Drama anyone? My cats are generally very sweet and calm. They love to nap next to me as I work and they almost never say no to playtime. What is the exception? When I have to clip their nails. As soon as the clippers come out, you would think I was trying to torture them. Zen Clipper® is new product that can help change that experience and keep the kitties calm even during pawdicure time!
Clipping Your Cat’s Nails
Image courtesy of Zen Clipper
Why clip your cat’s nails at all? Scratching is a natural, healthy part of feline behavior. They scratch to stretch certain muscles and as a way to mark territory. Clipping your cat’s nails is the humane way to keep your cat’s claws from damaging your furniture and to make them gentler on your skin.
The tricky part of clipping your cat’s nails is trimming only the sharp tip of the nail. Inside the nail is an area known as “the quick”. The quick is a blood-filled area within the nail that can not only bleed but cause your cat some pain if it is punctured.
What is Zen Clipper ®?
Zen Clipper Sizing Card
Zen Clipper is a new brand of nail clippers designed to give the perfect trim to your cat’s nails! Designed in the USA, their patented conical stainless steel blade works well for cats, dogs, birds, reptiles, and small animals too. The cushioned non-slip handle help the Zen Clipper to fit comfortably and steadily in your hand.
The size of the blade allows only a pre-determined amount of nail to fit inside to be trimmed. With the correct size, you will never clip the quick of your cat’s nail again! Also, the round shape of the blade matches the shape of a cat’s nails in such a way that it will not crush the cat’s nail like other clippers may do.
To ensure that you get the right size Zen Clipper, you can order a size card directly from the Zen Clipper website. When you get the card, poke your pet’s nail through the holes in the card to find the right fit. If you order the wrong size Zen Clipper, they will happily exchange them for the correct size. Available sizes include:
- XXS
For small birds, kittens, ferrets, reptiles, and small animals. - XS
This size works for most cats! - S
For larger cats, larger birds, puppies, large reptiles, and very small dogs. - M
For small dogs and larger puppies. - L
For dogs from 20 – 40 lbs - XL
For dogs from 25 – 50 lbs - XXL
For dogs from 25 – 50 lbs with thicker nails
Visit the Zen Clipper website to purchase your Zen Clipper or to find them in a store near you. Please check out the Zen Clipper Facebook page to keep up with all of the latest news and products from Zen Clipper!
My Experience with Zen Clipper
As previously mentioned, my cats are not big fans of having their nails clipped. Manna and Dexter will allow my husband, Dave, and me to do the job, but they protest the whole time. There is a lot of meowing and trying to pull their paws away. Typically, we only clip 1 or 2 nails at a time. It is important to us to give the cats the best experience possible so that they will continue to trust us enough to allow us to clip their nails.
Most of the time, Dave is the one who clips Manna and Dexter’s nails. I have hand tremors, so I’m always nervous that I will twitch at the last second and cut into the quick. I don’t want to cause my kitties any undo pain. Dave’s hands are much steadier.
When our Zen Clipper came in the mail, the first thing I did was check the size. The Zen Clipper came with a size card. Since I had ordered the XS pair, I placed a nail through the XS hole in the card. It was the perfect size for both cats! It did not slip up to the quick in either Manna or Dexter’s nails.
The next step was to give a nail a trim! I was able to easily clip Dexter’s nails. The Zen Clipper felt like a really nice pair of scissors in my hand. They stayed put and didn’t slip around my hand. The hole fit easily over the cats’ nails and clipped them cleanly. One thing I really liked was that the Zen Clipper is very quiet. They don’t make that metallic creaking sound that most clippers make. Dave also tried the Zen Clipper. He was able to get a number or nails very fast (without clipping the quick).
We would definitely recommend Zen Clipper to any cat owner. Our cats have not suddenly begun to love having their nails clipped, but Zen Clipper did ease our anxiety in doing the clipping. We’ve been able to clip more nails much faster than we did with other clippers. These are great for anyone with hand tremors, problems with close-up vision, or any other anxiety about clipping the quick.
