Our Bengal is now 10 months old, and quite a personality! Her claws are long and sharp! Lucy is an indoor cat and doesn't take to her scratching posts (2). She is relatively well behaved and hasn't really destroyed any furniture or caused any major bleeding. Our vet charges $18 for nail trimming which is a lot being on a fixed income and considering how fast the claws grow back. My wife and I are going to have to figure out how to go about this ourselves. I've watched dozens of youtube vids and not one demonstrated with a Bengal. The scruff of the neck tranquility procedure looks very promising, however, in practice is harder than it looks. This supposedly should put the cat at ease as they were when Mom carried them. Any attempts at this have caused Lucy to growl, hiss and go spastic on us. When a Bengals eyes get completely dilated, you've got a wild beast to deal with! I had much better luck when she was smaller. So much for the "get the cat used to you clipping from a kitten" theory. I also am dismayed how trimming techniques on youtube basically seem to contradict each other. I doubt we are alone with this dilemma. I would guess we will need to keep struggling with whatever (eventually) will work with Lucy. I don't want to stress her out to the point where retaliates to inappropriate urination or other bad behaviors. My wife gets extremely upset when Lucy scratches her while trying to be playful. You know how a Bengal will out of the blue pounce and play rough.

I would love to hear different "successful" methods this group might use to trim their cat's nails. So far the common practice of bribing with treats while petting isn't happening. The "Clipnosis" thing looks interesting and seems to work well on the typical house cat, but Bengals aren't very typical.

Help!
Rich

I wait for mine to be dozing or right after, sometimes I cannot get all of them done so I just do however many as it goes. Our breeder had accustomed kitties to having their paws touched and nails clipped I think. I sometimes give them paw massages when they are relaxed to keep them associating the pressure and paw touching with something positive. Not sure this will help but it can be done.... I hope!
Iria

Rich, happy to hear Lucy is doing well. Know that 99% of cats do not want anyone touching their claws. Those are their safety net. I do not trim Raiden's claws, never have. The vet has, but not me. If Lucy is scratching any of your furniture and you only have two scratching posts --GET MORE SCRATCHING POSTS. Raiden has the legs of three cat trees plus another three cardboard scratchers. He has NEVER scratched our furniture (or me). Cardboard scratchers (that come with catnip to infuse in the cardboard) are cheap (less than $10 here and you have two sides you can use. One side gets worn, turn it over and you have another).

You can try soft paws on her, but they are about as impossible to put on as trimming.

Now ... as for the claws coming out for play -- your wife should not be a play toy for Lucy! Always have a toy next to you both to distract her. She is still a kitten, but she should not be clawing you!

I started to clip my 2 nails as soon as I got them to get them used to it.
I wait until they are calm and then sit them on a cushion next to me on the sofa so they cannot back away then take a paw and start to clip nails, Pearl is excellent having hers done but Magic is not too keen and starts to growl, luckily if I talk softly to him and kiss him on the head he usually calms down, I always make sure I give them a treat after for being good.

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Clare
Magic (brown spotted boy born 31 March 2012)
Pearl (seal Lynx Point girl born 1 October 2015)
Bristol, UK

That is a nightmare I didn't attempt yet.

I've watched videos but so far, I don't plan to have her nails clipped. Maybe is she grows into adulthood, her weight and nails will become too painful to tolerate as she jumps on my back... time will tell.

But for now, I massage her paws all the time she sleeps on my lap and get her nails out. She doesn't mind, but maybe she will if I clip them... don't know.

There's a channel that I find very educational and the guy has a Bengal along with another cat. Here's a video that I hope can help:
https://youtu.be/g-4hwXDxg0c

Just quickly googled and saw this (the comments section offers useful advice)... here's chuckling imagining my cats burrito style
http://www.bengalsillustrated.com/2458/ ... ats-nails/
Echo basically tries to eat the clippers, so I can only do one or two nails at a time... I have clippers always at hand in case she dozes off. No wonder she has decided to sleep on top of the fridge, where no-one can bother her.

I started with my guys when they were little beasts, but I still had to sit on the floor with them in my lap (cross-legged seating) wrapped in a towel with one leg accessible. Now, I stand them on the counter of the sink and clip them over the sink. They don't like it per se, and Max will try to let the entire building know what a horrible human being I am, but he mostly complies. Scuffing my boys makes them go absolutely ballistic, so I rarely use that method. If I have to give an albuterol puff, I usually find a place where Max has backed into me or into a wall, but his body is still mostly free. Same goes for nails. The minute he perceives he is trapped, all bets are off.

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Thoughts:

1. Why do you feel you need to clip your cat's claws? You said in your post that she hasn't destroyed any furniture, nor does she scratch you up. I'm confused.

2. Can you post pictures of your scratching posts? Does she have any cat trees with sisal rope base? She's going to scratch on whatever surfaces she deems the best for the job, so you need to invest in good ones.

3. If you are worried about certain things getting scratched up, there are ways of helping with that. Like putting a really compelling scratching post right next to such furniture. Using bitter yuck spray for the "no" furniture, and catnip for the "yes" furniture.

