Confidence Should Relax Pet During Nail Trimming
By Michelle Posge, DVM
Friday, January 22, 2009
Published in the "Your Pet" column of The Nashua Telegraph.
The column runs on the second and fourth Fridays of each month.
Speaking as a veterinarian, I think the toenail is one of the most universally neglected pet body parts. At our animal hospital, it is common to see nails so overgrown that they affect the pet’s ability to walk normally. When nails grow too long, they curl around and dig into the paw pad, leading to pain and infection.
Grooming is an important responsibility of pet ownership. Many pet owners are willing and able to run a brush through their pet’s fur, but feel uncomfortable taking care of the nails. Of course, the opposite also occurs; the caretaker may feel comfortable with nail trimming, but the pet definitely does not, which can lead to resistant, fearful or aggressive behavior.
Like all things related to pet behavior, prevention and early intervention leads the way to success. Pets of any species should be exposed to and rewarded for nail trimming at an early age. The best time to introduce new things is during the socialization period of development. This is a time in a young animal’s development when the fear response is weak, but the desire to explore and submit to new experiences is strong. For dogs and cats, this occurs before 12 weeks of age, so training should start as soon as the pet comes home.
When introducing a young or inexperienced animal to nail trimming, the goal is to make the event as pleasant as possible – not to trim as many nails as possible. One or two nails, and three times as many food rewards, usually adds up to a successful training session. Frequent practice will lead to appropriate behavior as an adult pet. It is helpful to extend the nail-trimming processes over several days and keep trimming sessions short. A helpful trick is to smear some cream cheese on the kitchen floor for your pet to lick while you trim a nail or two.
Pets often adopt the attitude of their handlers. An inexperienced person’s fear may only add to the pet’s anxiety when trimming nails. Ask for help. Have a veterinary professional demonstrate the procedure during a visit and then allow you to trim a nail while they watch and make suggestions. Once shown how to perform the procedure, practice with pets that are already comfortable with nail trimming before working with a fearful pet. Confidence will go a long way to making your pet feel relaxed.
Extra steps are usually necessary when working with pets that dislike nail trimming. These animals often struggle to get away and require excessive restraint. They may even become aggressive in self-defense. This sort of behavior occurs when a pet was not given early exposure to nail trimming or had a negative experience that involved excessive force or pain, such as when a nail is trimmed too short.
The first step in reprogramming these pets is to teach them to love the sight of the nail trimmer. During frequent 1- to 3-minute sessions, show the trimmers to your pet and then offer a small food reward. When your pet starts to run directly to you upon sight of the nail trimmers, you are ready to move on to the next step, which is putting your pet in position. For example, you could ask your pet to lay in your lap or on the floor while you hold the nail trimmers before giving the treat. Once this is successful, you can start to hold your pet’s paws. Repeat this several times in one training session so your pet can see that nothing scary is going to happen. This sort of stepwise process continues until your pet feels comfortable with the process and will allow nail trimming.
Nails can also be ground or sanded to the appropriate length using a specially made nail-grinding tool or the sander attachment on a handheld power tool. This may be more or less startling to a pet than a traditional nail trimmer, depending on its sensitivity to noise or the vibration of the grinding. Whatever tools you use, keep in mind the goal is to make pedicures a regular and pleasurable experience.
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