Ouch don't cut my nails

My 9 year old pug has become increasingly annoyed by his nail cutting routine. My husband has to hold him very firmly and I attempt to cut his nails he screams and then when we are done he limps for days. I wanted to know if anyone has given a medication to their pug (benadryl) or prescription to take the edge off of this horrible task.

Have you tried a dremel?

It may be worth getting one. One of our pugs is horrible about nail clippings too. he screams like he's being murdered. He even starts screaming before I have even touched his nails yet.

So, we got a dremel and first got him used to being around it, and the sounds it makes. Then we slowly starting using it on his nails for short periods of time, and not all the nails. Do this every few days to get them used to it. Hopefully, it will work. And, the more regular you are about trimming, the more the quick will decrease, so you can work the nail back so it can be shorter.

Penny is awful about having a pawdicure with clippers. They have a dremel at her groomer's, and she is just fine with it - sits there and holds a paw out like royalty getting her nails done.

Welcome! And I don't think there is a Pug here who doesn't act like their entire leg is being removed when you try to clip a toe-nail. It is strange though, if he has been co-operative until now.... Maybe a couple of times the quick has been cut and he's worried?

And the Dremel is a good idea.

Aussie Witch wrote:Welcome! And I don't think there is a Pug here who doesn't act like their entire leg is being removed when you try to clip a toe-nail. It is strange though, if he has been co-operative until now.... Maybe a couple of times the quick has been cut and he's worried?

And the Dremel is a good idea.

Yes, this is what happened with mine. Hooli was ok, until one of the groomers cut his quick and then a few weeks later, he tore out his nail. From then on, he's a demon. Indy used to be great too, but again, he tore his nail and now it's impossible to get his back nails. We use a dremel but honestly, they aren't any better with it-it's just safer for us to use on them because there is less of a chance of getting the quicks. I've tried benedryl, rescue remedy, those plug in calmers-no luck!

My Ichiro is very nice about letting me cut his nails....but, he is the only one of mine to have never injured a toe nail, or have had the quick cut. Of course, his nails are easier, because they aren't black, so I can see through them and see the quick.

I have NEVER been able to trim my MuShu's nails. (Did my first pug just fine.) As a puppy, she was soooooo squirmy, we couldn't do it safely. Had to take her to the vet and they used at least two people. They also had to switch off between techs because she would get worse if it was the same person as the last time. I finally found a groomer that used the Dremel. MuShu would use a new technique to fight the job every visit. It takes two of us to do it and I also started putting a cone on her so that our knuckles wouldn't get bruised and also to protect her from the biting the Dremel. It is so funny, she doesn't mind me putting her cone on her. She HAS to know where we are going and what is going to happen, but she still seems to like seeing her groomer, just doesn't like what she does. And when it is over, she just loves on the gal. But, alas, the groomer suddenly quit last month and the new groomer just used the clipper. Neither MuShu nor myself were very happy. I should have given the the gal my phone number but maybe she wouldn't have called me anyway since MuShu was so difficult.

I bribe Rumy with cheese. I give him a teensy piece of cheese and show him the clippers. I go back and forth, cheese, clippers, etc. Then I touch the clipper to his paw, then cheese. Touch, cheese. I keep telling him what a great boy he is. I hold his paw and give him cheese, then clipper, then cheese. I clip a nail, then cheese. It takes a lot longer, but I can actually clip his nails. He gets so focused on the cheese that he hardly knows what I'm doing.

This from a dog that flunked his last nail clipping at the vet. The vet brought him back in, saying that he screamed so loud, people in the waiting room could hear him. The vet couldn't stop laughing!

Hey Patti, good to see you over here!