How Often Should I Schedule Nail Trims for My Pets?
It’s so important to keep up with regular nail trims for your pets. It’s best for their health, comfort, and for your family and home! It’s a great way to keep everyone healthy and happy and an important part of your pet care routine.
Nail trimming is an important part of your pet’s regular hygiene. You want to make sure that you’re keeping up with nail trims to ensure they’re at their healthiest. Unkempt nails can be painful and hazardous for your pets, your home, and your family. When dog’s nails get to be too long, it can cause their feet to become deformed. The deformed feet can cause injuries on important ligaments over time, and can exacerbate or cause ongoing pain and arthritis pain. Some other negative things that can come from long nails in dogs are:
Decreased traction on hard floors
Scratching the floors
Snagging on the carpet, causing pain and potentially damaging the foot or nail
The nail can curve underneath and dig into the skin of the dog’s paw pad and cause pain
Scratching of skin or clothing on human family members
Muscle pain in the dog from trying to adjust their weight distribution to avoid pain from long nails
It’s best to have your dog’s nails trimmed about every 4 weeks. You want to be sure that they stay short and allow your pets foot to have the proper curve so that they don’t experience discomfort. If your dog’s quick(a cuticle filled with nerves and blood inside the dog’s nail) gets long and needs to recede, regular nail trims will help bring that quick back to where it needs to be. Being sure to stay on top of nail trims every month will help keep the quick at an appropriate place in the nail so that your pup doesn’t cause injury to the nail and expose the quick, causing excessive pain.
Our feline friends have different nail trimming needs. It’s best to trim your cat’s nails around every 4 weeks. When cat’s nails get longer, they tend to claw and scratch at furniture, carpet, and curtains to relieve the discomfort from having nails that are too long. Trimming your cat’s nails doesn’t always seem like the easiest situation to deal with, but Michelle will help make it a breeze and your cats will thank you.
Proper nail hygiene doesn’t just look nice, it feels nice for your pets. Be sure to stay on top of your appointments with Kind Claws so that your fur babies stay at their healthiest and happiest. Michelle will make the trimming process so easy on you and your pets that everyone will look forward to their next appointment!
Reach out to us to see when we can get you on our schedule!
How to Prepare for Your In-home Nail Trim Appointment
Learn what you can do to help make your nail trim and hygiene appointment a success with Kind Claws
If you’re wondering what you should do to prepare for your appointment with Michelle, we’ve got a few tips to help your pets be at ease during their nail trim. Some pets may need patience and time to adjust to having their nails trimmed, but being at home is a fantastic start for making them comfortable. It’s so helpful for pets to not have to endure a stressful car ride and be in the overwhelming stimulation of a new environment before having their nails trimmed. Being able to be at home, in the place where they’re most comfortable is a fantastic tool for making this process as comfortable as possible for them.
Michelle is the queen of being prepared for your appointment. She will come with every tool she needs and tons of treats for your pets. She will take amazing care of them but there may be a few things that you can do yourself to prepare for your appointment. They’re just small things that may help your pets feel more at ease, but they’re especially worth it if your pet tends to be a bit anxious.
First, It’s best for your home to be quiet and calm when Michelle arrives. You’ll want to turn off any loud distracting noises, reduce the number of humans in the nail trimming area, and keep things as comfortable as possible for your fur babies during their nail trim. Something that can help soothe your pets is playing music on low. Studies have shown that pets prefer classical music over any other genre. It would definitely be beneficial to play calm, classical music to set the mood for your fur babies as they go into their appointment. If you have a kitty who needs a nail trim, be sure to close all doors to potential escape routes. Cats like to hide when new people come into their home and we want to be able to find them when it comes time to trim their nails! Basements, bedrooms, laundry rooms and other rooms can become the perfect place to hide where we can’t find them or reach them so we want to make sure those rooms are closed off so that we can have the cat(s) ready for their nail trim.
If your pets tend to be on the nervous side, there are pheromones that you can purchase in stores or on Amazon. You can plug these pheromones in to a wall in the room where your pets will be receiving their nail trim. These are a great resource for calming nervous companions. The brands of pheromones that we recommend are Feliway or Adaptil. Be sure to use these products as directed on the packaging. Even if your pets don’t tend to be anxious, if you’re preparing for your first appointment it may be beneficial to have the pheromones on hand so that the new person and new sensation of in home nail trims doesn’t cause them any extra stress.
It’s best to separate each pet if you have multiple. We will take care of them one at a time and it’s easiest to do so if the pets that are not receiving care at the moment are in their own space while they wait for their turn. Everyone will get their time and loving, we don’t want them to fight over whose turn it is! Also, please keep their normal collars and harnesses on. If we’re working with a cat, sometimes it’s best to place them in a bathroom before we trim their nails so that we know where to find them and we can have them secured into an area to make trimming their nails a little bit easier. Offer them a favorite blanket or bed to lay on while they wait for their nail trim.
It will make your babies extra comfortable if you have one of their favorite blankets ready for them to lay on to receive their pedicure. We want them to be cozy and happy and having a nice soft space ready for them will be the perfect thing to help them relax. Something that’s soft, has a familiar scent, and warm can make them feel super comfortable and loved while we work with them.
Don’t forget their favorite treats! If your pets have a favorite treat, it’s great to have them ready! Michelle will bring her own high value treats to help with the process but it never hurts to be extra prepared. Be sure to let Michelle know if there are any food allergies for any humans or pets in your home before she arrives.
We want every visit to be a success! Taking the time to follow a few extra steps could make a world of a difference. Your pet’s comfort is of utmost importance and we’re a team when it comes to their care. Michelle will bring her tools, treats and a broad set of skills to make sure that your companions are happy and healthy. You’ll get to spend your time focusing on your pets and their happiness and she’ll make sure they receive the best care around.
