The Right Way to Clean Your Cat’s Paws

Cats are reliant on their claws for a wide range of activities. As a result, cat owners who want to ensure their cat’s health and happiness need to make sure that their claws are in good condition. One of the necessary steps would be cleaning their cat’s claws on a regular basis. There are a number of reasons why cat owners need to clean their cat’s claws. For starters, having unclean claws can cause a fair amount of pain for a cat. Sometimes, this is immediate. Other times, this can take some time to show up. Whatever the case, pain can cause a cat to behave in a very negative manner for very understandable reasons, which can be a serious issue for those in the same household.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the same substances responsible for causing pain can cause other health complications. For example, unclean claws can increase the chances of a cat being hurt while moving about by making it either impossible or next-to-impossible for them to move in a normal manner. Likewise, unclean claws can cause a cat to swallow something with the potential to hurt them when they seek to clean themselves. On top of this, it should be mentioned that unclean claws make it much more challenging for interested individuals to spot potential issues, which is a real problem because prevention is so much easier than treatment.

Here are some of the things that interested individuals should keep in mind when cleaning their cat’s claws:

Get the Tools and Supplies Beforehand

Cat owners should get their tools and supplies ready beforehand. After all, cleaning their cat’s claws can be complicated enough without them having to get up in order to get something else multiple times in a single claw-cleaning session. Generally speaking, interested individuals should have a dampened washcloth, an additional towel for holding on to the cat while cleaning them, and a pair of tweezers. On top of that, cat owners might want to have some pet-friendly antiseptic on hand if they suspect that their cat has either scratches or some other kind of injury that needs to be cleaned.

Secure the Cat

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the first step in cleaning a cat’s claws involves securing them using the towel while leaving their paws exposed for the cleaning process. Cats can get very agitated, meaning that interested individuals need to be ready to soothe them should that prove to be necessary. For example, a bit of petting might put them in the right mood for their claws to be cleaned. Likewise, a cat treat can be used for much the same purpose.

Use the Washcloth to Clean the Claws

The dampened washcloth can be used to clean the surface of the cat’s claws before cleaning the spaces between the cat’s claws. Be gentle throughout this entire process, not least because stressing out the cat is a good way to make everything more complicated than it needs to be. However, make sure to use enough force to remove anything that might be lodged between the claws because that is the whole point of a claw-cleaning session. Once the front claws have been cleaned, use the towel to do the same for the cat’s back claws without letting them loose in the process.

Check For Lodged Objects

Once the cat’s claws have been cleaned, interested individuals can inspect them for splinters as well as any other objects that might be lodged in the cat’s paws. If the cat owner sees such objects, they should use their tweezers to remove the object in as gentle a manner as possible before using the antiseptic to clean the wound. Cats can get infected wounds in much the same way as humans. In fact, cats might be even more susceptible to infected wounds because they aren’t aware of the need to keep their wounds clean of potential infectants, which is going to be particularly problematic when they are going to continue counting on their claws for climbing, walking, and their other routine movements.

Check the Paws For Other Injuries

Speaking of which, it is a good idea to take the time to check the cat’s paws for other signs of injuries as well. After all, the space between the claws are far from being the only place where cats can get injured, meaning that thoroughness can be very helpful for protecting a cat’s health and happiness. Similarly, a cat’s paws are very important for just about everything that they do, which is why they need to be checked out lest the cat suffer from something unknown to the cat owner.

Further Considerations

Of course, a cat’s claws are just one of the places that can benefit from some grooming on a regular basis. Yes, cats are capable of grooming themselves. However, their grooming capabilities are far from being perfect, meaning that it can be helpful for cat owners to step in from time to time to cover everything that their cats can’t take care of on their own.

Having said that, different cats have different personalities. As a result, just because one cat is perfectly fine with being groomed, there is no guarantee that the same can be said for another cat. Theoretically, interested individuals should be able to overcome such issues on their own with sufficient care and consideration. However, that can be both complicated and time-consuming. Never mind the immense hassle involved in wrangling a cat that doesn’t want to be groomed. As such, should cat owners desire to see their cat groomed but have a cat that is less than enthused by the notion, they might want to check to see what cat groomers and cat veterinarians can be found in their local region. After all, said individuals have the expertise, the experience, and the equipment needed to handle such situations, meaning that they are the best choices for interested individuals to ask for help. Doing so can be inconvenient, but there are a lot of people who think that a happy, healthy cat will be worth that inconvenience.

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