A cat’s claws are too long when they develop into a curved shape. In extreme cases of overgrowth, the claws can curve into your cat’s toe pads, which can be painful and cause open wounds.
That is an extreme case, and I think that is required pain here.
most of these things seem to indicate to me, the said cat is not doing play/scratch/hunt/climb enough. Many comments speak of this, but i think cats gradually and naturally wearing claws is better than discreetely done
Even if they’re just a little on the long side, they could still catch on things and break, which can be painful.
Cats didn’t evolve with upholstery. There’s not much equivalent in the wild.
So a cat’s instinct is probably to have longer claws than are safe in the modern context.
On the other end of the spectrum, my cat was fine using her scratchpads and posts for more than a decade but she’s now quite elderly and doesn’t play like that as much as she used to. Shamefully, I didn’t notice her nails had grown too long until she started limping because one had grown long enough to cut into her footpad.
That is an extreme case, and I think that is required pain here.
most of these things seem to indicate to me, the said cat is not doing play/scratch/hunt/climb enough. Many comments speak of this, but i think cats gradually and naturally wearing claws is better than discreetely done
Cats didn’t evolve with upholstery. There’s not much equivalent in the wild.
So a cat’s instinct is probably to have longer claws than are safe in the modern context.
On the other end of the spectrum, my cat was fine using her scratchpads and posts for more than a decade but she’s now quite elderly and doesn’t play like that as much as she used to. Shamefully, I didn’t notice her nails had grown too long until she started limping because one had grown long enough to cut into her footpad.