whoah!  I need advice!

I managed to trim Coconut's and Wildfire's claws.  It was really needed.  They sounded like they were wearing mini cat-clogs walking on the wooden floor! 

Now there's Caroline.  It is an achievement when you can carry her for about 10 seconds...  So we tried this morning to grab her to do her nails...  Of course at this stage, her nails really need cutting and they are SHARP.

So now I have scars and she still has nails.

I don't really want to even attempt to take her to the vet because I know that putting her in her case will require the same type of high risk operation!

What do I do?????

Have you thought of a sedative 

Or you can have a chat to your local vet about something to slip into her food 

Well done on managing with the other two though!

Yes, I have but that requires grabbing the cat and giving her the pill...  Putting something in the food means that the other 2 will also have it and one of them could overdose and sleep non stop for 3 days!!

I am considering getting a kevlar suit.  It should protect me from injury!

Kevlar is good ..lol  

Btw, I gave up on Caroline's nails but she doesn't seem to care!

Hi Coconut,

It sounds like you decided to leave well enough alone. But if you ever decide to give it a try again here are some tips---tried and true.

1) There are some wonderful herbal calming formulas you can find online or at a good petstore. I use one called Pet-EZE Plus that works well (I make no commissions recommending it). These products just take the edge off for your pet.

2) Having some of the cat's favorite treats close by (I use pieces of boiled chicken) for making it a reward for enduring the insult of nail trimming.

3) I have done several practice runs:  Put kitty on lap, give treat (very small pieces): massage kitty toes, give treat etc for about 5 min (or however much she will take). Sometimes you even have to build up to 5 mins.

4) On a fussy cat do NOT have the goal of doing all nails at one sitting. You might only get 1-2 per paw at each setting. It may take you a week to get them all.

5) One old trick is to wrap the cat, SNUGLY, in a large towel (like a burrito) just leaving out one paw. It takes a bit to get this method down but at least you don't have all those little razor blades slashing at the same time. Some cats even like being swaddled in this way.

If done regularly, kitty gets the idea that this isn't so bad an exercise.

As I always say: In training a pet it's more about training the owner!

I am not so sure .. we have that one that was here when we moved in.  My wife begged we should keep it.  I am not sure it actually belonged to the last residents, I think it was just passing by when she noticed it lol

Anyway a couple of weeks later it has kittens of course!

"Can we just keep one?"  And that ends up being two.

Funnily enough one of them is hardly ever home - it roams the country side eating rabbits.

When it comes time for ME to give them worm tablets I'll take the two boys over the mother any day of the week. Even the roaming hunter who is never home doesn't give you the sense that it is about slice and dice you like the mother.

But I guess that is just the difference between us boys and you girls

Yes TopDog, We have a feral cat too---woowzers! If you manage to pill that cat of yours you deserve one get out of jail card!!!

The liquid wormers are easier tho. One person can hold the cat (preferably swaddled) and the other just squirts the stuff in with an eye dropper or the like.

There are many tricks of the trade I've learned. Many years ago I thought it would be cool to breed pedigree cats becuz I love cats of course. It was a most disappointing adventure. The breeders aren't always (rarely) kind to their money makers.

In the process of learning how to "show" the cats at cat shows I learned how to manage about 99% or the resistant ones. I got out of it when I saw the conditions the breeder cats lived in and how they were drugged just to make a good showing & win an award. YUK!!

Now I rescue and find good homes for the lovely creatures.

Loved your post. Thanks for the grin!