Our cat Bubba Love is, by all points against which house cats can be measured, actually very conscientious about the use of his nails. When he feels the urge to scratch, he reliably uses a corrugated cardboard pad designed expressly for the purpose. He is a good kitty and a lovely household citizen.
Bubba Love
But then there’s the unconscious use of his claws. I don’t know what you call it in your house, but here we call it “making muffins.” When Bubba makes muffins on you, you realize he has weapons-grade talons. And, unlike every other cat I have ever owned, Bubba is not content to just make muffins in your lap or on your chest. He eventually feels the need to migrate his love-kneading to some bare, delicate skin on your body — often your throat.
Bubba is a little bit crazy. On days when I think I may risk bleeding out, we cut his nails. Never fun, but also nowhere near as bad a cutting dog nails. Still, it’s not my favorite task, and it usually takes two of us: one to hold him still and one to press the toe pads to extend the claws, line up the clippers and snip.
Enter the Zen Clipper. The Zen Clipper has a distinct conical, or funnel-shaped, blade. It allows only the tip of the claw to enter the cutting area, stopping WELL before the quick. The result? a perfect, painless clip in a fraction of the time.
“Hurry up please. I have food to eat.”
This blade means you can avoid that long, tense hovering period when you squeeze your cat’s paw to push the claw out and trying to perfectly line up the nail clippers, and (s)he just gets progressively annoyed with you and considers your imminent death. With these, you just jam the nail in, give a light squeeze and snip!
Snip! Easy peasy.
It can easily be done by just one person, and you can move on before your cat plots global nuclear war as revenge. My experience? Anything that shortens the time you spend doing this chore is a huge benefit for you and your cat. The Zen Clipper is just such a tool. We were able to get both front feet done in less than a minute, allowing far more time for Bubba’s traditional post-nail-trim huff.
“I shall now ‘catloaf’ to prevent all future trimmings.”
Scorecard
Quality: The stainless steel blades are of a higher quality than most clippers we have tried. The handles, which are like standard scissor handles, are comfortable and easy to use. Overall, great quality.
Style: If you can call any nail trimmers “stylish” these would be the ones. They are color coded by size, and we have a bright, happy set in a drawer now for all of our animals.
Function: The special conical blade, the spring-loaded handle and the scissor grip add up to make these the best, easiest-to-use clippers we have tried. As good as they are for cats, they work equally well for dogs. Like I said, we have them for every animal in our house.
Creativity: These are pretty revolutionary for nail trimmers.
Value: The Zen Clippers sell for $23.95, regardless of size. Knowing you can’t accidentally cut too much and hurt your baby makes it worth every penny.
Bottom Line
I am a big fan of Zen Clippers. The peace of mind they give me allows me to get nail trimming done faster and easier. Bubba might still detest the process, but let’s be fair. He’s a cat. Anything other than being fed is an indignity to him.
About the author: Lisa Seger (who goes by Blue Heron Farm on most social media platforms) is a former office drone turned dairy farmer and cheesemaker. She found that cubicle jobs just didn’t allow for enough quality animal time and so made animals her work instead. Like all dairy farmers, she has virtually NO free time, but what little she gets is generally spent in pursuit of rescuing, fostering, and placing homeless dogs. Or being a smart-alec on the interwebs. Follow her on Facebook.
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