Trimming nails-- does it pinch the nerve?

While your're waiting for the pros, it's a gimmick. If you don't hit the quick, you don't hit nerves or blood vessels. You're lucky to have a cat, which usually has translucent claws. Dogs can be a horror.

I know, those cats act like they've been staked out on a hill of fire ants. I think it's mostly that they don't want anyone else in control of the arsenal. Now, I'm trying to imagine one of mine holding still long enough to have eighteen claws delicately filed.

Two of dogs are fine with a pedicure. Our bulldog acts like we are trying to cut her feet off. I think some pets just have more sensitive feet than others. It helps to start cutting their nails when they are young so get used to it.

cats + nail clipping = blanket

Oh my word.... my little dawg Maddie absolutely screams - I have to get her to a vet/pooch person to clip her nails. Her quick is very ..... long!!!! So she has long nails.... and she won't let you anywhere near them.

The other day when Tulip was with me, Maddie's nails got crossed over and she was limping. I had to completely wrap her in a blanket - lots of layers around her head - while she snarled and screamed...... whilst Tulip crossed them back over - ugh horrible.....

she is the sweetest little thing you can imagine... just cannot get near her toots!

My other hound has never had his nails clipped.... ever - he's nearly 10!


(my cat is missing - 3 days now since I moved house - but would never even attempt to go near his paws)

oh no...

kitty needs to come home.


ARe you close enough to your other home to drive over and look for him?

it is possible he went back home..

(hey SheW - old house is about 5-6 miles - he's never known anywhere different - found him on the road when he was about 3-4 weeks old in October '98 - always been there - he'd been fine here - moved on 12th - been going in and out - now he's gone! Gonna put a sign in the post office tomorrow and a photo - but we're in the country here. Folks who moved into my house will keep an eye out for him. He's only ever gone walkabout once before - and he was stuck up a very, very big tree in a storm, many years ago! Other than that, he's been with me every single day since we found him.)

Izzy, I've heard that the quick will retreat as the nails are gradually cut back over a period of time. That's just hearsay, but worth a try.

Thanks Roger - doing about every 6 weeks now... so will hope she get's more used to it.

My cats have always accepted it perfectly calmly.

Hey, thanks for the responses, guys...



It's my rabbits and guinea pig that I'm concerned with, actually--I just leave the cats be, I can't imagine the hell they'd raise if I tried to trim their claws!

They have some transparent nails where I can see the quick, but others are black and I can't...those are the ones that make me nervous. Plus, they stay calm for some of them but others make them squeal, which makes me feel like sometimes it really does hurt even if I haven't cut into the quick. So when I saw this thing saying that the compression of clipping near the quick hurts, it made me wonder if that could explain it...

Izzie, I'm so sorry your kitty has gone AWOL, that's awful. Good luck, hope you get him back all right.

Thanks Cypher - I hope so too - he's my boy! I hope your g/pigs and wabbits get sorted too hun.


(Nite all x)

No other opinions? I'll have to check out some other pet care sites, I guess...

I've found a bunch of dog-groomers saying they really like this gadget... I know people use dremel tools to grind nails down, and apparently this thing is basically a better-designed attachment to use on a dremel-type tool. Supposed to be quieter than a dremel, too, so the noise bothers pets less... well, we'll see-- I think I'll probably at least give it a try. Can't be more of a pain than clippers!

I've used a grinder and several types of clippers. The critter makes the difference, not the tool. Those that don't mind it, don't. Those that do are a major pain in the butt not matter how you go about it.

Oh, pooh. So there's nothing to that business about clippers sort of squeezing the nail so that the quick gets pinched and hurts even if you don't clip it? If not, that means my guys are just babies about it for no reason -- which was pretty much what I figured-- just another ploy for attention!

Pacco had a couple of black nails. I knew all about the quick receding with cutting business.. but I couldn't do it. Took him to the Myrtle Ave Pet Shop, mostly with ok treatment.

He would have run his nails himself if I walked him on concrete, but he and I had a nice yard then.