The Giveaway
Want to Zen Clipper for yourself? The good people at Zen Clipper are letting us give away a pair to 3 lucky readers! Just use the RaffleCopter widget below to enter.
Entries must be received by Monday, September 16, 2018, at 11:59 PM (EST). Open to residents of the United States of at least 18 years of age. Winners will be notified by email within 48 hours of the end of the giveaway. If a winner does not respond to the notification email within 48 hours, that winner forfeits the prize and a new winner will be drawn. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.
Our cat fights having his nails trimmed.
Great graphics and info. Mine can get squirmy and bitey so this will be an awesome new tool to try!
I won a Zen clippers last month. I still need to try them out. I shared your post.
We have two dogs and two cats and they are all afraid of the nail clippers
My older cat who’s 10 and who I’ve had since 5 weeks of age is fine since I’ve been doing it since she was little. But my 3 year old who I adopted when she was nearly 11 months old puts up a bit of a fuss.
My cat Lucy hates it. This product would help tremendously. Thanks for the chance.
This is really handy – but can you believe the regular cat size, XS, is too small for my big, fat claws! My claws are the only big part of me. I may even need M on some claws. In any case, I am easy, and my human always trims my claws with no issues.
My cats absolutely hate to have their nails clipped. They run and cause a stampede amongst them.
My little guy hates it! He whimpers, squirms, yelps, struggles….I have been having the vet do it. 🙂
She hates!! it! So much.
I love our Zen clippers – things go so much faster with them. But both my cats require a Medium!
I have two cats, and while neither particularly love it, they both tolerate it fairly well (esp. the one more attached to me). They’ll put up a little fuss, but they seem to understand that they’ll feel better when it’s over— and, they know that I’m not going to hurt them.
My pets are not fans of having their nails trimmed!
Nice Post! Wow, these clippers sound a lot better than some of the more generic models that cats / dogs don’t care for. My dogs aren’t fond of any clippers really. We tried the sanding one, it was too scary for them. (From Dachshund Station)
My dog absolutely HATES having her nails cut. Maybe I should check this Zen Clipper out!
When all 4 seem me coming with my clippers they run for the hills! I try and make it a pleasant experience but they don’t agre with me!
We have 5 cats, and only 1 of them will let me trim their nails by myself. The other 4 require my husband to hold, but they complain the whole time. I have actually never heard of these nail trimmers, but I will definitely be recommending them to clients at work for their cats!
Hey, these Zen clippers look like the perfect size for hands! And your graphic is great. With cats, if you start trimming them as kitties do they respond less when you try to cut their nails? Just curious because our neighbor who r Escher her cat as Ana cult just hates having his nails trimmed.
It’s a pain to cut Babu’s (our dog) nails, so I am curious how kitties behave during their nail clipping. We always have to take ours to the vet.
This isn’t the style of clippers I like, but anything that helps cat parents keep their cats comfortable with grooming is a great thing.
All three of our cats act like they’re having major surgery done!
We have some of these and I am impressed with the way the clippers have been through out.
Anyone who is nervous at cutting a cat’s claws has their job made such a lot easier with the Zen clippers – no fear of doing your cat any harm at all and this is a good thing.
My older cat who’s 10 and who I’ve had since 5 weeks of age is fine since I’ve been doing it since she was little.
My dogs don’t like having their nails clipped. I’m very nervous to clip them myself because I have poor hand eye coordination. I usually hold the dog while my husband does the clipping. These would be a great improvement to the type we have now.
My cat has never had her nails clipped, but I’m sure she wouldn’t like it.
Every little bit they can do to the design to decrease the risk of getting the quick and making it a smoother process is really helpful.
I LOVE the Zen clippers. I need an additional size because some of the girls’ nails are larger or smaller.
Two of the three hate it. One tolerates, only because there are treats after.
They like it clipped.