# Is There Any Way to Fix Long Quicks?



## Max'sHuman (Oct 6, 2007)

Hey guys,

So Max has ridiculously long nails because according to his groomer they can't be trimmed much because he has such long quicks. Is there anything one can do about that or do I just resign myself to long nails? I don't guess he cares too much about it. In fact he uses his paws and nails a lot to grip toys and such. Should I be concerned? I don't want to cut the quick cause I know that would hurt and after I did one or two like that he wouldn't let me near his feet and it would be messy and painful. So any advice from you groomers out there?

Mara


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## acanoffleas (Jan 15, 2008)

How about just tipping the nails on a weekly basis? Even taking just a little, tiny bit off can help the quick to recede a little bit. Dremeling, or grinding, the nails is another option. Sometimes cutting to the quick (causing them to bleed) will help them recede. 

When all is said and done, though, some dogs just have long quicks and nails.  As long as they don't impede his ability to walk, I wouldn't worry about it too much.


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## Purplex15 (May 28, 2007)

there are a few things you can try (all of which your groomer should have told you about)
1) you can take the dog to the vets, have it put under, and then they just clip all the nails to a desirable length, and put syptic powder on the bleeding nails. the dogs dont experiance any pain, but you do have to consider the risk of anesthesia, and if it is worth your dogs life.

2)the other thing is what the poster above mentioned. every couple days/week clip a little more off the nail. the longer you wait in between nail trims, the longer the quik will grow. you need to either do it yourself, or pay to have it done. it will take a long time, months, depending on how long the nails are now. but it is a much safer way to do it then putting the dog under. 

btw quiking the nails is reaaaly not that big of a deal. most dogs dont feel it, and dogs generally have a much higher pain tolerance than humans. im not saying go crazy and just quik them off, but barely quiking the dog isnt going to hurt them as long as you stop the bleeding.


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## Max'sHuman (Oct 6, 2007)

Thanks for the tips guys. I think next time I take him to the groomers I will aks her to show me how to clip his nails. Otherwise, I might have to get him a dental cleaning in the near future, so maybe I will just ask if while he is under for one, they do the other. But it doesn't mess at all with his ability to walk so I won't really worry about it. Thanks again!


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## lovemygreys (Jan 20, 2007)

dremelling will work back quicks pretty quickly. You may have to work with him a bit to get him to accept a dremel. We've been working with Marco since JULY of last year and he still screams like a banshee when you turn the thing on


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

I get fosters whose nails are horribly long. Clipping would take forever and aday, so I dremel them every 3 days (while I have them).


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## lenagroomer (Mar 28, 2008)

Fixing long quicks is actually very easy. You just have to be patient during the process.

-what you should do is trim the nails as good as possible (without quicking them) to start out.

-then you want to barely tip the nails once a week, or if you can trim a little without quicking then you can do that.

after each time that you trim the nails, you want to use a nail grinder or a dremel and dremel them down a little shorter and smooth.

after doing this for about a month, the quicks in the nails will have receded to make it where you can trim the nails shorter.

you can also just use the dremel once a week and grind them down without cutting them if you prefer.

basically the quicks will naturally recede as long as you are trimming or grinding the nails back often enough. again, just do not try to do it too quickly, because every time you quick your pet it makes it more challenging to do the nails in the future

hope that helps


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## borzoimom (May 21, 2007)

We had this problem with our rescue Femka- what we did was sedate her mildly and they cut her back. Then we kept on it.


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## lenagroomer (Mar 28, 2008)

just a note,

even if a dog is quicked while under sedation, it still hurts the dog

the dog still knows it happened and it still causes discomfort.

personally i don't ever intentionally do anything to hurt a dog. i know quicking a dog happens and that it is not excruciating to them, but still.

if it can be prevented with a little patience, i would much rather choose that method.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

Our vet gave some pretty powerful pain meds during and after cutting back one of our foster dogs, while under sedation for another procedure. And we were counseled to continue the pain meds for a few days at home.

I agree that it does hurt, but most dogs will suffer more from not being able to walk on their feet properly or damaging a long nail by catching it on stuff.

If cutting them back weekly is not producing results or would take more than 6 months, I would opt for the surgical method.


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## lenagroomer (Mar 28, 2008)

you do realize that there are only a limited amount of times that is safe to put your dog under sedation before it could be life threatening. to waste one of those times to purposely hurt your dog is crazy! and by the way, you can always safely cut the nails even with the pawpads without quicking your dog, so it would not have to walk on its nails for any amount of time. and it only takes about a month to cut and dremel the nails if done properly. i think you should do more research and consider your options before subjecting your dog to unnecessary surgery and pain.


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## Dieselsmama (Apr 1, 2007)

My vote is for dremmeling weekly @ home. I do my guy's nails weekly and they're nice and short.


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## lenagroomer (Mar 28, 2008)

I completely agree with that.


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## Max'sHuman (Oct 6, 2007)

Hmmm well after reading all this I am thinking dremeling sounds the best too. I think it would take a while to work him up to it. He lets me handle his feet without a fuss, but once he gathers something is up, like trimming he would be a mess. Again this is guessing. But it's like, he lets me touch his face or something, but the second I wanted to get a tick off of it he wanted nothing to do with me. Guess I'll have to invest in a lot of CHEESE. He is also kind of noise sensitive so I think a dremel sound could freak him out. So OK, maybe this will take some months. But these were very informative replies. Thanks so much for the information.


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## Alpha (Aug 24, 2006)

My vote is definitely to use a dremel.

Quite honestly it shouldn't take months. We demo'd dremelling last week on an older dog who at the beginning of class wouldn't even let his owner, let alone, my trainer or I touch his feet. So in less than a hour, we were touching the dog's feet and we did his nails.

If he doesn't like loud sounds, there should be a few settings on the dremel. To start put it on low, turn it on for one second, then off, reward. Turn on for one second, off reward. Every three or four times, increase the time by a second or so. If he gets uncomfortable, decrease time. You just have to touch the nail with the dremel to start, don't hold it down on the nail.

It's so much easier to just cut your dog's nails yourself anyways, cheaper too! Once a week like everyone else has said. Once you get the quick to a desired length, you'll be surprised at how much their nails grow in just one week!

Good luck!


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## lenagroomer (Mar 28, 2008)

There are actually some dremels out there that really aren't that loud on any settings. Most places that you would buy from also have return policies where if you buy one and it is too loud or doesn't feel right, you can return it and try a different model with no hassel. The cheese is a great idea, keeping them distracted in a positive way while dremeling the nails is a good way to get them to settle for you and not stress out in the future.


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