# Craaaap I cut his nail too short and it's bleeding



## lisak_87 (Mar 23, 2011)

And of course I have no stypic powder because I have *knock on wood* never cut a quick in all of the years of trimming my cat's nails etc.

Grabbed baking powder and put it on the nail. Hopefully that'll do it... hopefully that's ok? I'd heard grab any powder like flour or whatever.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

Yep. I've used flour before...baking powder should work. Poor Brady, be prepared for him to be a bit worried next clipping time..get the treats out and go really slow.


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## lisak_87 (Mar 23, 2011)

I must have BARELY nicked it cus he hasn't even noticed. No licking. Made no sound. Nothin. I only noticed b/c of a little bit of blood on the carpet.

He gets to lick squeezy cheese while I cut his nails all the time. It seems to block all things from his mind.

Powder has stopped the bleeding quickly. 

Drat. There goes my perfect record


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

I believe that when you hit the nerve, it hurts like cutting the quick in your own nail. You probably just missed the nerve. If you don't make a big deal about it, he may treat it like a pinch and forget about it. The Vet told me to use corn starch when I mutilate my dog's black nails..... Works great.

BTW, in 10 yo, I've spilled less of his blood, than he spilled of mine in his first 5 days, before I learned about Bite Inhibition!


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## lisak_87 (Mar 23, 2011)

lol. poor hanksimon. thank god I learned about bite inhibition quickly.

didn't react at all to it cus i didn't even notice until way after the fact 

and of course i have NO flour or cornstarch or anything... I was lucky to find the baking powder


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

Pepper is good to stop the bleeding.


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## Labmom4 (Feb 1, 2011)

Oh I hate cutting nails. I really really do  especially the dark dog's nails. They're hard! I cut Gracie so bad once, well it wasnt that bad, but it seemed like it too me, and I felt terrible. I applied pressure to it and held it for a minute til the bleeding stopped and it was all good.


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## lisak_87 (Mar 23, 2011)

Nails bleed a LOT.
But I've seen vets quick a nail, so I didn't feel too bad 

My cat's nails are clear, so they are quite easy.


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## melaka (Mar 31, 2010)

I heard that putting the paw in cold water helps too if you don't have powder but never tried that myself.

I recently bought clippers to try to do Buffy's black nails myself - I'm a bit nervous and even more so after reading this thread. She is good for our trainer though, so I hope she'll be calm for me too. $10 every 3 weeks or so is getting expensive and I haven't been able to get a Dremel near her.


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## prismaurora (May 22, 2011)

The little dog I just found has black nails that needed clipping and I cut her quick. She also didn't yelp or act hurt but it bled like a stuck pig. I'm afraid to get the rest of her nails. I can't see the quick at all.


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## Shandwill (Jul 23, 2010)

Both of my dogs have thick, tough, black nails. Thankfully, they have acclimated to the Dremel fairly well (a spoonful of frozen peanut butter definitely helped!) I've heard that alum works well if you ever need a substitute for styptic. I know most folks probably don't have alum sitting around, but we used it to keep Prophet from licking a recent hot spot AND I've found it works well on canker sores!


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## Britt & Bello (Apr 14, 2011)

Black nails are such a pain. I try my hardest to keep them filed down by walking them on concrete and running around like crazy to avoid the whole buisness of cutting them. 'cept for dew claws. Which never file down enough and still need to be cut occasionally. Go figure those are my least favorite to cut.


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

Jubel's got dark brown nails that I can't see the quick in. I bought clippers and mananged to give him little trims a few times and never hit the quick. But he doesn't like me trimming his nails and has become increasingly resistant. The last 3-4 months I've just been going to PetSmart and Petco to get them trimmed. He's still getting increasingly worse about getting his nails done. 

We went to PetSmart yesterday to get them trimmed and as soon as I turned towards the grooming area he started scrambling to get away and freaking out. This dog isn't afraid of anything we've come across in the just over a year I've had him but he seems to be developing a fear of getting his nails done. He quicks have only been slightly nicked twice that I can think of in the year I've had him so really no 'bad' experiences yet he's scared. 

Since he freaked out as soon as we got near the door to the groomers I just sat down on the bench outside and let him calm down. Slowly getting closer to the door as he calmed down which he never did completely. Eventually I just pulled him the last few feet into the grooming room and got a few light scratches in the process from his stuggle. Once we were in and I told the groomer (who saw him freaking out through the window before we got in haha) I needed his nails trimmed he walked nicely back with her and hopped up on the table himself. Even with him walking himself back and jumpping up on the table he was still shaking with his tail between his legs. I guess he made a soft growl when she started with the grinder because she decided to muzzle him just incase. Soon as his nails are done and the muzzle is off he's all love and kisses for the groomer and returns to perfectly normal for the rest of our shopping in the store. 

