Member

Posts: 59
From:
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-28-2003 01:21 PM         

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i just got a 6 year old Basset from my grandparents because they cant take care of him anymore...well...he hadnt been to the vet in a while and his nails got really long....and when we took him to get a bath we asked about cutting his nails and the lady said that sesne they had been growing and not cut for a while that they had developed veins and she couldnt cut them because there was blood in them or something.

So is there anyway that the vet or anyone could cut them shorter or would they bleed?
i dont really know if they bother him but they are just really long....

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Registered: May 2003

posted 08-28-2003 01:45 PM         

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Since they are so long and the groomer cant do anything I would take the dog into the vet they should be able to do something about it
Honeybear

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Posts: 111
From:Tucson, AZ
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-28-2003 02:24 PM            

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I agree with honeybear. I would take him to a vet for help. They might have to put him under for the procedure, just for the pain. It is very important that you cut your dogs nails on a regular basis otherwise this will happen. And it is very uncomfortale for the dog to have really long nails. Once they get the nails to a good length, just make sure you trim the nails every 2-3 weeks.

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From:Brewton, AL, USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 08-28-2003 05:15 PM            

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You must take him to the vet. As painful as it may be for him the first few minutes after the nail trimming, it is way more painful for him to walk around with those nails!!!!
The vet can give him either a total, but most likely a local anesthesia, and treat the nails with some special kind of stuff to stop the bleeding immediately. So there is no question about it... take him to the vet!!!

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posted 08-28-2003 07:39 PM         

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thanks for the advice...we are going to take him to the vet this weekend....

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posted 08-28-2003 09:24 PM         

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You CAN get the nails down yourself if your vet won't do it and/or you don't want the dog going under anesthesia. To do so, either cut the nails close to the quick every 4-7 days until the nails have receded(sp?) far enough back, or (IMO, this is easier) buy/borrow a dremel or similar small power drill with sander tool and grind the nails down. If the dog has black nails, the dremel would work better, since you can see when you're working close to the quick, though it does take longer. When you take the nails back to where the quick is that close to the quick, you force it to recede. It may take a few weeks, even over a month, but is a lot less risky than if you have to use a general anesthetic to knock the dog out and quick all the nails. Another option is to exercise him on concrete/pavement... the rough surface will wear his nails down over time, the more you have him moving around on it, the faster his nails will be worn down, and the faster the quicks will recede.

If you do decide to have the vet take the nails way back, make sure the dog is completely knocked out when they do it, or it will put him off completely to having his nails clipped. This happened with my dog when she was fixed... they quicked all of the nails, but she wasn't as deep into the anesthesia as she had been (still not awake, but getting close to starting to wake up) during the spay. The next time I got out the clippers to cut her nails, she went flying through the house and hid. It took weeks before she would let me clip her nails again (she'd never been a big fan of it anyway), and she's still uncomfortable about getting them clipped (I dremel them now, she's fine with that).

My grandparents Chi had horribly long nails when they asked me to cut them last week... I decided to take them back as far as I could with the dremel, thinking I'd have to go repeat every few days for a month or so to get them manageable again.... imagine my surprise when I managed to get them down to where they didn't even click on the floor in one try. It might be worth it to try and get them shortened up on your own first, before having the vet take them way back.

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posted 08-29-2003 11:58 AM         

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i dont know if i or my dad would be comfortable doing this....because his nails are so thick and the only nails i have ever cut are my cats and my shih tzu's.
but thanks for telling me this...i think we are still gonna take him to the vet or we might talk to the vet about that power drill thing.....idk...
but thanks.

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