4. Honestly, if your cat gets stressed up when her claws are getting clipped, whether it's done by you are the vet, it's just not worth it. That can manifest itself in all sorts of other ways. If you are still convinced that her claws MUST get clipped, then do what others have said... wait until she's mellow and snoozing (on a bed or up in a cat perch somewhere, clip 1 or two toes opportunistically, and then make it "treat time" so that it's not such a horrible experience.

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The little monsters 3

Thanks for the advice and links everyone! There is a tall sisal rope post attached to her tree, and we have a shorter one that can easily be moved room to room. I did see one advertised which looks to be what Sherry described which claims to make the nails less sharp, if she will use it. One article said to lay the clippers next to her food bowl so she will associate reward with the clippers. I now have clippers with teeth marks all over both of the plastic grips. I am going to try the "cat burrito" method next. I don't mind Lucy being a playful Bengal, she is still a kitten, and she doesn't know that her sharp claws are painful to humans. But as I mentioned in my OP, my wife gets upset when she gets scratched. I told her to keep a toy nearby to distract Lucy's instinct to go after anything that moves. She isn't/hasn't destroyed any furniture (yet), but she'll scratch at a closed door incessantly (like a dog) if she can't get in. At times she will actually get a claw stuck into something and have a bit of a go getting it free. This is going to be a challenge initially, but in time maybe she'll give in to the routine. I did read that unattended nails, particularly on an indoor cat, can grow inward and become painful. Thanks again!

Rich

Oh Rich ... none of us changed your mind about this! If a cat scratches, that takes care of the nails. It takes off the old part of the nail. Clipping nails, you have to be so careful to not go in too far and cause bleeding. All it takes is for the cat to move and now she has been injured, and it's extremely painful -- just as if you clipped your fingernails too far and drew blood.

As Brian said, it's really not worth it! And why put Lucy through this. It's extremely stressful for her and she will associate the clippers and you with that. I would not DREAM of trimming Raiden's nails. They are sharp and I like them that way. He doesn't use them on me, uses his scratching posts exclusively. And the really sad part is that if Lucy ever gets outside, she has no sharp nails to escape any type of predator (dog, other cat, etc).

If you need to trim your cats claws because your wife can't deal with getting scratched up, fine, lots of folks are in that same category, but please don't insult our intelligence by claiming that you are doing this altruistically for your cat's sake. Ingrown toenails? Cat getting stuck? C'mon. Seriously??

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The little monsters 3

I had the vet's groomer trim my kitten's nails their first year. I took them once a month together and they charged $10 per cat and did an amazing job. Vets are very expensive here so I think you could find a more reasonably priced groomer to trim your cat's nails. I mainly had to do this because my cats knead my skin and poke holes in it when they cuddle with me. Plus when they were younger they would scratch me often during play or feeding time. If I bent over to pick something off the floor, one of them would jump on my back and hang on as I stood up. They are three now and I have stopped the monthly vet visits. I have a clipnosis and a groomer bag, but I have never been brave enough to try either. Blondie scratches me the most when cuddling but when she is napping in my lap, I can manage to trim her nails finally. Grace is another matter. I have never been able to trim even one of her nails. I have scratchers and sisal posts galore in every room, and they use each one constantly. Still, Grace's nails are so long that they curl around even with all that scratching. It has been 11 months she has been to the vet and had them trimmed. I feel bad about that but it will just have to wait until her annual shots are due. The past few months she has taken up using the leather furniture as yet another scratching post. I don't care much as they have ruined it already but she totally ignores me when I tell her to stop. I am holding them here captive in my house so I can't very well complain when they do what cats need to do.

CMYKjill, thank you very much for your insightful post. And thanks also to the folks for their relative responses to my questions and concerns.

To the delight of some (I'm sure), I won't be be back to this forum. I feel I am being ostracized. I did want to express some constructive criticism from my point of view. Brian, every account I've made on my pet's behalf is true. I am not so petty as to join a forum to introduce fiction among its community. My altruism is for the "others in the category". As for the "ingrown toenails", I would take this to be factual as it is mentioned by a number of veterinarians evidenced through a substantial number of web blogs. So tell me, where did you get your veterinarian credentials? Go back through your various responses and take a hard look at your condescending, pretentious remarks. I've witnessed you succeed in chasing others away from this forum also with your snarky responses. Seek help. And yes, when I see my cat attempt to walk away from pawing something, and she has to jerk her leg numerous times to get free, I would define that as "stuck"- seriously! Cats have different personalities. If your pet does not have any of the concerns expressed by me, I am happy for you, but irrelevant to my concern.

I realize people don't change, so I won't waste any more words. All I can say is Wow, and have a nice life.

Rich

I am never happy when someone decides to leave this forum! I hope Rich will reconsider and return. I enjoy the updates on Lucy.

Thomas' claws were HUGE, and I quickly gave up on trying to trim them. The clippers were very large and made a loud 'crack' sound that scared him. Sometimes the vet would do it but it took two people.

So I let him go natural, and he got really good at taking off the nail sheathes. He would use the sisal scratch pole frequently and pull off the nail sheathes with his teeth. This was also beneficial because his nails were cracked and dry from malnutrition when I got him, so his nails got really healthy.