Best Way to Trim your Dog's Nails at Home
Trim nails indicate your pet’s good health and hygiene; hence it makes trimming an essential part of your pet’s grooming. But nail trimming services for pets is an anxiety-laden experience for many dogs, hence the owner must handle their puppy’s feet and start trimming it when they are very young, so that they get accustomed to it and won’t withdraw. Though some of the dogs are very quiet, they would simply sit in your lap or on a table when you trim their nails but others might exhibit some type of discomfort and restrain.
In order to make this process of nail trims service for pets’ fun and comforting, you can make them lick peanut butter from a silicone wall mat while you are handling their nails. For squeamish owners, this task is performed by professional groomers but you can easily and simply trim your dog’s nails at home if done in a proper manner.
Getting Your Dog Comfortable
As a pet’s nail trim services, we know it is generally very rare to find a dog who doesn’t mind nail trimming even a little bit, but if it is taking really long for your pup to get used to it you mustn’t despair. Wait patiently with a gentle and positive attitude, offer them praise and treat and ensure that you are using safe, dog-friendly grinders or dog nail clippers.
There are ample ways by which you can make your dog comfortable while you trim their nails.
- Touch and hold your pet’s paws frequently and right from the first day, so that they don’t restrain from having their feet touched.
- Handle the nail grinders or clippers against your puppy's paw very smoothly. Touch the nail grinder to each paw, press the grinder smoothly so that the pet hears this sound, then turn on the grinder and let your pet feel the vibration, don’t actually trim it now, first make them accustomed to it.
- On the first day, just trim the very tiniest tip of one nail, even if he lets you do one without any restraint, don't do another. Repeat this process for some days until your pet gets accustomed and doesn’t seem to mind.
- Keep moving ahead, trimming additional nails every other day, until all the paw nails are done and your puppy doesn’t seem to mind at all. Practice it even when trimming is not required, just pretending that you are clipping and witnessing this process helps your pet get used to the whole process.
Trimming Your Dog’s Nails
There is a plethora of nail trimmers, including grinders tools and scissors which are specifically designed for dogs. You can select the type of nail trimmer out of the lot or take help of a pet nail trimming service, whichever is most comfortable for you and whatever works best for your pet or can also look for dog nail trimming centers near me. Having some styptic powder or other clotting powder with you ready to stop bleeding in case by mistake the nail is cut too short, is a good idea.
If you have never handled your pet’s paws before or have ever trimmed their nails, talking to our veterinarians at pawnanny.com might be of great help.
The below-mentioned steps must be followed in order to trim your pet’s nails properly:
- Simply pick up a paw and in a gentle manner place your thumb on the pad of a pet’s toe and forefinger on the skin above the nail or the top of the toe, ensuring that none of your pet’s fur is on the way.
- Push your thumb slightly up and backward against your pet’s pad, along with
pushing your forefinger forward, it will extend your pet’s nails.
- Only the tip of the nail should be clipped, straight across with combining the dewclaws located on the inner side of the paw.
- Never clip crossing the curve of the nail or you will be at high risk of hitting the quick. Hitting there is quite painful and will lead to bleeding. For dogs with dark nails, look for the chalky white ring.
Grinding Your Dog’s Nails
Listed below includes the ways for nail trims for pets:
- A safe tool such as a dremel must be used to grind the extremely overgrown nails of your pet.
- Only a small part of your dog’s nail must be ground at a time, your dog’s toe must be supported firmly and gently.
- Grind the nail from its bottom and also from the tip very carefully while smoothing all the rough edges.
- Make your dog comfortable with taking notes of all the sensitivities.
- You must ensure that the hair of dogs with long hair must be held back from the
grinding tool so that it doesn’t get taught.
Failing to Cut Your Dog’s Nails
Maintaining your dog’s nails regularly is much more than cosmetic. Unhealthy nails can lead to pain and in rare circumstances it might trigger irreversible damage to the dog. A living pink quick and the hard outer material known as shell are the two major parts of a dog’s nail. Blood is supplied by the quick to the nail and further running down to the core of it. Nerves in the quick lead to bleeding and discomfort when cut by mistake. Regular trimming of nails helps the quick by making them recede from the end. Short quicks are always preferred as it leads to easy maintenance and promotes a dog’s well-being.
Sound paw can be turned into a splayed foot by long nails and further minimizes traction, changes the shape of the feet leading to deformity and damages the tendons with an extended period of time. As your pet hits the ground with their long nail, the received pressure exerts force on the structure of the leg and foot. For some dogs’ breeds, their nails wear down in a short span of time and don’t need to be clipped off. Our pet nail trimming services in Fairfax VA recommend regularly trimming your dog's nails.
At pawnanny.com we are sure and know that you can trim your pet’s nails perfectly at home. But if you need some other help, or any further suggestions, or your dog has other ideas, our pawnanny grooming team can offer you with our nail trims services for pets in Virginia and beyond, and make this process pleasant for you and your pet. We also offer nail trims with bath, haircuts, and also a walk-in service, you can also keep your dog with us in our doggy daycare or overnight dog boarding.
