Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Feline Mani Pedis

I noticed the other day that Plum had a thumbnail that was curving around and on the verge of growing into his thumb pad.  I couldn't get the clippers underneath it to cut, and I was afraid to cut the outside of the curve since I couldn't see where his quick ended -- plus he didn't like me touching that nail at all.  He used to be a cat who wouldn't mind getting his nails clipped.  In fact, he would often give me a paw lazily and lie there purring as I snipped away.  But those days seem to be over.  Nowadays I have to catch him in a good mood, and then he'll still only let me cut one or two nails before he starts giving me warning nips.

Posy has always been difficult about her nails too.  She doesn't mind having me cut them, but she won't stand still for it, and her nails retract too easily.  I usually only get one nail per attempt, and even then I think I end up cutting the same nail over and over.

So I called the vet on a Saturday morning to see if they could fit me in to get Plum's nails clipped.  And when they said yes, I thought about it for awhile and then called them back to see if I could bring Posy as well.  Both cats thus were brought to the vet for a quick mani pedi.  Posy got a little overwrought, so they said they had to put her in an oxygen chamber.  Coughdivacough.  I think they just weren't used to the sound her nose makes when breathing--which is something akin to a permanent snuffle and snore.

Luckily, they didn't charge me for Posy's extra oxygen, and I left ten minutes after I had arrived, with 36 short nails and not as much money out of my wallet as I would have thought going in.

Plum in a picture by Sean, showing some of the offending digits:

1 comment:

Elisabeth said...

Puck will also sleep through a nail clip. Lola throws the fit to end all fits. She acts like you're cutting her toes off or perhaps declawing her permanently. It takes 2 people to clip Lola's claws. When she was a kitten and having some minor procedure at the vet which shouldn't have bothered her at all, our vet introduced us to the forehead tap, which she claims will settle some cats down when they're overwrought. And it does seem to work with her, but that's probably because she's just so confused about what's going on--should she respond to the annoying tapping or the toe slicing? By the time she decides, I can usually get all the claws trimmed.