Dog's Nails & Clipping

[Hank]

I do the dogs when I do my own toenails....seems to work out about right.

Here's my wife's characterization of the process:

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Toe nail trimming, both sides of the story........


What I say happened

I got out the trimmers and the dogs all acted like it was the end of their lives. Some were resigned to it, others screamed in pain before I even touched their feet. All survived unhurt.


What the dogs say happened

She came at us with a chain saw. Those of us not paralyzed with fear tried to avoid having our paws cut off by running away and/or crying out. There was an ambulance and a helicopter standing by to transport injured dogs to the hospital to get paw transplants. It was horrible. After we returned from the intensive care unit, we got treats.

[GaryM]

Sounds about right Hank!

I guess it's worse when you're on the receiving end. And the treats always help.

[Godslilrosebud]

Rofl!

You might try flour; I've had that recommended to me for clipping rabbit's nails.

[egon]

Not to get off topic but in days gone by flour was used to stop bleeding on farm animals that had gotten into contact with barbed wire.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[GaryM]

Thanks for the additional information. I suspect the corn starch would have worked except for the wet ground.

I've stocked up on the KwikStop pads and am now prepared for future trimmings. [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Poling calves gets to be a bloody affair sometimes with streams shooting out several feet. For the real gushers that can't be controlled wilth the powder sold for that use, a hot (modern version is electric) cauterizing iron. It looks a lot like a big electric soldering iron. Most dogs would NOT enjoy the experience. Uhh, the calves never diid either. And they didn't get treats and praise either.

I was the official nail trimmer for our dogs and can offer this advice. DO NOT... I repeat for emphasis... D O ... N O T wait so long between trimmings. Waiting to hear the claws on the floor is toooo long. When you trim more frequently you don't have to be so aggressive and the likelihood of getting blood is greatly reduced. I know some dogs, irrespective of treats and praise, will not appreciate the experience but more frequent trimmings is better for the dog, whether or not they appreciate it. In my experience it seemed the "quick" and live tissue with a blood supply, stayed back better (farther from the tip of the trimmed nail) better with frequent trimming.

I never personally had to resort to pet tranquilizers for nail trimming but know folks who did with good results. My Great Dane, Thor, was 6'5" when he stood up on his hind legs and put his forepaws on my sholders and weighed 180 lbs at 8 months. If I were going to give one of my dogs a "trank" it would have been Samara, the female Afghan Hound, a nervous bitch who whined at the least discomfort. Her son, Sungold, was out of the envelope for Afghans and except for being at least mildly retarded (in my opinion) was much more "pain resistant."

If I had to trim little snippy dogs, I'd probably trank them into submission. Mother's little helpers... Please, more of theese... The Beatles had it figured.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[GaryM]

I wonder if the Dremel MotoTool with a sanding band would work better than a clipper. I've seen them in the pet supply catalogs being sold for that purpose. They can be quite noisey though, and at a high frequency too.

Anyone used one of those?

[DUMBDOG]

That little bit with the calves jogged my memory, maybe not. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

But with the dehorning process, I recall where the blood would shoot out and hit the walls on all sides.

If I remember correctly, which is somewhat in doubt as this happened over 45 years ago, they would use cobwebs to stem the flow of blood. My memory of this is quite foggy but who knows the difference between reality and imagination in a pre school kid [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] .

[Fred]

I use a dremmel also, with the course barrel sander, but of course the dog needs to get used to it. It works very well and you can round the edges of the nail, which makes the nail look like more was trimmed off. It is much more time consuming because you need to go from nail to nail, taking just a little off, so you don't overheat one. My Ridgeback, who will yipe when he sees a nail clipper, will hold perfectly still to have them ground.

[Pat]

D'Dog, Luckily dogs nails don't spew like a calf having its horn nubs nipped and so don't need the HD cauterizing iron. I knew spiderweb was strong and used for various things (black widow was used for cross hairs in scopes and the like) but never heard about cobwebs as a coagulant/wound sealant. What counts is if it works. Nothing like performance to prove usefulness.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]