Make a cat burrito. Gently but firmly wrap your cat in a towel with one claw free. Work on the free claw. Get a helper to hold the burrito and to try and confort the cat.

Its not fool proof if the cat fights hard, but it helps on some cats without traumatizing them or injuring you.

You can make or buy something like this if you can’t do clips.

I didn't have this issue with my 4 cat when i do that, i usually have them belly up on my lap, head facing me, and i trim it that way so their paw won't be in an awkward possition. They will try to get away, but i'll just grab them back and give em some head scritches to quiet them down. I sometime will grab their paw when giving them pat and ask "lets check your nail. can i trim this?" and then trim it. Usually they let me trim one or two before getting annoyed.

I did it like this on my sister's cat as well, works just fine.

My stray kitten wouldn't let me cut her claws so I tried the mobile vet. They handed her back to me and said it wasn't worth the fight, and her sister was free.

When my cat was a kitten, I played with her paws and claws regularly to get her used to it. After a few weeks of that I had no problem clipping her nails. I don't think she likes it but she tolerates it and gets loves when we're done.

I also glue "soft paws" to her claws because she loves to destroy carpets and furniture despite the cat trees and our efforts to deter her.

We got CBD oil for our kitties to help them endure 4th of July fireworks. We tried giving it to them a day early to observe their reactions before everything got loud and scary. One of them scratched me so much (out of fear, not malice) that I quickly gave up. We're gonna try sneaking it on some tuna tonight. The store was sold out of CBD treats, so hopefully this works.

I have 4 cats and I handle them all without getting scratched while trimming their nails. There is one cat that will bite the nail scissors, she is tricky to handle because of that. When she catches a finger between the nail scissors and her teeth, she bites full force and that does not make a pleasant experience. I tried burritoing her, but it's just easier to have her on her back and using sleight of hand to distract her.

But why? So they don’t scratch the furniture?

My forearms look like that regardless

I like the top panel bcs it allows for proper play time, not some baby bs. Kinda like cats vs cats play.

Never needed to clip any cats claws so I can't sympathise entirely, but I doubt I would have forced the issue if kitties were too against it (especially if the second time they would still be against it).