Why Does It Matter to Trim My Dog's Nails?
Like humans or other animals with toenails, dogs nail's will continue to grow, and grow, and grow. As nails grow longer they will proceed to curl outward, or even worse- grow inward! Long toenails for dogs can be very uncomfortable and painful and make it very hard for your dog to walk normally. The length of your dog's nails might even make them more prone to slipping and falling, and the toenails will be more fragile and possibly break off in entirety. You might notice your dog's nails starting to grow physically into the paw pad, causing bleeding or infection. But worse of all, as stated by Canine Arthritis Resource and Education, "Over-grown nails will change the biomechanics of the digits and could lead to arthritis in the toes". This means that long toenails can change the entire shape of your dogs feet and toes, causing irreversible damage! Ouch!
Taking Care of My Dog's Nails at Home
Once we have found reason to believe that it is important to trim our dogs nails we might find ourselves wanting to trim them at home. Going to the vet for biweekly nail trimmings can get time consuming and expensive. With just a few quick implemented tricks from Canine to Five, we can be on our way to taking care of our dogs nails at home.
Canine to Five covers questions and topics such as:
- What to use?
- When to trim?
- Where to trim?
- How to trim?
- Finishing Touches
We also found their visuals extremely valuable in identifying the Kwik, which is the part of the nail that carries the blood supply.
If you are interested in grooming your own dog's nails, be sure to checkout the rest of their valuable information here. And if you’re interested in additional information or advice about nail grooming, be sure to check out our instagram where we link helpful articles from veterinarians and research journals. From helpful studies about feeding to training to health, we believe in finding the many resources available from veterinarians to help you and your big dog!
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