I'm really at a loss as to why he's getting so worked up over getting his nails done and why it's getting worse. I can handle him anywhere on his body, mess with his feet however I want with no issues. As long as I don't have a nail clipper or try and squirt ear cleaner in his ear, I can shove my finger in his ear with a tissue or papertowel to clean it no problem though. If he continues to get worse about getting his nails done not sure what I'll have to do.


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## lisak_87 (Mar 23, 2011)

Britt & Bello said:


> Black nails are such a pain. I try my hardest to keep them filed down by walking them on concrete and running around like crazy to avoid the whole buisness of cutting them. 'cept for dew claws. Which never file down enough and still need to be cut occasionally. Go figure those are my least favorite to cut.


The nail I quicked was a dew claw!

LOL


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

Cornstarch also works! I did that once with Harper. He was being such a good boy, lying quietly working at his kong. BUT, on the very last nail, boyfriend came home from work, and Harper jerked his paw away right when I was clipping the last nail. No sound or anything. We tried baking powder, but he screamed like the ****ens when we did that! SO, it's cornstarch for us from now on....


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

@dawall - yeah I can do most things except clip my dog's claws and put drops in his ears, too. Suggestion about cleaning - can you squirt the liquid on the cloth and then wipe out ears. I know my dog doesn't like the cold liquid, but I can massage inside his ears all day long.

When I clip my dog's black claws, I hold him on his back (alpha roll  and clip his claws. He licks my nose, if I don't hurt him on the first one. But, I try to clip him every week (he only needs it once a month). I look at the nail underneath and I can see the hard nail surrounding the soft, inner, living tissue... kinda like a horse's hoof. Then, I try to snip the front tip, 1/8 inch or less, aiming at a slight angle and away from the soft part. FWIW


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## lisak_87 (Mar 23, 2011)

I don't clip his back ones ...they seem to get filed down a lot more
I also don't clip my cat's back ones.


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## ChaosIsAWeim (Feb 12, 2011)

It is significantly harder to get the quik if you use a dremel. But if I do I use cornstarch or flour, but any powder stuff will stop it.


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

hanksimon said:


> @dawall - yeah I can do most things except clip my dog's claws and put drops in his ears, too. Suggestion about cleaning - can you squirt the liquid on the cloth and then wipe out ears. I know my dog doesn't like the cold liquid, but I can massage inside his ears all day long.
> 
> When I clip my dog's black claws, I hold him on his back (alpha roll  and clip his claws. He licks my nose, if I don't hurt him on the first one. But, I try to clip him every week (he only needs it once a month). I look at the nail underneath and I can see the hard nail surrounding the soft, inner, living tissue... kinda like a horse's hoof. Then, I try to snip the front tip, 1/8 inch or less, aiming at a slight angle and away from the soft part. FWIW


Yeah I squirt the ear cleaner on a papertowel and he's fine with that, he'll really let me dig around in all the nooks and cranies with no issue. But if I try and come near him with the bottle like I want to squirt in his ear he'll run and snap at me if he can't run. His ears get clean enough with a good wiping.

When I first trimmed his nails myself he was fine for the first few nails which I barely trimmed anything off. The next nail I cut a decent bit off and he decided it was unpleastant I guess. In part I think I may have bought clippers that aren't sharp enough and that my by a small bit of the problem. On the next nails he was resistant but I still got them trimmed. Gradually I had to bribe him with treats to be still for each nail. I finished all his nails that time but never again.

I tried to desensitize him to the clipper by handleing his feet and touching the clippers to his nails without cutting with lots of praise and treats with no luck. Eventually I just started going to PetSmart/Petco for nail trims but he's getting more and more freaked out each time. He's actually damaged his own dew claw causing it to bleed worse than any slight nick he's gotten from trimming. When he torn it up on a toy at the dog park it didn't even seem to bother him. Continued to run around and play as if he wasn't bleeding. When we got home I cleaned it up used some quick-stop and he couldn't care less. Repeatedly broke the wound open the next few days at the dog park too without a care. Yet a nail trim/grind with no injury is scary to him and getting to be more so it seems.


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