Just when I think Oscar cannot get to be more of a PITA, he starts biting his nails. They aren’t terribly long. If I had him at the vet for something else, I’d get them trimmed but they’re not to the point where I’d take him just for a nail trim. I’ve been doing pretty good keeping them filed down by walking slowly across the concrete patio. He wants to run so he’s trying to pull me and that keeps his nails at a decent length. The back ones stay much shorter than the front ones, which is good because the front ones are easier to cut. I hate having to give him meds to take him to the vet but I think that’s just how it’s going to be with him.
A few days ago I found two pretty good size pieces of his nails on the ottoman. I couldn’t figure it out so I looked at his feet and saw that two nails had been “cut”. Yesterday I heard him chomping and he bit off another one. This morning, he did the same thing. One was rough this morning so I got an emery board and about 15 minutes later, I had it filed down and smooth.
Have you ever had a dog that bites his nails? I haven’t.
This morning I was able to file down the rough nail and file a good bit off another nail. At that point, he was done. I was afraid he was going to get hurt or I was going to get bit so I stopped but I’m thinking if I get some of those rougher emery boards, the job will go faster and maybe I can do one or two nails per day.
He was happy to sit fairly still so long as I was using one end of the emery board and he was chewing on the other end.
I did call the vet and talked to the tech and she said some dogs just do it. So long as he’s not chewing on his paws or causing any bleeding or soreness, don’t worry about it. She said if I’ve just seen him do it a few times and it’s not constant or causing problems . . just leave him alone.
pat says
how is rita and boots doing all you talk about is this dog.
Tracy says
-I had a dog that would occasionally do this too. Maybe you can offer something to him to distract him, when he’s chewing, something similar like a cow hoof.
vivoaks says
My daughter brought her dog home from Kenya when she moved back to the states. That dog has to have anxiety meds just to ride in the car for 10 minutes…I can’t imagine how she made it on an airplane for 17 hours flying here. Oscar sounds a bit like her. ?
Ginny says
When my Kelly was alive he chewed his nails on a regular basis. He didn’t like to have them cut, but was not nearly as bad as your Oscar. I will say I never had to really cut his nails just straighten them out once in a while.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
At first, when I realized what he was doing, I was thinking it was awful but like you said . . if he keeps them short and doesn’t cause any issues, I can live with that.
Sandi says
He might be chewing them because they bother him. They have great nail trimmers on Amazon. They also have the kind that you grind them down. Hugs,
judy.blog@gmail.com says
They aren’t long at all. We’re doing a good job of keeping them worn down on the concrete. I have two f the electric nail grinders from Amazon and he is 100% sure someone is going to get injured before he lets that get near his feet.
Anne Kirby says
Judy, I got a $5 electric dog nail groomer at 5 Below. It came with an extra emery thing and works on batteries. Not the greatest but exactly what you need.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I have one of those too but the minute it gets close to his feet, he panics. I don’t know if it’s the noise or what but he will bite me if I insist on using it. I ordered another one that use plug in to charge, thinking maybe it would be more quiet but he still hears it and panics.
Sherry Bobak says
My older dog chews her nails all the time. They grow so fast and she hates to have them cut. I’m also on a fixed income and can’t afford monthly visits to the vet for a nail trim. I tried to do it myself but she won’t let me. She’s never bitten anyone but the vet has to muzzle her because she struggles so much just in case. Goodness, what we do for the love of our pets!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I understand. It isn’t even so much the cost, though that is a problem. I can usually manage to make it 6 months without having to have Oscar’s nails cut if we walk enough on the concrete but . . it’s sitting for 30 to 45 minutes at the vet’s office waiting for our turn with Oscar getting more and more worked up about being there. It doesn’t even matter if we sit in the car and wait. He knows where we are.
Val says
Emery boards for acrylic nails are much coarser and would do the job in half the time or less. Long nails for a dog or cat can be very painful so him biting them might be the answer.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Next time I’m in town, I will get some coarser emery boards. I get very fine ones for my thin nails. I’m also thinking if I could get some with harder material in the middle, I might could wrap one end with something – not sure what yet – and coat it in peanut butter. He was fine to lay on his back and chew on the end of that emery board while I filed away at 2 nails. I only need to do the front ones so if I could do two nails a week, that would be amazing.