Content
- Why should you cut your dog's nails?
- At what age can a dog's nails be cut?
- How often should you cut your nails?
- What do I need to cut my dog's nails?
- common scissors
- guillotine scissors
- Cut my dog's nails step by step
- How to cut a dog's black nails
- Cut more than it should, what to do?
keep the a dog's nails in perfect condition goes beyond aesthetics, it is a health issue that can prevent the appearance of sores on your paws and other problems arising from excessive length. If we use the right tools, we can carry out the task of cutting them ourselves, in the comfort of home, to save some money and save the animal from the dreaded visit to the veterinarian. But it is important that the dog goes to the obligatory periodic visits, to stay healthy and strong for many years.
At PeritoAnimal we want to help you take care of your dog's nails through simple advice, so in this article we will explain you how to cut a dog's nails at home.
Why should you cut your dog's nails?
If you've already checked your puppy's paws, you should have noticed that the soles of the paws have pads on which to support all their weight when walking. The dog's nails should never go beyond these pads, because when they do, they prevent him from walking correctly, causing the fingers to twist to try to support the pads on the ground. In addition, little by little they will adopt strange postures that can develop serious problems in your paws.
In addition to causing health problems by not being able to support the paws correctly, the fact of not cutting a dog's nails can also lead to the appearance of wounds on the fifth toe, since when it grows it will end up penetrating the skin. Therefore, cutting a dog's nails on a regular basis represents one of the basic cares.
At what age can a dog's nails be cut?
Many are those who wonder when they can start cutting their puppy's nails, and the answer is quite simple: as soon as possible. There is no specific age to do this, you can start doing it when you see your puppy's nails cross the threshold and start to hinder his movements. In fact, it is highly beneficial to start trimming the puppy's nails as it helps us to normalize the activity, get him to get used to it and see him as part of his routine. During the puppy stage you should use a type of scissors adapted to your nail, which you probably cannot use once you reach adulthood. In this sense, we recommend consulting the veterinarian to make the first cuts.
How often should you cut your nails?
Once you know the importance of keeping your nails healthy and when you know when to start, you may wonder how often you cut your nails to prevent the above problems from appearing in your puppy. But the truth is that there is no specific period, as each dog breed has a specific growth rate. Also, depending on the type of exercise that the puppy performs, the nails are naturally filed and, therefore, do not need to be cut so regularly.
In general, toy and small dog breeds have a much higher growth rate than medium, large and giant dog breeds. If your furry companion is a Chihuahua or a Yorkshire, for example, it is likely that you should cut your nails every two or three weeks approximately, while enjoying the company of a Boxer once a month will suffice. What should be clear is that dog nails never stop growing and therefore you should review them every week and cut them when you see that the time has come to do so.
What do I need to cut my dog's nails?
To be able to cut a dog's nails at home without hurting him, it is essential to use the proper utensils. Therefore, we recommend that you don't skimp on this aspect and avoid low quality products, remember that your furry companion's health is at stake.
There is a wide variety of scissors to cut your puppy's nails, in different shapes and sizes. However, the most used are the following:
common scissors
This type of scissors to cut the nails of dogs has a similar shape to scissors for humans, but adapting the blades to the nails of these animals. Also, some models incorporate a small space to facilitate movement. To use them, just hold the nail in the proper area and exert the necessary force to cut it quickly and cleanly.
When choosing this type of scissors you should check its size and choose the one that best suits your puppy's size. Although you can get them for all races, the common scissors are usually more recommended for toy or small puppies, since it is not necessary to exert a high degree of force when cutting the dog's nails.
guillotine scissors
This type of dog scissors has a hole to facilitate the task of trimming the dog's nails. To use it, you have to insert the nail into the hole and place the scissors at the proper height to cut. The advantage of this scissors compared to the previous one is that it allows us to exert a greater degree of force when cutting without any kind of difficulty. This way it is more recommended for cutting the nails of big dogs, or with thicker nails.
Cut my dog's nails step by step
Now that you know the scissors you should use to cut a dog's nails, let's see how you should do it. But before that, it is essential to clarify what the dog's nail looks like, because inside it is living tissue that we shouldn't cut if we don't want to hurt our furry companion. Therefore, the first advice we give you is to examine your puppy's nails and identify this tissue, which will show up as a pink line on the inside. Once found, you should carry out the following steps:
- Create a relaxed environment and, above all, calm for the animal. In this sense, we recommend that you get your puppy used to this practice from an early age to be normal and part of his routine. For this, in addition to cutting your nails regularly, touch your paws and nails gently daily. Although it may seem insignificant to you, this will help the puppy not be scared or alarmed when we need to cut the nails or the hair that is between the pillows.
- Stand your dog up to look at the remaining piece of nail and know exactly where to cut it. Remember that the ideal measurement is one that is at ground level, but not touching it.
- Then take one of your paws and, if it's the first time you're going to cut your dog's nails, run scissors through them and reward him with a treat to associate the tool with a positive stimulus. Repeat this step until you see that your puppy is completely calm.
- To cut the nail, simply place the scissors at the right height and exert the necessary pressure to make a quick and clean cut. The proper position is one that shows a straight or slightly downward cut. This way, you avoid cutting your puppy's nails in a diagonally upward fashion. Check the image
- When you have cut the nails of the first leg, congratulate and offer him a treat before moving on to the next.
How to cut a dog's black nails
When a dog's nails are transparent, or semi-transparent, it's easy to identify the remaining part and cut without touching the living tissue. However, when the nails are completely black, it is impossible to identify this tissue. So, to avoid cutting it and hurting the animal, you have two options:
- Cut the nail bit by bit. Start by cutting just the tip of your puppy's nail and observe its interior, if it is completely white, you can cut a few more millimeters, while if you see a black dot, it should stop because the fabric is found right after.
- Cut the nail at ground level. With the puppy standing, position yourself so that you can cut your nail without the need to lift your paw. In this way, you will be able to observe the remaining part that must be cut and proceed with the cut.
Cut more than it should, what to do?
Sometimes it can happen that your puppy moves even when making the cut, or because your nail is black, we cut more than we should and it started to bleed. If this happens, the first thing you should do is stay calm. Then, the fastest and most effective is to take a clean gauze, moisten it with hydrogen peroxide and clean the nail, both to disinfect the wound and stop bleeding. If you have chlorhexidine gluconate at home, it is best to choose to use it because it can disinfect without irritating the animal's skin.
The ideal is to have the disinfectant products on hand before you start cutting the dog's nails so that you can act as soon as possible in the event of an accident. You can also go to the vet first and ask for special antiseptic powder for dogs, as it is much more effective than hydrogen peroxide in stopping bleeding.
And if it's impossible for you to cut your dog's nails, consult your veterinarian or canine hairdresser to be an expert in carrying out this task. Especially those dogs adopted as adults present problems when performing activities such as cutting their nails, because they already have a series of acquired habits and, among them, this one is not found, or because the lived experiences were so traumatic that they cannot avoid fear nor feel insecure.
