Can you home-clip puppy's claws?

skintandscared_2

The cat-clipping thread has made me wonder... is it okay to clip a puppy's claws yourself? I know the vet used ordinary nail clippers but I wouldn't want to try it without knowing how much of the claw is "live"... We've booked into a groomers next week to have it done but just wondered.

Thanks

lee111s

You can but you have to be careful not to hit the quick.

trolleyrun

I can't clip my dog's claws as they're black and I can't see through them. Then again, we do enough road work to keep hers tidy and she does her own mani/pedi too

lee111s

Yeah if you walk the dog enough then they should take care of themselves really

krlyr

You certainly can. I would recommend a decent pair of clippers - cheaper ones can be a bit too blunt or flimsy.

If the dog has light coloured nails you can often see the quick. A torch shone from behind the nail can help too. If the nails are dark then trimming just the end off can be an option instead. Worst case, if you do cut too far, stem the bleeding with some styptic powder (or cornflour will do the trick) and you know not to trim so much on the next nail.

I would get pup used to having their paws handled, seeing the clippers etc. before you get to clipping the nail, but now is a great time to introduce nail clipping, while pup is young and has had no bad experiences to put them off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHgBvnQ71ss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=196rZAfECg0

meritaten

get an 'expert' like the vet to show you how its done! my last dogs claws were too large for 'human' nail clippers so I bought a pair of 'dog' nail clippers. my advice is to practice using them with skewers or something similar. they are a bit tricky at first. and you need a 'co-operative' dog - not a total wuss like second dog! I found if you put the flat part of the clippers against the dogs pads then you got a good 'cut'. but, you still need to be careful not to cut into the 'quick'!

skintandscared_2

Thanks for the tips. Hubby will be taking Ted to the groomers because I'll be at work, but I'll tell him to get some guidance from her while she's doing it. He does get daily walks to the park and maybe his claws aren't particularly long, but they seem it to me. When he's awake tomorrow I'll have a good look as his claws are white/opaque and i'll see if it's obvious where to clip to.

krlyr

White claws are prett easy, the quick will be a pink bit that's usually pretty visible

meritaten

White claws usually show the quick as 'pink' - black claws don't!

LondonDreamer

When I had a dog, I cut her claws quite often. She did have a groomer who would usually do it, but I would trim if needed between visits.

Most of her claws were white, she had a couple of solid black ones (border collie) so I couldn't see where to cut. I used the other trimmed claw lengths as a guide (as others have mentioned, you can see where to cut on light claws pretty easily) and cut the black ones ever so slightly longer just to be safe.

Did invest in a decent set of claw clippers though. Worth it if your dog has thick claws like mine did.

DTDfanBoy

The important thing is to clip them often, the quick extends as the nail grows, if they are left for too long you have to trim them back in stages as the quick will have extended much further than you would find in a dog that is trimmed often.