it's not neccesary. One of my female students was a massage therapist-nails trimmed very short-for obvious reasons. She was working a rear neck grab(mastoid) takedown with a male student and due to the sweat, her hand ripped across the back of his neck. She pulled out a ribbon of flesh from under her nail.
The truth is, if you want a good Tiger Claw-it's not the nails, it's the fingers that will rip and rend flesh and muscle, grab tendons,etc. train your hands and grip.
This is real Gung-Fu. There are no shortcuts.
"My Gung-Fu may not be Your Gung-Fu.
Gwok-Si, Gwok-Faht"
"I will not be part of the generation
that killed Kung-Fu."
....step.