I think it's great that you were willing to inherit a cat! I hope it's going well.
My husband and I recently bought
this nail clipper for cats. I'm sure you could find a similar clipper locally at a pet store if you wanted. We've had our cats for several years now, but have never trimmed their claws. Our intentions were good - we didn't want to accidentally hurt them, and one of them is...let's see...what's a delicate way to say demon spawn? Finicky? Yeah, he's finicky. Plus, neither of them are really crazy about having their feet touched. But we want to start clipping because we've ordered a new couch and want to reduce the possibility of damage to it. As we've looked into clipping, we found out that it can actually hurt the cat to not clip their claws - because their claws are much more likely to get snagged or stuck. So I think we're doing the right thing.
But we're taking things nice and slow. We've gotten them to the point, over the last couple of weeks, where they associate the clippers with good things (treats) because we've been regularly getting the clippers out, showing them to the cats, letting them sniff them, etc., and then giving the cats a treat. Most recently we got a bamboo skewer and we're lopping off a bit each time before we give them treats so they can hear the sound the clippers will make and associate it with treats. Next step, start touching their paws while doing all this. And finally, start clipping their nails.
This may sound like a lot of steps, and if your cat is mellow, you probably won't have to do any of them. We have to do things a little differently for the devil cat. It wouldn't be a bad idea to give your cat a treat after nail clippings, though. Positive reinforcement goes a long way.
FWIW - there's a "how to" video on the page I linked earlier, if you'd like to check it out. Good luck!
