Okay, so imagine if you never cut your fingernails. Weird, maybe. Guiness Book of World Records-ish, maybe. Would make it kinda tough to dial a phone or pick your nose, but it wouldn't necessarily be painful.
Unless, perhaps, it's toenails we're talking about. What if they were allowed to grow so long that they curled down over the front of your toes and touched the ground? Every step would be uncomfortable as the nail was pushed back by the ground into the nail-bed.
Stay with me here -- because now we're starting to understand how untrimmed nails can affect your dog. Nails can grow so long they start digging into the paw pads, or they can crack from having to bear your dog's weight. When nails are long enough to click on the ground, they can start being pushed back -- just like yours would -- so that it's like putting all one's weight on long nails instead of toes and feet. OUCH.
As if that weren't bad enough, because dogs' nails are an extension of their bones, too-long nails can cause skeletal damage, gait changes, even arthritis!
And the longer the nail grows, the longer the "quick" inside too, which makes it more difficult to trim the nails without causing pain or bleeding.
So if it's been awhile since your pup's nails were trimmed, you might want to bring her to us so we can do it with minimal discomfort. With careful, gradual, and frequent trimming or grinding, we can slowly "retrain" the nail and the quick so that regular trims going forward are easy and painless.
Let us be your partner in keeping your beloved fur-kid comfortable and healthy. It's our mission, after all!