Quicked Katie

[philospher77]

I was trimming Katie's nails, and accidentally quicked one of the black ones. I got the bleeding stopped with some flour, but is there anything I should watch out for long term, or is this one of those things that is like stubbing a toe: painful, but not all that serious? Or do I need to worry about infections, it getting reopened, etc?

 

And I use flour instead of the styptic stuff because that stuff burns, as I found out when I tried it on a shaving cut! The flour stops the bleeding, and the only side effect is that Katie firmly believes that any bowl with stuff in it that is put in front of her is hers to eat, even if it is only plain old white flour!

[tbhounds]

Ah -it will be fine.

[GreyTzu]

Nothing a box of treats won't fix. She'll be fine.

[OwnedBySummer]

Bring on the treats! Katie will be just fine.

[Guest june]

I use flour too. Much more friendly for the dogs.

[Greydawg]

Flour? I will keep that in mind. Thanks for the tip.

[philospher77]

She did get some extra treats when it happened, and let me do the rest of her nails. And she got to sample bok choy, snow peas, and tofu when I cooked dinner. She's acting her normal goofy self, so I figure that I have been forgiven. I'm thankful that most of her nails are white, so the quick is easy to see!

[kudzu]

Flour power here, also.

 

No doubt things are all better now. The pain seems to dissipate quickly if it is just the tip of the quick that gets nipped.

[Guest BrianRke]

I've used the kwik stop gel. Its a lot less messy than the powder. I never knew about using flour

[BatterseaBrindl]

Never heard of flour!

 

I have stuck the nail into a bar of soap...worked just fine.

[Guest peacehound]

when the groomer nipped one of Peace's nails, it bled for just a bit however, every walk for a couple days it would bleed, I guess when her blood was pumping quicker during exercise just wanted to make that point so you know to look when she comes inside or you may have some blood on your floors!

[Rustyroo]

I have used flour too. Works like a charm. I'm glad she forgave you.

[KF_in_Georgia]

For future reference: Flour or corn starch are fine. Or talc. So is soap, in a pinch--but we all know what soap on an open sore feels like. (Shades of Kwik Stop powder.) Walking her on concrete/asphalt might scrape the nail open again until the nail's grown long enough that a scrape doesn't expose the quick.

 

The goal is to hold the powder to the nail tip until the blood clots (20 seconds or so). If the bleeding doesn't stop--the blood doesn't clot--after those 20 seconds, you can try putting her foot into a bowl of very cold water for a minute or so. (Not going to be a popular solution for your girl, but needs must when the devil drives.)

 

If there's heavy bleeding for five minutes or more, head for the vet/e-vet. Either you've quicked the vein very badly or your baby is having out-of-the-ordinary clotting problems. This isn't a likely scenario, but it's nice to know the emergency response and have it in the back of your mind--rather than trying to Google it while you hold a towel on a bleeding foot.

[Guest FlosMomma]

I need to trim Flo's but I'm chicken. She has one white and the rest are black. The vet showed me how but I'm still apprehensive. She is fussy with her rear paws anyway. I'd like to see a pic of how long they should be after a trim.

[tbhounds]

I need to trim Flo's but I'm chicken. She has one white and the rest are black. The vet showed me how but I'm still apprehensive. She is fussy with her rear paws anyway. I'd like to see a pic of how long they should be after a trim.

Have you considered dremeling???

[Guest FlosMomma]

I need to trim Flo's but I'm chicken. She has one white and the rest are black. The vet showed me how but I'm still apprehensive. She is fussy with her rear paws anyway. I'd like to see a pic of how long they should be after a trim.

Have you considered dremeling???

 

I haven't tried dremeling but I did just clip her nails....probably not enough but took off the points. I have a dremel maybe I will try that. Thanks!

[JJNg]

I'd like to see a pic of how long they should be after a trim.

How long the nails will be after a trim varies depending on how long the dog's quicks are. Sometimes the quicks will grow longer if the nails haven't been trimmed in a while. Other times, the quicks don't grow out with the nail. So we could show you pics of how long nails should be, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to get them that short when you first trim.

 

To avoid hurting the dog, you can only cut as much as you can without getting too close to the quick. This is easier to demonstrate in person than to describe in writing, but you're basically looking for a black 'core' in the center of the nail when you look at the cross section at the end of the nail that you cut. Once you see that black core, you're close enough. If you use the Dremel 2-3 times weekly, you can slowly work the quick back even if it's grown longer than normal.