Frazz by Jef Mallett for January 23, 2024

Hockey player kid?

Those thick leather “fire handlers gloves” are almost good enough. The “wrap cat in towel” technique, though, is ridiculously ineffective on every cat I’ve ever tried it on. Would work perfectly on the cats that don’t need to be restrained…

Considering how accurate some hockey players are, being a goalie is hella difficult.

I have all the protective gear I need. I load ’em into their carriers, bring ’em to a professional, and say “You do it!”

Claw trimming is not hard. Bathing requires a lot of gear.

I just trimmed 5 cats of their front claws today – not hard at all. I’ve also given all 5 of these cats baths at desperate times… Only one really made me nervous – and she left a scar on my wrist.

I’ve never had to trim a cat’s nails. Or vacuum its fur out of the carpet. All our cats were outdoor cats (where they belonged, and usually came from) and never allowed indoors. Plus, they never starved if we went away for a couple of weeks. If you need that serotonin hit, put on some Handel or Chopin. They are a lot less demanding or messy.

Give a cat a bath. My husband used to say, ‘not without a full welding suit on’.

My youngest kid recognised that he’d have trouble paying attention if he was playing any of the positions on the field so he’d regularly volunteer to catch. This way, he had to pay attention to Every Play.

There’s a groomer on YouTube with a channel called “The Girl With the Dogs”. When she does a cat, the first thing she does is “trim their murder mittens.” :-D

I just cut my cats nails yesterday. I have to sneak up from behind, toss them on the bed and lie on them and for some reason count each nail cut one to ten. That seems to calm them a little. It is the original catch that is the hardest. But I have to keep them short because one of them will come up behind me while I am making their dinner, extend her middle claw — yes the middle one — and stick it in the back of my leg.

Least amount of skating or running.

Just remember the purpose of the gear- you’ve got a solid object flying at you at speeds which the human body has difficulty reacting to, with the capability of breaking bone.

It takes two. My wife holds, I trim. Easy in, easy out. Everyone stays calm, no one gets hurt.

actually, just train them you’ll give them a treat afterwards. Mine sit still for their ‘manicure’, no problem. Now, for the back paws i do need a helper to hold them.

Claws! not NAILS :o But my cat is actually pretty much fine with it, we just have to find a time when he’s really relaxed and pet him while we’re at it. Don’t necessarily get all his claws in one sitting though, but that’s OK.