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Roughly once a month all of our cats get their claws clipped. We'd clipped them shortly before we went camping last month, so PC had his first clipping tonight.
We know it's past time to clip claws when Berfert starts sounding like velcro when walking across the back of the sofa. Scritch, scrunch, scritch, scrunch. The nap of the fabric rises and the fabric doesn't have a nap. Poor cat has to shake his claws between each step. We try not to let it get that far.
Tonight, I decided it was time. I had Mandy get my clippers and the first cat. She grabbed PC. I believe I've compared PC to a furry snake, back when I gave him a bath. He's still a furry snake. Mandy held him while I clipped his claws. He bit, he clawed, he cried, he fought, and he wiggled out of her hold. The other cats looked on without sympathy but with a lot of interest. Finally, I had his nails trimmed. Now it was time for the next victim.
Merlin was the second subject. You know how we joke about Merlin being big for his size? He didn't like Mandy holding him one bit. He almost got away several times. I was shaking so badly that I almost over clipped one claw. When I was done, he wouldn't let me pet him. He gave me a dirty look and stalked off. I told Amanda to get out the cat nip. I usually hold the nip until the claws are done, but drastic measures were called for.
Rob decided that he'd had enough. Tanada was next. Tanada is Rob's little girl. Rob wasn't going to let Mandy hold her and traumatize her. He had me give him the clippers and showed them to her while he told her what he was going to do. He clipped one paw with her on his lap then brought her over for me to hold. I held her and Rob clipped her claws and Mandy handed out cat nip. Tanada was interested in what we were doing, but more interested in the nip.
Events went smoothly after that. Berfert has fast growing dew claws while QC's dew claws are hard to find. For some reason Berfert wears down his back claws so that they rarely need clipping where Tanada's front claws are blunter than her back claws. QC's claws are black, everyone else's are pink.
We finished the cats and put them onto the catnip trail. Mandy handed out cat nip for all to lick and sniff. PC loves catnip and kept grabbing Mandy's hand so that he could chew the nip off of it. Merlin tried to go to the source of the nip and stuck his head in the nip jar. Rob had to remove the jar from his head. We're still joking that Merlin is a marine. Berfert dozed off on the arm of the sofa, while swaying rhythmically from side to side. QC rolled around in between sniffing the nip on the rug and the nip on Mandy's hand. Tanada demanded that Mandy give her more nip than any other cat. Merlin followed Mandy from room to room.
Rob and I were sitting on the sofa surrounded by stoned cats. From time to time Berfert would snore. Tanada would roll from side to side, and QC lay on her back with drool coming out of her mouth. Life, after clipping claws, is good. From now on I'm going to have Rob clip claws and I'll hold cats, life is more peaceful that way.
Editor's note:
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