Just watched a video on internet show where to cut. Dreading attempting it incase they freak and I slip with the clippers.

i know and that's why i take mine to the groomers once a month

It's not hard once you get the hang of it. Do the cats behave at the vets when they have it done?

Soft Paws do work but they will come off after a month or so. Teaching the cats not to scratch the things you don't want them to will be a better long term solution.

First, you need to make the areas they scratch unattractive - you can put double sided tape, or something like Sticky Paws on furniture. Then you need to redirect the scratching.

I know you have scratching posts, are they tall enough? The post needs to be long enough so the cat can stretch the full length of his/her body up while scratching. Have you tried the cardboard scratchers with cat nip sprinkled on?

I generally have a tree and or scratching post in practically every room in the house and we have never had an issue (we have four cats) even with our foster cats, as we give them a new scratcher of their own as soon as they arrive.

You can also try putting cat nip spray on all of the posts, this will attract them to the posts. You need to put a scratcher or some kind of deterrent (like double sided tape or sticky paws) in every place that they scratch so they are re-learning where to scratch.

Also, if they are doing a lot of damage at night, they may be bored, do you have any large cat trees? Indoor only cats (like mine) like to have a fair bit of vertical entertainment, if they can chase each other up and down cat trees, they are less likely to run up screens and blinds etc.

You can also try wearing them out before bed. At least a 15 minute play time before bed is great exercise for them and keeps their minds working, toys like Da Bird, (this one really exhausts them) wand toys, cat nip balls, remote control mice etc, anything they can stalk, chase or pounce on, exercises both their body and their mind.

Here is a great article on scratching and what you can do - http://www.newbeginningscatrescue.or...ching_art1.pdf

Snorkmaiden you beat me to it, but this took so long to type I'll post it anyway

My cat has never scratched anything but her scratchpost but she was trained when she was an ickle kitten. Her breeder used to gently rub her little paws up and down the post - did the trick.

You are going to have to teach you cats not to scratch furniture. You can buy some scented spray from the pet store/vet to put on your furniture to discourage them from scratching there. To encourage them to use the scratchpost you could always spray or rub in a little bit of catnip into it. Most cats go doolally for it When they attempt to scratch your furniture, be ready with a waterspray (don't spray them in the face though) a firm 'NO' and then take them to their scratchpost. Crikey, this reminds me of potty training - except I never sprayed my kids

My cat is a Ragdoll and does not get to wander about outside so I clip her nails every few weeks. You get special clippers from the pet store which have a circular cut-out hole in the them. Only cut the transparent ends of the claws off. My cat hates having her back feet done so they rarely get touched but don't appear to grow at the same rate as the front paws.

Just remembered, trying clipping your cats claws when they are asleep or very sleepy - it helps!

Ooh, Ragdolls are gorgeous!! What colour do you have? One of mine is a lilac lynx point Birman, so a relative of the Ragdoll, I think the Ragdolls are generally bigger though.

Great tip about doing the clipping when they are sleepy, we do our cats claws when they are sleepy also, and then we give them treats - positive reinforcement! We use Kitty Kaviar (otherwise known as crack for cats) and they forget all about nail clipping then

Lucy is a 2 year old seal bi-colour. We brought her over with us from Scotland.

She wears a harness and gets attached to an extending dog lead which is tied to a post either out front or back. She gets to sit outside and can wander around only up to 16ft. When we go outside she likes to join us.

A couple of months ago she ran out the door straight into our woods - she didn't even look back. She is a fearless one

Thi sis how you trim
Utilities needed:
2 people
large towel/blanket
toenail clippers or cat claw clippers
1 (or more) cats

One person takes cat and wraps it in towel. Pull out ONE paw from towel. Other person has trimmers, grab hld of paw.

Here's the trick - the quicken is full of blood and nerves. A cat with white claws you can actually see the quicken. DON'T clip in to it or you will experience the full wrath of a cat.

If your cat has never had it's claws trimmed the quicken can be quite long. It will shrink so clip as close to it as you can without exposing it and keep checking every week. AS soon as you have a bit of growth, clip again. The quicken will gradually retract and shrink back.

Always treat your cat to his favorite feed after a clip. Be firm, calm and confident. If not - go to groomer's.

As for poles - get the pole doused in cat-nip. You will need a crow-bar to peel your cat of it.

we have a Lucy also...she's a blue Persian and is in the photo gallery....we brought our two over from the UK 5 yrs ago...haha our Lucy is a fearless one also, we call her Houdini!

She is sooooooo amazingly gorgeous!! I had a seal point Birman, Leon (after Leonidas chocolate) but he died of FIP. He was the most gorgeous kitten, I love the seal points.

Here are my crew, Violet, Indigo (they are Chartreux) Anubis (god knows what he is, he was one of our fosters that we adopted, he is so huge we think he must have maine coon in him) Asriel the lilac lynx Birman and my gorgeous Leon who passed away last August.

TrueBrit, Lucy and Millie are gorgeous, I bet those coats take some looking after, I am fond of the blue/gray colour as you can probably tell ;-)

Check out this video at 1m:58s to see the best way to solve this problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svEPX...elated&search=

Well it is Canada and if they are truly house cats

you can get them de-clawed , its legal here

but given the amount of hair, fleas, shit, and everything else that comes with cats.. I went with your husbands suggestion about 3 years ago and have never looked back

Snorkmaiden your cats are lovely. Leon looks very similar to a Ragdoll. Birmins and Ragdolls can be very alike.

I only have to comb my cat once a week as her fur is similar to rabbit fur and does not really tangle (thank goodness)

I have two kids for what its worth, that why the cats had to go, cats aren't always nice to newcomers

But think of this as an option, a one way trip to the vet (or worse) or no claws, you might ask the cat its choice in the matter before you choose to judge what other people consider an acceptable practice.
I used to think it cruel until I lived with two cats that had been de-clawed at a young age and it didn’t seem to bother them in the slightest

So it’s legal in Canada and from what I see still a popular choice too; maybe it’s the large number of wood floors and natural wood furniture? That most cats are kept in doors 100% of time? I don’t know?

But regards of opinions you have to face it, it is an option that solves the problem

Nobody wants cats that are a bit aggressive especially with kids.

I took in a stray kitten and one minute it was purring as I stroked it, then the devil would surface, its eyes would go black and then it would bite me. Yikes, Cats Protection League got a call pretty sharpish from me to rehome it

When I was looking for a cat to to replace my beloved 16 year old cat I researched breeds and chose a Ragdoll because they are complete saps.