Hitting the Nail on the Head
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Last night I really hit the nail on the head. Today our dog Circuit is in the spotlight, but not for the best of reasons thanks to her wonderful momma. Yesterday I was determined to trim her grotesquely long nails, a bit too determined. Circuit has always been spastic when it comes to getting her nails done. My husband and I have worked with her since we adopted her two years ago. At that point, you couldn't touch her feet at all. Recently, she has been letting me trim her front nails, and she loves the nail file (no Dremel, just a normal flat nail file). However, she will not cooperate when it comes the her back feet. She dances around while I throw treats at her and try to get the clippers around a nail. Once I get the clippers around a nail, I go for it. There's no time to think and position exactly. This method has worked, but yesterday I went for it on a black nail and all of a sudden, blood was everywhere. My husband is freaking out at this point; our little baby is bleeding to death in his mind, and he is ready to take her to the emergency room.
I've always had animals growing up, and when my mom was teaching me how to trim our cats nails, I cut one too far back and made it bleed. I started to panic, but before I was too far gone, she reached for the styptic powder and stopped the bleeding - crisis averted. I always try to stay supplied with all the necessary pet care items, but after moving things seem to disappear. Least to say, I couldn't find the styptic powder. There's now blood all over the floor, and I have to get creative. I take her up to our bathroom so the blood can at least stay contained. Circuit is so upset at this point that she pees on our bathroom rug leaving us stuck in a small room filled with the aroma of urine. The only thing I can think of using is the alum block that I bought my husband for Christmas with his shaving kit. I hold it on the nail, which I know burns; the last thing I want to do is cause the poor thing more pain, but the bleeding wasn't stopping. We finally get it to stop, and things calm down a bit.
The calmness only lasted so long. Right before bed, Circuit decides she is feeling a bit better and starts racing around the house in her usual routine. Within seconds, the bleeding started. Now it was all over the quilt on our bed and the floor I had just cleaned up. We are back in the bathroom, but this time the alum block isn't working as quickly as before. My husband stays with her while I run to CVS at midnight to get supplies; I literally grabbed anything I thought could help. Fifteen minutes and thirty-some dollars later, I'm back home. The bleeding slowed enough that we were able to just wrap her foot so that she wouldn't brake it open again.
Lesson learned - be prepared. Know where your supplies are located. You never know when something like this is going to happen. Luckily CVS (and most other similar stores) carry plenty of bandaging supplies, including styptic powder. It's not the easiest to find, but it comes in convenient little packets located near the bandaids. We wrapped her foot using a roll of gauze and followed with the purple stretchy bandaging material that sticks to itself. I recommend having at least these supplies on hand because incidents like this tend to happen at the most inconvenient of times when many stores are closed and time is of the essence.
We adopted Circuit when she was a little bit older than a typical puppy. If you have a puppy or kitten, start young. As nerve wracking as it can be for someone trimming nails for the first time, the younger you start with animals, the better they will tolerate it when they get older. You don't need to trim every nail all at once. Start with one. Get both you and the animal used to the process, and if you aren't sure exactly how to trim nails, ask your vet or watch on of the many videos online to learn. It is well worth getting started as soon as possible so you don't have to re-edify that the world isn't ending when your furry friends see clippers.
