Dog Grooming- Make Sure to Trim DewClaws

Chico- my Chihuahua with his nails trimmed

My little dog Chico woke up severely limping on his right front paw a couple of weeks ago.  He was in pain and let us all know about it.   So, after I had talked myself into believing that Chico could have a productive life as a tripawd dog, I loaded him into the car and headed to Bayshore Animal Clinic.

Of course, in typical Chico fashion, he started shaking like a leaf as soon as we walked in the door.  He weighed in at 17 pounds (still would like him to lose one or two more) and we headed to our assigned room.

Dr. Stuart walked in, we muzzled Chico….yes, he is that bad at the vet….and put him on the table.  Immediately, Chico pee’d…everywhere.  Not once, but three times.  Dr. Rosenburg had to call for a towel.  Yuck!  Sorry Dr. Stu!

He manipulated Chico’s leg and after not feeling anything especially out of the ordinary, moved on to his neck.  Chico has a compressed C2 so the doctor thought the limp could be initiated by a nerve problem potentially.

I then asked him to trim Chico’s dewclaws as they grow like weeds.  He did immediately and then the miracle happened.  Chico put weight on his paw.  Not only that, we took him off of the table, de-muzzled his snout and he ran to the door, fully utilizing his right paw.  The vet tech started shouting, “he’s healed! he’s healed!” in self proclaimed Benny Hinn fashion.

That was all Chico needed.  A little bit of grooming!  I was so relieved, thankful and didn’t mind paying the office visit fee.  Although, next time I will know to take him in ONLY for a nail trim!

Here are nail trimming tips by the good folks at peteducation.com.   Now I just need to get my nerve up to trim Chico’s nails myself.  The little shark…

Jenn

Category: Skin & Coat