[Dailydrool] Nail trims, show trims

[Beverly Szaton]

Sara,
Normally when you cut a dog's nails you try like crazy to avoid the blood
vessel that runs down the nail, called the "quick". Quicking a dog means you
have cut into the vein and it  not only bleeds like mad but is painful, so
yes, you cut an ordinary nail back only until you can see the end of the
quick and you stop.

Show trims are totally diifferent. Show trims are done on dogs who
absolutely refuse to have their nails trimmed while awake, or on dogs that
are being shown and need the nail trimmed way back and because it is too
difficult (the dog is too difficult) to trim them before every show. Show
dogs have very short nails;

Show trims are done under anesthesia. The nails are sterilized with alcohol
and a tourniquet is applied to the leg to stop the excessive bleeding. You
cut the nail back EVEN WITH THE END OF THE PAD. Yes, you cut right through
the quick, and you do it on purpose. You pack the nail with Quick Stop, and
I mean you pack it hard and up into the nail. You do all the nails that way
on that foot,remove the tourniquet and watch for oozing or bleeding, re-pack
if necessary and go on to the next foot.

When the dog wakes up, they may lick their feet for a day but the nail grows
back over the quick very rapidly and there is no limping, bleeding or
outward signs of pain IF IT IS DONE CORRECTLY. It is not something I
recommend for all dogs and it is something I normally do not do, but since
Cooper was already anesthetized for something else, and since he is a real
dorkhead about cutting nails, I asked for a show trim.

Now I was right there in the OR. I was standing watching the monitors that
track his breathing and pulse. One of the techs did his nails and rather
than clip them even with the end of the pad,she squeezed each nail to make
it protrude and then cut it so that the cut was actually BEFORE the end of
the pad. I was not watching. This is my fault and the fault of the Tech who
certainly knows not to do that. Or should. At any rate, she will when I am
done with her.

So what has happened to Cooper was not the result of a normal nail trim nor
even a normal Show trim. Now I am concerned that the nail beds themselves
have been damaged because the nails do not seem to be grown back at all.He
is walking on quicks, getting them full of dirt and bacteria, and is in
constant pain.
DO NOT SHOW TRIM YOUR DOGS UNLESS THE PERSON DOING IT HAS A BRAIN.

That is my suggestion.
MomPerson to Nigel, Llewis, Conley and LimpyCooper.
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