• Question: why shouldn't cats claws be trimmed?

    Asked by cieramc to Kevin on 19 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Kevin Mahon

      Kevin Mahon answered on 19 Jun 2012:

      Great question and a very important one – cats claws aren’t ‘nails’ like the finger/toenails you and I have. Their claws actually form part of their skeleton, they are fused to bone. Trimming under certain extreme circumstances has to happen (claws malformed etc), but in general the cat should be allowed to wear them down naturally through scratching. A popular practice is the remove the claws entirely or severely trim them.

      When careless owners do this to their cats ‘nails’ (which is very common in the USA and elsewhere where cats are routinely kept indoors) they are actually cutting off part of their skeleton!

      Imagine if some said they were going to cut your nails and instead removed the tips of your fingers! That is equivalent to what these poor cats go through. Cats that have claws removed like this often exhibit behavioural problems and their physical health is greatly affected – walking becomes an incredibly sore excercise for them.

Comments