# Adoption with long nails/cuticles



## Neoflyte (Aug 21, 2010)

I have a 2.5 year old that I adopted several months ago. She came with very long nails that I have attempted to cut down but don't seem to be making any progress with because her cuticles run right to the end of her nails. I took her to a groomer once who "took off what they could" and afterwards she bled from 2 nails. I've talked to the vet and they want $200 to knock her out and give her a "show cut" and antibiotics, but this seems pretty extreme to me.

I could use some advice.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

I don't know what a "show cut" is. But if they'll knock her out and trim them back to normal, you'll be ahead. If she catches one and rips that nail out, the ER visit will be more the $200.00.


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## Neoflyte (Aug 21, 2010)

A show cut is cutting them off very short. Say 1/4".

Thanks!


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

If they're going to knock her out. Have them remove the dew claws if they're still there.
Gunnr has a partial dew claw, and I wished I'd had it removed when they did her spay surgery.


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## Sahara (Mar 22, 2009)

A show cut will remove the nails beyond the quick. They usually don't need to be done for several months after that. By then you should have no problem doing them on your own. I agree with Gunnr, you do not want one to rip off. Much more expensive and painful for your v.


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## DixiesMom (Feb 5, 2009)

**Just my opinion** The danger of knocking your dog out just to cut nails seems to risky to me. You should be able to "back up" the quick by trimming the nails every 2-3 days. You will take small slivers each time and the quick will naturally recede. It will take a bit longer to get the results, but is much safer and cheaper too.

Personally, I prefer to use a trimmer then a grinder to take the rest down, I like that I can get much closer to the quick with better control. (don't feel like I am hurting the dog)

A huge THANK YOU for adopting from rescue!! There are so many great Vs in rescue.


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## Neoflyte (Aug 21, 2010)

- Her dew claws are already removed, at least the first owners got that right.

- She is very difficult when it comes to trimming her nails. Lots of fight in it, so I admit I've been a bit timid. Guess I need to man-up and see if I can get in a string of micro clips before I do what I consider the drastic measure of having her knocked out. And yes, the reason I came to this forum is because I'm concerned about the inherent dangers anytime a dog has to be knocked out for a medical treatment.

- Bit of back story - Amber came to me in a very screwy way. A woman who volunteers with my mom mentioned she had "Rescued" a V from a family that couldn't keep her, but that the dog had turned out to be very aggressive, completely untrained and too much for her and her family to handle. I agreed to meet her and Amber thinking I would simply offer some advice. After walking around the park for an hour and listening to this woman go on and on about how much she loved the dog and swore to the owners who had given her Amber 10 days earlier that she would provide her with a loving home, I was stunned when she shoved her leash into my hands in the parking lot and said "Here you go". 

I wasn't planning on 2 dogs and I accepted thinking that at the very least I'd get the dog out of what was clearly to me a deteriorating situation. It took me a couple of weeks to finally commit to keeping her and yes, there were a few conflicts between Rowdy, my sweetheart 2 year old V and Amber who turned out to be the exact same age, but untrained? It'd take very little finishing to make her an off-leash anywhere dog. She's very obedient. 

Amber was obviously traumatized by the loss of her original family, scared, nervous and unsure and I believe she had been treated harshly by some male figure as she is still initially timid around new male faces. But rest assured folks, 6 months later Amber is now very happy, comfortable in our home and thanks to her new best friend/brother Rowdy, well on her way to discovering her inner Vizsla. When I first got her she was 50% of Rowdy's faster than average speed, now she's closer to 90% and has decided she loves to run, run, run! it's awesome having the energy of 2 happy V's in my house.

One more thing, Amber is a very pretty girl, I don't know her lineage, but wow. If she wasn't fixed I'd have found someone to show her. I'll post a pic. sometime. Thanks again for the advice.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Neoflyte said:


> - Her dew claws are already removed, at least the first owners got that right.
> 
> - She is very difficult when it comes to trimming her nails. Lots of fight in it, so I admit I've been a bit timid. Guess I need to man-up and see if I can get in a string of micro clips before I do what I consider the drastic measure of having her knocked out. And yes, the reason I came to this forum is because I'm concerned about the inherent dangers anytime a dog has to be knocked out for a medical treatment.


 You have every reason to be concerned about having the dog put under. Apologies if my response seemed to lack concern. It wasn't meant that way. In fact Gunnr, has a skin cyst that could have been removed by surgery, but too me it just wasn't worth putting her through it, and the risk for something that just looked a little unsightly. Gunnr also has the dew claw that wasn't completely removed, and I won't have her put under for just that.

Tika, my other V, is very difficult to trim her nails and they too were long when we got her. I literally have to "cross tie" her, like a horse in a stable aisle, to trim her nails. 
Maybe I should get the farrier to do it for me.


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## Sahara (Mar 22, 2009)

I too was not advocating putting your dog under just to trim the nails. It is a last case scenario. We had a hard enough time doing it to get her spayed. When she was spayed, we had them trim her nails at the same time because she had had an incident at a puppy spa and wouldn't let us do them the next time. Since then she lets us trim them and use a dremel to file them a little bit. Work up to using a dremel though. It takes a little getting used to for your dog.


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