# I am the worst doggy mom ever



## LucyinSweden (Feb 20, 2012)

Lucy HAAATES having her feet touched. HATES it. So, I haven't been cutting her toenails. 

I forgot about the dew claws.  I just found that both of them are now ingrown. The rest of them are fine. They get worn down from our walks. 

Has anyone ever removed an ingrown claw before? I watched a video on how they do it, but the dog they showed on was incredibly calm. Lucy will not be and the husband is scared to hurt her, so he won't hold her properly. 

I feel like a giant butthead.  

The vets office is closed, and has no emergency number. I can't find that there is an emergency vet anywhere around here.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

ARe they hurting her?? If not, can you just wait?

you are not a bad doggy mom. I wouldn't even think about those. I had no idea a dewclaw could even get ingrown.


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## LucyinSweden (Feb 20, 2012)

One of them has broken through the skin and is bleeding. I tried to cut it earlier, but I don't have the right clippers. I'm going tomorrow to see if I can either find a groomer to get them pulled out, or get the right scissors and disinfectant. 

She is so high maintenance, man! I've had many larger dogs and they weren't as much trouble as this little 8 pound dog is. lol


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

yes, pound for pound snorkels has cost me about a billion dollars a pound.

i bet a groomer could take care of it with no problem. I'm sure it's nothing very serious. I wonder if it's too late to get dewclaws removed.


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## LucyinSweden (Feb 20, 2012)

I don't know. I'll have to ask. She also has 4 canines instead of 2-- never dropped her puppy teeth-- and I'm loathe to have them taken out because it requires anesthesia. 

I tried to find a groomer in our area, but there is only one and she's not taking any new clients AND doesn't cut nails! Which is just weird in my opinion.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Well, like Dorothy said - I guess we aren't in Kansas any more! 

And yes, it seems very weird a groomer wouldn't do nails. And most groomers, rather than turn people away, would hire some help. i've only heard of that with doctors! So it seems maybe you'll either have to do it yourself or go to the vet. That's too bad.

I used to wait on my dogs' teeth until they needed surgery for something else, and then just get their teeth done while they were already under. I have always been very reluctant to do that just for the teeth. Luckily, with raw I won't have to worry about it hopefully.


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## LucyinSweden (Feb 20, 2012)

Yeah.. that's apparently not how they do things in Sweden. Weirdos.  I've sent out an SOS to my women's club to see if anyone knows of someone who can help, and if not, tomorrow I am off to the super pet store to see if they have a contact and/or get he nail trimmers.

I wondered if I would even need to have it done now that she's on raw. Her teeth are sparkling.


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## OnyxDog (Jun 15, 2011)

Oh, I wish I lived in your area. I am a groomer, and I deal with this sort of thing all the time. I'm here to offer you moral support, though!


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## twoisplenty (Nov 12, 2008)

What kind of groomer doesnt cut nails?? Thats retarded, its a part of grooming!! Grrr

Anyways what I would do since your hubby its great at holding her is wrap her very tightly in a towel or blanket and just pull out the leg that needs to be worked on. then place her on the couch and gently use your body weight to keep her still between the back of the couch and you. This is how I have to do my mothers pug's nail. She is a holy terror! Then use the clippers to cut her nail and disinfect the dewclaw. I hate the guillotine style nail clippers. I always recommend the scissor style


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## LucyinSweden (Feb 20, 2012)

Two, that's a great idea. I will try that tomorrow. I don't know what I was thinking when I got the guillotine style. They are a total pain in the ass. 

Is peroxide okay to disinfect with? I thought you weren't supposed to use that sort of thing on a dog...


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## OnyxDog (Jun 15, 2011)

twoisplenty said:


> What kind of groomer doesnt cut nails?? Thats retarded, its a part of grooming!! Grrr
> 
> Anyways what I would do since your hubby its great at holding her is wrap her very tightly in a towel or blanket and just pull out the leg that needs to be worked on. then place her on the couch and gently use your body weight to keep her still between the back of the couch and you. This is how I have to do my mothers pug's nail. She is a holy terror! Then use the clippers to cut her nail and disinfect the dewclaw. I hate the guillotine style nail clippers. I always recommend the scissor style
> 
> View attachment 6736



You just explained perfectly what I was struggling to figure out how to explain. Thank you!


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## LucyinSweden (Feb 20, 2012)

I know someone who has been thinking of training to be a groomer and I'm going to extra encourage her. Clearly, there's a market for it here!


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## BearMurphy (Feb 29, 2012)

i'm assuming you'll have to cut the quick if they are that long -- so make sure you know if you need to worry about stopping the nail from bleeding or if you are just going to wrap it. do people use that clotting powder that you can use on bird's nails? i forgot what it's called but you can get it at a pet store


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## bully4life (Aug 9, 2010)

infected dew claw= not good. Id take care of that asap. A ten dollar nail cut is cheaper than a vet visit with penicillin ,,just saying


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I would not use hydrogen peroxide to disinfect because it'll hurt her and cause more tissue damage. If you can find a betadine or chlorohexadine solution I would go with that for sure. If you can't find those just use gentle dish soap diluted in warm water. Clean it up at least 3 times per day, most young and healthy dogs will get over something like this easily. 

