The Importance of Frequent Toenail Trims to Your Dog’s Health

Most people who own dogs do not give their dog’s toenails much thought. Many even assume they are pretty “self-care”. In fact, dog toenails require more frequent care than do people’s toenails. And veterinary research has confirmed the very serious consequences for a dog as they age when throughout their life they have been walking with their toenails in direct contact with the ground or the floor. It is comparable, but much worse, than a woman who has been walking on four-inch high heels every day of her life, all day long.

Such contact of the dog’s toenails constantly to the floor or ground will actually push back on the bones of the foot, causing misalignment skeletally, leading later in life to arthritis, orthopedic issues, limping, aching feet, legs, shoulder, neck and back bones and muscles. This diagram demonstates the stress on the whole skeletal system when the toe is not properly aligned because of a neglected toenail. You can better visualize the skeletal stress that long toenails place on your dog.

I have seen every imaginable problem with long toenails in neglected dogs – toenails wrapped around and sticking inside the pads of the feet, sometimes grown inside the pads completely covered in pus and blood in the worst cases . . . ! And more . . . All of these owners simply did not realize until it was too late the damage that they were causing to the long term health of their dogs until it was too late.

People who breed and show dogs are very good at this and maintain their dog’s nails virtually weekly, if not more often. They know the importance of a sound foot on the bottom of all four of a dog’s legs. A sound foot is not splayed out, toes spread out, flattening the foot overall.

Dogs live and walk on their “bare feet” all their lives. Their entire orthopedic health rests on the fact that their nails stay trimmed.

At Love Fur Dogs we clip the toenails as far back towards the quick as possible in every bath and groom that comes to us. We don’t charge extra for this service, like some big box stores do – it is automatic. If you want to come in for just a nail trim, the fee is nominal compared to the benefits. We also use a dremmel tool to and a real diamond tipped drill bit head to polish and smooth the nail after cutting. This keeps the loving family from being scratched and saves a lot of grief on hard wood floors.

And we will endeavor to cut nails to expose the quick, the blood vein inside the nail, at each grooming. Exposing the quick without cutting into it allows it to recede and hopefully retract backwards into the nail. If we do not expose the quick, then it can grow longer, eventually causing the very problem that we are working to avoid. We can expose the quick without cutting into it in most cases, thereby helping it retract and eventually let us cut the nail shorter and shorter. Since almost every dog that doesn’t get their nails cut weekly at home or by a professional has nails that are too long, this is a very important process.

Our prices for nails clips are $10-$15 and we accept walk-ins for nail clips only without appointments any Saturdays. All other days of the week we will clip anyone else by previous appointment.