Nail Clipping Basics

Pawsitive Solutions professional grooming includes a nail inspection, and clipping.

Dogs need their nails clipped and filed on a regular basis, usually every 3 to 4 weeks.
It is not uncommon for dog owners to wait too long between nail clipping. Overdue nails
raise health issues. Extended growth can result in painful ingrown nails. Elongated nails
affect the comfort and health of dogs. Some dogs will find it difficult to place their
full body weight on their feet with discomfort from elongated nails. As a result these dogs
develop sore feet, legs and hips and overall discomfort. Just to walk can then be a
painful experience for them.

Many dogs that require little professional grooming and styling still visit groomers for
a nail clipping, or a bath with nail clipping, for one reason. Generally, dog owners do
not like to cut nails, and many of these pet's don't really care for nail clipping either.
Learning how to hold and handle the dog, and properly use the correct tools, makes nail
clipping and filing a much more bearable procedure for dogs. Most nail clipping procedures
cause no pain to the dogs.

Nail clipping is essentially the process of cutting away excess nail, and the key is to
learn just what is the "excess nail." If you can hear dog nails when walk on a hard floor
surface, there is probably a small or better amount of excess nail to clip and/or file down.
It is better to cut a small amount regularly than a large amount at once. However, since
dogs may go many weeks between professional grooming appointments it is usually the task
of groomers to reasonably clip more excess nail.

DEW CLAWS

About 1" to 3" above the inside of their front feet (and sometimes rear feet) dogs may
have "5th nails" commonly referred to as “dew claws.” Nail clipping should include these
nails. Since dew claws are never exposed to friction from touching ground surfaces, they
are often longer and sometimes overgrown. In fact, you may find neglected dew claws grown
into a full circle circle and even painfully ingrown requiring veterinary care. It is not
uncommon for pets to have dew claws on some feet, and not on others.

THE QUICK

There is a blood vessel in pet dog and cat nails. It is commonly referred to as "the quick."
The quick is usually visible to the eye except for dark-colored nails. Because it is
possible to cut the quick and cause a nail to bleed, many pet owners are fearful of cutting
their pet's nails. Instead, they bring their dogs to groomers or veterinarians for clipping.

If the quick is already very near nail tips, daily filing for approximately three weeks may
encourage nail quicks to recede enough for a comfortable, bloodless nail clipping. However,
the recession during those three weeks is likely to be enough to clip the tips of the nails
without bleeding. Thereafter, the nails should be clipped and filed on a regular basis
in order to maintain their healthy state, and prevent the pet from having to undergo
bleeding nails. There is almost no risk of causing the nails to bleed when filing them.

Indoor dogs typically require more frequent nail inspections. Outdoor dogs or those taken
for regular walks on hard surfaces like concrete sidewalks usually require less maintenance
since the friction of their nails against hard surfaces helps to limit nail growth and
encourage quicks to properly recede away from nail tips.