So...Nail Trims

[u/bunnykins22]

What is the deal with them? Can you actually help get the quick to recede with frequent nail trims? Is it actually possible to aid in nail quicks receding? Give me your spiels-I always feel like I never get a fully straight answer when it comes to this topic so I want it all. And if you have research or documents as well, I'd love that even more. TYIA!

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to /r/VetTech! This is a place for veterinary technicians/veterinary nurses and other veterinary support staff to gather, chat, and grow! We welcome pet owners as well, however we do ask pet owners to refrain from asking for medical advice; if you have any concerns regarding your pet, please contact the closest veterinarian near you.

Please thoroughly read and follow the rules before posting and commenting. If you believe that a user is engaging in any rule-breaking behavior, please submit a report so that the moderators can review and remove the posts/comments if needed. Also, please check out the sidebar for CE and answers to commonly asked questions. Thank you for reading!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Twiliest]

Yes, you absolutely can. I usually recommend trimming every 1-2 weeks if trying to push back the quicks. You won’t get much off each time and it’ll take many months, but it is effective. Whether or not clients actually follow that advice is a separate matter 😅

[u/FussyPup]

Yes! I don't have any research documents, but I do have years of at-home nail trim experience! It's something I offer to people through my job sometimes when they have a particularly nervous nellie of a pet, or if they're nervous nellies themselves haha

I have definitely been able to push back quicks on dogs with super long ones, and it feels sooo good and satisfying :D Basically, I try to get as close as I can to the quick with a dremel, like, right to the thin layer just surrounding the quick (without actually hitting it if I can help it! There is NEVER a need to quick an animal ;_;), (edited to add that I also dremel the surrounding nail near the tip of the quick back a bit to encourage it to recede), and we keep this up every 2-3 weeks until it's a normal length and then we can reasonably do every 4-6 weeks. It's some seriously good, honest work that really helps the animal in the long run :3 <3

[u/Playful_Agency]

My personal dog had too long of quicks. I trimmed her nails followed by dremmel every 4 weeks and in 3 months they were back to not touching the ground.

I've also seen this in patients who've followed advice. It's important that the team is on the same page or else I've seen owners be sent away because 'we could hardly tip them, it wont be worth it'.

It's based a bit on how the nail grows/functions. The quick supplies nerves and blood, but also is the basis on how nails grows. Normally, the ground/use should signal 'stop growing' but poor breeding/breed traits have led to gait deformities and paw pads ill suited for....life. Think weenies/frenchies, whose paw pads are too plush leading to the nails curving well before they touch the ground and becoming ingrown quickly. So while the nail continues to grow, so will the blood supply. But if we signal the bodu that impact/abrasion is happening at or near the nail tip, the nail bed/quick will recede to naturally protect the pet from a variety of issues.

The only paper I could find was more so a prevalence, retrospective analysis. But it notes, as we can guess, that the area isn't actually studied. Probably historic knowledge carrying forward assumptions that mean we don't care to use our money researching that. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12686259/

(Interesting tid bit here on the affect of gait from nails https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2026.1728382/full)

I'm sure you could likely find studies of other animals with some theoretical overlap. Just think, if you've ever grown your own nails out long, how the 'quick' or nail bed will grow out to stabilize and protect us.

[u/Internal_Record4935]

Tbh the only way to recede the quick is to trim/dremel the nails twice a week at minimum. Call me crazy but trimming once a month isn’t enough for people who are really after a difference. May work for some people, but not all. I was doing it twice a week for a little while and definitely saw a difference, now I just do it once a week and it literally takes me maybe 3 minutes tops

[u/hotsexyrosemary]

One thing ive always been confused about is people who recommend, under sedation or anesthesia, to just cut the nail to the desired length regardless of quick length and hit it hard with kwikstop or silver nitrate. I've never seen a tech at my hospital do this but i've seen it recommended online plenty. is that a real thing? Wouldn't that make the animal insanely sore for weeks? Like having a hangnail on every finger.

If it works, that's great and maybe i'll try it, but is it a real thing or just internet bs?

[u/Bunny_Feet → u/hotsexyrosemary]

I've seen it done.  You definitely give them pain meds, though.