How I get my animals used to things, clippers, the nail clippers, brushes, etc...

Day 1 - Put the gadet on the floor - off, if it turns on - in front of pet. Pet the pet, tell him how good he is, give him a treat, the closer he gets to the tool, the better he is.

Repeat until he's just treat seeking.

Then he has to let you just touch him with it - still off - for a treat and some loving.

Then, away from pet (he's on one side of you, the tool is on the other) turn it on, let him hear the sound for a few seconds until he just ignores it and looks for the rewards.

Do that a few days until you can get him to just let it near enough to touch him.

When you can bring the tool out and he just lays down, go ahead and try a little clip (not whole body, not worst problem area, just a couple seconds). Reward if he does okay.

If he struggles, do not let him go, hold him there and clip (or what ever) until you get him to resign to it. If you let him go, you lose. He will always see it as a battle. If you keep him till he relaxes and you let go, you win and he will become more and more comfortable with this every time.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it's more work to fight with them every time. Often this process only take 3-4 days, but it can take a couple weeks or more with the really stubborn ones and ones you train once they're older.

Wow, they ARE expensive, but did you look at the customer satisfaction rating on Amazon? It's like 4.5 stars for over 1800 people. That's pretty dang good. And they have them on sale right now for 50% off. I'm going to try one. I'll let you know how it works. I ordered the medium one (and got free shipping). That way I can use it on my dogs too.

You're telling ME! Ouch. Gloves would be good. An "I love me" jacket for cats would be even better.

Kitt, that is sad. I had a female who lived for almost 18 years--she was about 1-2 months shy of her birthday. I mourned for quite a while.

Swipes takes care of his nails very well. He's constantly grooming them. I probably should clip them, but he's pretty good about only scratching on his post (or on the carpet).

B2, that's what I'm afraid of. The mats are so close to the skin and I can't tell if I'm grabbing skin and fur or just fur. I'm afraid to trim down too far.

If I gently pull Swiper's hair, I can dislodge the loose stuff. But he doesn't like that either. I do it all the time with my border collies--pull out clumps. My girl border is awesome. She'll sit there and let me pull out fur to my heart's content. And she's so much more comfortable afterwards. But Swipes.... well, I'm not so sure that'll work with him. I DID manage to get one clump up like that, but that was a fluke.

Oh.... and if I pull stuff off him and set it on the floor near me, he quick grabs it and EATS IT!!!
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I DO feed the boy. He gets Natural Balance cat food--why? because he started eating the dog's Natural Balance food and still does. In fact, when I didn't have my dogs for a few days, Swipes sat by their bowls and subtly informed me that he wanted dog food.
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I'm telling ya, he thinks he's a dog.
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That sounds like it might work, Brain. I'm probably going to have to look into a clippers too. And Swipes is STUBBORN. He KNOWS he's being bad, I get close to him and he backs down, but when I turn my back, he goes right back to it. I've given up trying to keep him off counters. Now I just keep him off my kitchen counters when I'm cooking stuff.

I've never had a cat like him. He's VERY Maine Coon-like but I don't think he's a Maine Coon. He just has the personality traits of one.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I'll keep you posted on how the Furminator works when I get it.
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My cat also used the scratching post but I still cut his toenails from the time he was a baby.

He also ate dog food if he got the chance and the dog ate cat food if he got the chance
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My papillon bites his nails.


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There's nothing left to trim.

Who said leather gloves? We do that with the parrot - Jake *the can opener* Murphy. Once I'm filing, it's okay. It's getting him wrapped in the towel to start filing that freaks him out.

Say Gazelle, where did Swiper get his name? From Dora's friend?

*Swiper, no swiping!*


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Can ya tell I been hanging with a 2 yr old?

Does he ever say...


Oh man!

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LOL Braingonebad!
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Gazelle, you found one for 50% off AND free shipping!? I'll have to go look. I know they get great ratings, I see them being sold all over the place. I noticed Amazon had half price on a lot of them, but I didn't see the free shipping. I'll check!

Let us know what you think when you get a chance to try it, and thanks!

If you get the medium one, they're just over $25 and for orders over $25 you get free supersaver shipping--you just have to remember to change your shipping option on checkout. I think it's always free supersaver shipping for over $25 at Amazon. Not too shabby--and you can combine new items for that, you just can't get used things to count toward free supersaver shipping.
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I will let you know how it works out. Maybe I'll do one of those "before" pics and "after" pics too so you can see how much hair comes out of him.

And Brain, I've never even seen Dora but now you have me curious (and I don't mean our lovely Monkey icon moderator type at NT!). But Swiper got his name because he swiped at things when he was little. He still does. He says "Oh man" quite a bit. Like, "Oh man.... why'd you move me out of the bathroom sink?" and "Oh man.... won't you give me some more dog food?" and "Oh man.... do I get one of those dog treats too?" or "Oh man.... how come HE (the dog) gets to go outside and I don't?" or "Oh man....it's about TIME you let me out of the basement!"


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Rocky (our kitty, see my avatar) bites his toenails when he gets in bed with us at night. He does it very loudly while he lays on top of me to keep warm.
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Gazelle, I ordered one too!
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I called our animal feed store here because I knew I had seen them for sale. Turns out, they were only 10% off. The medium sized one was something like...$41??? Holy cow! So I ordered the medium one on Amazon.

LOL maybe I could get my daughter or someone to video me doing Chewie, my polydactyl cat. HE is the one with the tons of fur.

Did you see on the Furminator site all the pictures of the animals sitting in the middle of the tons of fur they had removed? LOL

Well, we'll see! I'm the most curious about how it will work with matting, I just dunno. I don't recall seeing that mentioned on their site.

Wiz, my cat Annie does that as well and quite often. And she is the only cat I ever declawed in the front (and still feel guilty about).

She goes after those hind toenails like crazy! But I tell ya, they are the cleanest ones around!