# New Kitten and his scratching post



## LaurenJ17 (Aug 20, 2017)

Hi everyone

I adopted a new 10 week kitten - Humphrey-last week and it's definitely safe to say that I'm turning into a crazy cat lady as I am totally infatuated. He is very playful and mischievous which I love but I noticed straight away that he was having problems getting his claws stuck in things as they are quite long. I bought him a tower scratching post thinking this might help but he seems to totally disregard it ha! I wouldn't care if he ignored any of us his other toys (which he did, he much prefers my tights to his tunnel or kickaroo!) but his claws are obviously a hindrance to him sometimes. Is the a way i could entice him to use it or is it just a case of leaving him to it?


----------



## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

You can teach him the cat tower is his by incorporating it into the Games you play with him. Also when he scratches places you would rather he didn't, gently take him over to his own places. (he should ahve more than one place to scratch)

He needs his claws trimmed if they are getting caught in things though. You can get nail trimmers for cats, but for baby cat nails you can use a baby nail clipper. Just snip the tips, you don't want to get to the quick, as that will bleed and hurt.


----------



## Kitkatslave (Apr 7, 2017)

Hi sorry to come along and give advice you didn't ask for, but the collar you have on your little kitten worries me! I don't know if it's just the picture but in the top photo it looks very loose and he could easily get it caught on something with disastrous results. I'm not sure a collar is needed at this age but I would be making sure it isn't hanging so loose as to catch on something and that it's a quick release collar. 

When I took my kittens for their first vet check the vet clipped their claws for me and they were quite accepting of it.


----------



## LaurenJ17 (Aug 20, 2017)

We don't use his collar because as you point out, he's far too small for it. The pictures above are from the original owner when he was living there. 

Thanks for the advice regarding his claws though


----------



## LJC675 (Apr 24, 2017)

If you are going to do his claws yourself, starting young is great. I have always made a habit of gently holding my 2's feet for a short while when they come up for cuddles, so having their feet touched is normal. Having proper clippers seems to help to as I find human nail clippers squeeze the claw at 1st rather than just cut it. I have ones like this, they're great.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nail-Clipp...=1503311962&sr=1-4&keywords=cat+claw+clippers

Also when you start doing them try when he is sleepy, you may find he doesn't even notice. Just do a couple at a time at 1st, if he struggles at all then stop, don't turn it into a fight. just do a couple more the next day. If you are nervous just snip the very tip off until you get more confident. This means you'll do them more often, but that's good as he'll get use to it quicker.

My 2are so use to it mow, they don't bat an eyelid.


----------



## Kitkatslave (Apr 7, 2017)

LaurenJ17 said:


> We don't use his collar because as you point out, he's far too small for it. The pictures above are from the original owner when he was living there.
> 
> Thanks for the advice regarding his claws though


Oh phew, that's good then


----------



## Alexhannah (Apr 13, 2017)

I use a catnip spray on my scratching posts, seems to do the trick.


----------

