Worn nails: Anyone try Soft Claws?

Maddie (age 10) has some arthritis in her spine and hip and as a result, she drags one of her back paws a bit when she trots. This wears the two middle nails on her back right paw. She did great all winter because we were walking on snow, but now we have a thaw and after just two days on pavement, one of her back nails started to bleed. I feel just awful that I didn't notice til she was hurt. It didn't bleed heavily, but that has to hurt. Poor girl.

Last time we were at the vet, I believe she said that if they kept wearing we might need to try nail caps.

Has anyone used Soft Claws or something similar for this? If so, what was your experience? And what size do you get? Based on the chart, it seems we'd need X-Large, but that hardly sounds right.

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on January 15, 2016 at 12:24am

My invention has not worked so well.

The plastic seems hard, but wears quickly on pavement.

So I added a second layer, making rather large bulbs of plastic, and I think they were too awkward.

Then Gwynnie developed a lot of irritation near them on her toes -- she was worrying them, chewing with her teeth, and I'd spilled some glue into the fur, making a mess. I just removed everything, and it took some doing with good cutting tools.

This method might be workable, but will require practice and skill. Thicker quick-setting glue might help. Perhaps Vet-Bond(TM) would be better (supposed to be less irritating). The caps should be kept small, and no longer than the claw itself.

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Permalink Reply by Beth on January 15, 2016 at 10:04am

The nail caps do work well. Once you get used to putting them on and cutting to appropriate size, they last about a week. Maddie is long past the stage of needing caps behind (she needs boots), but she is back to using caps on the right front; she is starting to hitch on one side and wears the two middle nails.

A package lasts ages. Usually when a dog is dragging, they don't need caps on all 4 nails, only the middle 2.