadn’t attempted it in the first place.
Unrelated but I recently learned they use lasers for parrots to trim the claws while coterizing.
For habitual scratchers it's possible to reduce it with training and familiarisation of both cat and human. But since this isn't your cat, you might find trying to avoid interaction when you're visiting your friend is the quickest way to less bleeding.
Does the cat scratch your friend as well? If not then you can probably build a better relationship with the cat with some effort and patience (and a few more scratches). Cats generally respond well to humans meeting them on their terms, but that takes some understanding of cat behaviour and psychology. Doesn't mean they'll necessarily be interested, but you can at least increase your chances of avoiding a scratch.
If the cat goes after you, that's a whole different ball game!
Problems in cat behavior are conquerable, with the right strategies. It seems to be more about changing the environment with cats, rather than training, as it is with dogs.
So for example if you go to pet a cat's stomach and it doesn't want you to its only recourse maybe to use it's claws to "grab" your hand.
I think removing the ability to "grip" from cats for the sake of furniture or because you want to do things to the cat it doesn't like is wrong.
If you don't like scratchy cats don't have a cat.
As an owner I think you can avoid getting scratched. As a vet... I personally have never been bitten (too little practical experience), but I've seen colleagues handle cats in a way that just spelled resignation to the fact that those teeth will connect and there is nothing to be done about it....
Trimming helps but yeah, search for behavior fixes. Cats are different from us (and dogs) but they're usually not that complicated to figure out.
The solution is to just put the cat outside or in another room for a bit not to mutilate it, IMHO.
*(What's funny to me is that I helped them choose the cat when it was a kitten because it was "a licker". I didn't realise at the time it was just making notes on us all to see how we tasted.)
1) Trim the nails like you said, that's not always easy to do depending on the cat. 2) Encourage the cat to use scratching posts more, using treats and catnip 3) Softpaws or similar. https://www.softpaws.com/
I trim them regularily to save the young birds on our trees, because with trimmed nails our cat cannot climb the tree anymore that well.
Some cats will protest violently and make it extremely difficult to trim them though