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MY PUPPY NEEDS A PEDICURE! -
By Jasmine Dungey.
Trimming Your Pet's Nails
Clipping a Puppy's Nails - Check Your Cat's
Claws
One of the most common added extras vets are asked to carry out in everyday
consults is nail trimming. Whether it be just a routine trim or an animal with
problem nails, there is always some prevention that can be carried out at home.
Starting with dogs: the best time to get your dog used to having his or her feet
handled is when they’re puppies. Making it an everyday thing to examine
the foot pads and nails will mean he becomes accustomed to it early and will
make things a whole lot easier when there is actually a problem with the feet
later on. Give the feet a basic going over each day and give him a reward such
as a small treat or a big pat afterwards so that it becomes a positive experience.
 I often get asked to trim the toenails of a brand new puppy, but the truth
is they very seldom have enough nail to trim! It’s just that puppy claws
are sharp. One of the easiest things to do at home with any dog young or old,
is to file the nails (just use a small piece of sandpaper, or an emery board).
This will round off the ends of those deadly puppy talons, and prevent overgrowth
in older animals or those who have very fast-growing nails.
As your dog gets
older, his nails will naturally be worn down as he walks around outside, however,
if your dog doesn’t get quite as much exercise as he should this may not
happen as much, leading to overgrown nails. Try to walk your dog regularly on
a hard surface such as a pavement and if necessary supplement this with manual
nail filing.
In some cases, for example when an animal is a rescue case or you don’t
know the history, it can be virtually impossible to get near the feet without
losing an arm! This may simply be because the animal was never handled correctly
as it was growing up, or because of a previous stressful or painful incident
involving the feet. He or she may also have a fear aggression problem due to
a traumatic history and these things can all make it very difficult to deal with
nail problems. In these cases, walking the dog to keep the nails short is extra
important, but if your dog is unlucky enough to have nail deformities or extra
fast growing nails then you may be making that trip to the vet after all!
If your dog does require attention (or you just need a helping hand to distract
him while he gets his pedicure), then you have a couple of options. If it’s
a simple case, you can most likely ask your groomer to do them at the same time
as the quarterly haircut. If you don’t use a groomer you can usually make
an appointment with a nurse at your vet clinic – they do just as good a
job, but you won’t have to pay for a consultation with a vet and it frees
up appointment slots for us to see more urgent cases.
If, however, your dog has a nail problem (broken nails, diseased or deformed
nails, nails growing into foot pads etc) then you should see the vet at your
clinic. This brings me to my next point.
If your dog (or in fact cat in this case), has a diagnosed nail disease or
deformity, or you are concerned about something like this, the nails will need
to be checked regularly.
I see many small dogs who have fast growing or very
straight growing nails and if they are seen every 4-6 weeks, this can be managed
easily. Leaving the problem for too long in between checks means that each time
we will be back to square one, the quick or pink bit of the nail will often grow
out very long, and this makes it very difficult to trim the nails effectively
without causing stress or pain to the animal.
In older cats, I see a lot of lame animals due to claws that have grown right
into the foot pad. The nails in these older animals don’t seem to shed
normally, probably due to changes in scratching behaviour, and so they get much
longer much more quickly. If you’re concerned about your cat’s nails,
they should be checked by the vet, and if you notice your elderly cat having
any difficulty moving around you should make an appointment as soon as you can
in case painful overgrown nails are the problem.
Just a quick but important point here, if you are trimming nails at home,
you should try to use proper pet nail clippers (these can be bought at vet clinics,
pet shops or online) to avoid crushing or breaking the nail. Toenails should
be trimmed level with the footpad and parallel to the ground. Remember to leave
a bit of room between the quick (pink bit) and the end of the nail to avoid pain
for your pet.
Finally (who would have thought you could write so much about toenails!!),
there is the tricky question of what to do with black toenails. This is generally
a problem in dogs and there is no real trick to dealing with them. My advice
is generally to do everything you can to prevent them ever getting too long (this
goes back to the regular exercise and nail filing) so that we don’t all
have to go through that game of Russian roulette trying to decide where the quick
of the nail might be. If however you need some help, do make an appointment.
So the next time your dog starts to sound like he’s tap dancing on your
kitchen floor, or your cat seems even more reluctant than usual to move, have
a look at his or her feet, because the solution might be as simple as a nail
trim.
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