Ralphie has always been weird about having his nails trimmed (among other things) and has gotten even weirder about it over time. The vet gave me some sedatives (pills) to try on him, but I still wasn’t able to cut his nails as he did not seem to be very sedated. So, I made an appointment to have them done at the vet’s office.
They gave him a sedative shot (did I mention he does not like getting shots, either?) and we sat in there for a while but he never went to sleep. I mean, you wouldn’t necessarily know that he had been sedated. Finally, we opted for the brute force method (muzzle and pinning him down) and let’s just say that did not go over well with Ralphie. I felt really bad about it, but his nails really needed done. Anyway, the vet then gave him a shot to reverse the sedative and we went home, where he proceeded to pretty much sleep for 2 days. I think it was more from the crash after the adrenaline rush than the sedative. But at least his nails are trimmed. The vet tech who helped out said that walking on gravel is a good way to naturally wear down dogs’ nails, so I need to find a gravel patch to walk on. I always walk him on the road or sidewalk, but that’s not quite doing the job.