Also, I know you don't want to have to sedate her to take those retained puppy teeth out but sometimes those baby teeth cause major damage to adult teeth/roots. I would have them removed now to be safe....

Try not to beat yourself up. This is a fairly common thing, I clipped two ingrown nails on a Pomeranian just yesterday.


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## Mondo (Dec 20, 2011)

Yes, betadine or something similar. Toby had surgery (1 surgery, 4 procedures) last week and I've used some betadine spray a couple of times when re-dressing, to keep things dry on our walks.

Also Styptic will help with clotting. Powder or pencil.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

twoisplenty said:


> What kind of groomer doesnt cut nails?? Thats retarded, its a part of grooming!! Grrr
> 
> Anyways what I would do since your hubby its great at holding her is wrap her very tightly in a towel or blanket and just pull out the leg that needs to be worked on. then place her on the couch and gently use your body weight to keep her still between the back of the couch and you. This is how I have to do my mothers pug's nail. She is a holy terror! Then use the clippers to cut her nail and disinfect the dewclaw. I hate the guillotine style nail clippers. I always recommend the scissor style
> 
> View attachment 6736


I am in total agreement here. When Dude was younger and I was in middle school (parents were financially responsible for the dogs and refused to A)buy him new clippers or B)allow me to buy some myself, all I had was the guillotine style clippers. They twist the dog's toe if they are not perfectly sharp and are just horrible. They typically also cracked Dude's nails. 

Dude nips during nail trims. I believe that the years of using the guillotine clippers made him that way. Now that he has only been exposed to the scissor type for the past year and a half, he is not as bad. I still muzzle him but he will stand perfectly still with the exceptions of a few leg yanks but I have yet to trim the nails of a dog who DOESN'T do that. Maybe, in a year I won't need to muzzle him at all. I just think those guillotine clippers are awful.


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## LucyinSweden (Feb 20, 2012)

Ooh! I have chlorohexidine! I can get styptic powder at the apotek


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## BeagleCountry (Jan 20, 2012)

If you cut into the quick without pain medication or sedation it will become impossible for anyone to trim the nails in a normal manner. I'd suggest making an appointment to have the retained teeth removed to prevent future problems and the nails trimmed. Either make regular appointments with the vet clinic to have the nails trimmed or ask about oral medication for sedation at home while you work little by little on desensitizing the dog to nail trims. Dogs will often behave better for vet staff than their people at home.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

Twoisplenty stole the words out of my mouth on the style of clippers (complete with picture! Go twoisplenty!)

Hope everything works out ok. I am sure it will. Whats one more day?

You are not a bad dog mom. A bad dog mom would not even care about this. I have seen bad dog moms.....And this is how we learn sometimes. Also, cute little doggie.


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

we took on an elderly lhas apso a long time ago the previous owners who had her advertised never cut her hair and never trimmed her nails they were SOO long and begining to curl into her skin it was terrbale and becuase htey never trimmed them the quick had gotten quite long as well i HATED doing it all the time you had to trim them twice as often becuase of the longer quick i really really feel for you!!! (((hugs)))))

Kira the poodle her nails grow extra fast or somthing so hers needed cut every week bare minimum!

i love Cesars nails though ive never had to trim them if anything his are too short and you almost always find at least one scraped ground down to the quick and scabby from blood just cause of the shape of his feet

i agree on wrapping her in a towel thats how we used to trim or lhasa apsos nails thats how i began trimming kiras nail when she was a puppy and squirmy and thats how i trim my cat gingers claws 9she hates the snap noise) and thats how ive trimmed bird nails and wings. good luck!


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i hope everything works out....


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## LucyinSweden (Feb 20, 2012)

Thanks everyone for the kind words!

I will see check with the vet about having her extra teeth removed as well as having the dew claws taken off. I'm not sure I'll be allowed to do that though as it's illegal to declaw a cat, I'm wondering if they consider this the same. The vet I see has never even mentioned the teeth to me, and she's recently been spayed, so I know they looked her over. Maybe a new vet is in order. There are only 2 in the entire city of 83,000! So, anyone who is in the vet or pet business could make a good living over here. 

I found out from a friend last night about someone that does nail clipping so I'm going to see them today!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Wow....it is unheard of for dogs to go through a spay or neuter and not have their retained puppy teeth left behind. It sucks you dont have much of an option for vets over there!


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## LucyinSweden (Feb 20, 2012)

I know Dane. As much as it was ($1200) you'd think they would have done that at the same time, but they didn't. This is another reason why we won't get a second dog until we're back in the States. The standard of care here is not as good as I would like. 

But, I found someone who does grooming at a private pet store and she cut them for me. They weren't as bad as I had thought-- which is good. Thanks for all your support!


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

$1200 for a spay????

Is this USA money we are talking about?

Holy cow! And here I was grumbling at the $250 I am going to pay to get my cat spayed. Wow. 

and only 2 vets for 83,000 people. They MUST be busy!


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## LucyinSweden (Feb 20, 2012)

Wolfs, that's the conversion rate from the Swedish kronor to the US dollar. 

There are other vets outside the city- in the small towns and whatnot, but the ones I can get to are in the city only. 

It's an interesting life here.


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