2 questions: dental surgery, nail routine, etc

[little_sparrow]

Hi I have a 6 lb 8-ish year old chihuahua who will likely be getting some teeth removed under the dental cleaning procedure this winter. Her previous owners didn’t care for her nails and trimming them back without hitting the quick has always been a challenge (black nails). I live in New York City and paying $40 every 3-4 weeks is not an option for me so I had a friend who works in pet grooming teach me how to give them a trim. I hung her in one of the pet grooming bags so that she wouldn’t try to bite/escape and used a dremel to do just a little at a time. She was first a little skittish, then got used to it and we had success for months! Now, for whatever reason, she can’t stand it. She gets so anxious and won’t stop whipping around in the bag, I can’t hold on to any of her paws long enough to dremel the nails. She has been protesting for the last 3 trims and I’m starting to lose our progress on getting the quick to grow back.

My questions are, why would she suddenly be SO averse to the grooming hammock when she tolerated it for weeks? And, more importantly, when she is under anesthesia for the surgery could the vet potentially do a “2-in-1” and cut her nails short so she won’t feel the pain and I can keep up with maintaining a healthy length again?

 

[cathya]

@little_sparrow Yes if the quicks are super overgrown the vet can cut the quicks and cauterize, then send you home with pain meds.

Did you burn her quicks with the dremel?

 

[lutheranrose]

@little_sparrow When you started did you spend some time in the hammock without nail trimming? To desensitize to it?

If you want to keep using the hammock, spend some time with her in it everyday (5 seconds - 5 minutes) most days don't even have the clippers or dremel out, you want her comfortable in the hammock. Then on some days touch and hold her legs and feet as if you were to trim them. Have the tools out every so often both off and on, without them touching.

Take every step and desensitize her to it. What's possible is that she only associates the hammock with nail trims and a loss of autonomy.

I've not seen vets do the cautarize thing the other person mentioned but it's always worth asking. Anytime a dog in under anesthesia if there's multiple jobs it's better to see if they can be done without having to go back under.