Hi everyone, it’s Ruby! It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me! Today, I want to tell you about something Mom did to me that wasn’t very nice at all. I mean, I love Mom more than anything in the world, but let me tell you, I wasn’t loving her so much the other afternoon.
Mom trims my nails about once a month. I’m usually pretty good for it. She puts me on her lap and sets the bag of treats next to us where I can see it. She thinks she’s so smart, because she hides the nail clippers where she thinks I can’t see them until she’s ready to start, but she’s not fooling me! Once she starts clipping, I usually start complaining loudly, but most of the time, I hold still, and the whole ordeal is over very quickly.
Not this time. Mom had trimmed all but one last nail, and I had had enough, so I jerked my paw away from her – just as she started to clip. I yelled at her really loud! It hurt! There was a lot of blood!
I could tell Mom felt awful. She grabbed a tissue and wadded it up and pushed it against my poor bleeding nail, which made me yell again. She hushed me and said “it’s okay, sweetie, I’m so sorry!” but she wouldn’t let go of my paw! Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she let go of me, and put a bunch of treats in front of me. I ate one, but then I wanted nothing to do with her or the treats. My paw was really sore! I was going to go off and sulk, and make Mom think about what she just did!
Of course, I couldn’t hold my grudge for very long. I could tell how upset Mom was with herself for doing what she did, and after a few minutes, I climbed in her lap and let her pet me, and eventually, I went to sleep. All’s forgiven. I can’t stay mad at Mom.
Ingrid’s comment:
I’m always very careful to only take off the very tip of Ruby’s nails. She has very long quicks, so I’m very much aware that it doesn’t take much to cut too far down the nail. As anyone who has ever accidentally cut off too much knows, it’s the worst feeling to know that you just did something to hurt your cat.
A cut quick rarely leads to any lingering problems, but quicks can bleed a lot, so if you don’t apply pressure and/or something to stop the bleeding, it can look a lot worse than it is. The best thing to use to stop the bleeding quickly is styptic powder, applied with a little bit of pressure. If you don’t have that on hand, you can also apply cornstarch. A black tea bag works well, too (it needs to be tea with caffeine, decaffeinated or herbal tea won’t work for this purpose.) I had none of these on hand, but since Ruby, surprisingly, let me put pressure on her nail with just a wadded up tissue, I was able to stop the bleeding pretty quickly. But even if you can’t manage to do any of these things, the bleeding will usually stop on its own.
I think a Styptic Pencil would do, too. (My father always had one handy when he shaved!).
That would definitely work, Nancy.
I invented what is known as the Zen Clipper for this very reason. I had tried everything on the market and nothing was safe for my pet. I also have grandchildren and have had them pick up my Zen Clipper as I keep them in a place close to where my kitty’s will come to it by me the most. The blades on the size 1-3 can not cut them.
We have the Zen Clipper, and I’m definitely going to start using it again for Ruby!
Thanks for posting this, Ingrid & Ruby. I had something similar happen with Bandit many years ago. It’s good to know that there are some simple, effective remedies I can use should it ever happen with any of my current cats.
Yikes! I always have my vet do Ellie’s nails. I tell Ellie she is going to have a pedicure. What they did at the Vet that really helped Ellie was that the tech put some cream cheese on a tongue depressor and Ellie got very distracted by that and the Vet had no trouble at all clipping the nails. Ellie hates to have her paws messed with and she was always so much trouble (squirming) that I never wanted to try this at home because we live by ourselves. However in a house with more than one human if one could distract with the cats best treat or maybe something they only get during pedicure time then the other human could clip the claws hopefully without much trouble.
I’m glad Ruby forgave you. Cats are pretty quick about that. 🙂
hi there, i just read your comment on nail clipping. I had a dog once and did cut to close to the quick.a veterinarian’s wife told me to put pressure on it, and then clean it, dry it, and then put nail polish on the area, it should stop the bleeding. Poor little kitty, mine won’t let me do her nails, i have to take her to a Vet’s.
Oh poor sweet Ruby. I bet your momma did feel very bad about hurting you. My momma trims mine and I am good about it. But my sisters are not too happy. Pele actually has to be wrapped in a towel with her face hidden so she doesn’t bite mommy. And she screams very loudly. Some times we think she might be possessed by some kind of demon by the sounds she makes. Hehehe…. …Pono……
My human has cut my claws too close a couple of times, but it hasn’t been too bad because I’m cooperative and she’s pretty careful. Binga – MOL! My human’s boyfriend (who used to work as a vet tech) has to hold her down while my human clips her claws and she screams like a banshee! And she’s never had any accidents like I have.
P.S. When she screams, I always come down to make sure the humans aren’t torturing her.
Well, Binga does have that tortitude reputation to uphold… 🙂