Toenails need checked and cut about once a month. Toenails that are allowed to become to long may cause physical problems. The nails can actually grow around in a circle to imbed themselves in the pad of the feet. Excess length can reach the ground before the pad of the foot and cause misalignment of the toes themselves. Unchecked toenails could develop a fungus or be split leading to and infection. Infections can happen around the root of the toenail also, so inspection while trimming is a point of over all health.
The nail itself is similar to a person's nails in that is it dead and without feeling. However unlike a person, there is a living interior to the nail. A nerve bundle extends just past where the blood flow stops. ( see diagram 1 ):
When cutting a dog's toenail you will want to come close to the nerve area but not into it. If you tip the nerve area it will cause momentary pain but no bleeding. If you cut further back you will enter the blood area. This will bleed freely much as a face wound would on a person. This dog not mean the dog is in pain any more than a shaving cut stays painful. It will just bleed a lot and is nothing to worry about. A paper towel to keep pressure on it for a few minutes or a styptic pencil will take care of it.
Notice that the live area inside the toenail should normally stop about the time the nail starts to curve so letting the cutter "catch " on the hook is a good by feel indicator. In dogs that have been long neglected the live area can extend further down the toenail and will need worked back slowly by cutting as close to the nerve as possible to make it withdraw (although some groomers will just cut where the nail should be and let it heal, a messy and painful process )
There are 2 main types of
toenails cutters, the guillotine type and the bypass
type.
Both are readily available for purchase. Both work well
when
sharp. The guillotine type cuts from underneath the nail.
Do
not use human nail clippers as they will crush the nail and cause
splintering.
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