Cauterization

[LadyMadonna]

One week ago today on the advice of my vet I had my little yorkie's back toe nails cauterized under anesthesia . Today he is still not himself ...he is not infected or anything like that. The vet said he is just sensitive and I need to give him time to heal. Does anyone had any experience with this ?

[boopster]

Newb question.. What is the purpose for cauterization?

[LadyMadonna]

My vet said that the quick was too long and it was best to cut them back or would cause worse problems. I get him groomed once a month and my groomer usually clips his nails. My vet also said this was a typical problem with terriers. I thought I was doing what was best for my dog.

[Rhetts_mama]

Cauterizing is burning tissue, including nerves. The quick has lots of nerve endings in it. I don't have any experience with it being used to set back the quick. However, I know from my own personal experience with having things cauterized during surgery that the areas were really sensitive on me for well over a month.

Hope your pup feels like himself soon.

[Raymond's Mom]

Originally Posted by LadyMadonna

One week ago today on the advice of my vet I had my little yorkie's back toe nails cauterized under anesthesia . Today he is still not himself ...he is not infected or anything like that. The vet said he is just sensitive and I need to give him time to heal. Does anyone had any experience with this ?

I would not agree with your vet's advice. Trimming the toenails monthly is adequate for a pet and there is no harm in the quick growing out. If it gets cut back and starts bleeding just pack it with quick stop powder and it'll stop bleeding immediately. Cauterizing is burning and burns are painful and take time to heal. I am also appalled that vets cauterize when they cut dew claws and dock tails. I find that to be cruelty.

It sounds to me like the vet just thought of a new way to add to his income and your poor little guy is suffering for it. But I'm sure that with time it'll heal. The vet certainly should offer any follow up care for free.

[LadyMadonna]

Believe me when I say I feel his pain and wish I had thought more on this . The vet in question is a good man and that being said I trusted his judgement.
I will be so happy when Wizzy is back to his old self. Seems sometimes we do the best we can and then we second guess ourselves for doing it.
Just wanted to know if anyone had ever done this to see what information I could learn.
Thank you.

[kalina82]

i've had other people tell me they had it done to their dogs as well while under anesthesia for another procedure. Most of them said their dog didn't notice, one or two said they thought the dog seemed uneasy when walking for a day or two but otherwise no problems.

how long were your dogs nails? If your dog has really long nails the first time it goes to the groomer they can only take off so much. usually long nails have long quicks. So the groomer takes off what they can. Then during the month between appointments it grows back to practically the same length (unless we're talking curly cue nails that were obscenely long but i don't think that's your case here). So when you go back the groomer will take that bit off again. basically your not really getting anywhere with making them shorter. If you really want to cut back the nails because they are so long, you should have them done once a week so the quick will recede a little each time.

[delicatepuzzle]

I have that problem with Schmuckles His quick is extends far. I cut his nails biweekly and almost always get at least one of the quicks. His nails are still long after I cut them. Just the other day he was playing so hard (chasing after the frisbee) his nail pulled away from the pad on his pinky toe. He's still in pain/gimping. Anyone else have this happen?

[LadyMadonna]

It is over 3 weeks now and although Wizzy is better I still find him not quite his old self. Yesterday 2 of this nail casings fell off and I assuming this is normal.
He still licks his toes a lot during the day.
I hope that this little operation is the last one I have to do for a long time.

[Raymond's Mom]

Originally Posted by LadyMadonna

It is over 3 weeks now and although Wizzy is better I still find him not quite his old self. Yesterday 2 of this nail casings fell off and I assuming this is normal.
He still licks his toes a lot during the day.
I hope that this little operation is the last one I have to do for a long time.

Wow...Have you told your vet that your little guy is still having problems? What do you mean by the nail casings? No, it's not normal for any part of the nail to fall off the feet. I'd sure never let anyone do this type of procedure on him, or any dog, again. My fear would be that now he'll be so foot shy that you'll have a heck of a time doing routine clipping.

[Raymond's Mom]

Originally Posted by kalina82

i've had other people tell me they had it done to their dogs as well while under anesthesia for another procedure. Most of them said their dog didn't notice, one or two said they thought the dog seemed uneasy when walking for a day or two but otherwise no problems.

how long were your dogs nails? If your dog has really long nails the first time it goes to the groomer they can only take off so much. usually long nails have long quicks. So the groomer takes off what they can. Then during the month between appointments it grows back to practically the same length (unless we're talking curly cue nails that were obscenely long but i don't think that's your case here). So when you go back the groomer will take that bit off again. basically your not really getting anywhere with making them shorter. If you really want to cut back the nails because they are so long, you should have them done once a week so the quick will recede a little each time.

If you ask your groomer to they can cut the long nails back. They'll just pack the end of each nail with blood stop as they cut them. But you need to keep the nails cut back. Just cutting them short one time with no continued trimming won't make the quick recede.