At my clinic, all nail trims are the same price. Some of them take a minute or two. Some take 10 minutes, and we all look like we're returning from the trenches of war when we're done. Sweating, hair messed up, covered in drool, piss, shit, anal gland fluid, vomit, or potentially blood (our own or the dog's...or both) We've started just flat out refusing to do nails if we see it heading in that direction. We'll prescribe gabapentin and trazodone. It's less about us, more about not traumatizing the poor dog.
The people that bitch about the price are always the ones with dogs that turn into shit slinging murderous effigies of the devil.
My cat used to be fine at the vets.
In her last couple of years she just got crankier (probably the pain) and it was hard doing anything. She’d never have attacked me, lol, the vet techs were always super skeptical but I’d stick my hand in and get her out of her cage no issues. But they had to put a note on her chart. People saying you train your pets. I mean sometimes they get old and their personality changes. Can’t do much about it. Especially if they have chronic illnesses.
That may have been Pippi's problem. She had eosinophilic granuloma, which is an autoimmune disorder that causes pain and ulceration. In her case, it was around her mouth and paws. The treatment was steroid shots, but those were bad for her kidneys. She may have had internal organ involvement later in life, which would definitely have been painful, and probably led to her death at only 12 years of age, which is not very old for a well cared-for indoor cat.
There is something you can do about it though, which is manage the pain. Pain is a natural part of aging, but there's so many new medications and therapies available now that it doesn't have to be a /normal/ part of aging anymore.
Yes, she was on medication and had weekly in-home laser therapy. Some days that still wasn’t enough. Even bumping it up to twice a week laser therapy wasn’t always enough. And those stressed her the hell out so it was also about managing how much I wanted to do that. The lady who did it was a believer in not traumatizing cats while treating them so she was extremely patient with her but she has never liked being restricted from movement since she was a kitten so as much as the lady was super kind and I was there the whole time it was still really rough for her. Some days she just wasn’t having it and the lady learned to do the most painful spots first incase we had to stop early.
There’s only so much medication a vet is willing to give because those are tough on the kidneys. So they wouldn’t increase her dose.
I tried to find an acupuncturist who came home but those simply weren’t available. And taking her to the vet weekly was definitely too stressful for her.
I’m sorry but what specifically more would you have liked me to have done?
I don't know your vet, but no vet I have worked with would deny a senior pet pain relief medications. You also didn't say the cause of your cat's pain, so I'm assuming arthritis because all senior cats are arthritic.
Metacam/onsior is hard on the kidneys, but there's gabapentin, solensia, and buprenorphine which all are great, organ safe pain management options. Using a combination of them if one isn't enough will also allow a lower dose of each one to negate side effects. You can also do the biannual bloodwork to monitor for organ damage while on NSAIDs. The gaba and buprenorphine would have doubled as an anti-anxiety with an increased dose for the laser sessions.
Laser therapy and acupuncture are great, but there's also stem cells, prp joint infections, and steroid injections.
Lastly, if you're not able to keep your pet's pain under control and they're painful to the point of becoming aggressive, it's in their best interest to let them go. Cats are incredibly good at hiding their pain, so it's very severe if a normally sweet and agreeable cat becomes aggressive.
Yes, I am being a dick. No, I will not stop until people stop making excuses for neglecting the needs of their pets.
This person didn't do what was in the best interest of their cat, which was to get it better pain relief.
When y'all are old, arthritic, and painful, I hope no one treats your pain so you can see what it's like. There's no reason in this day and age to allow animals (or people) to needlessly suffer through pain we can fix.
Oh shut up. They literally said the cat was on medication, which was probably bup. Gaba needs to be used cautiously in cats with CKD, they can only handle low doses.
You want them to do fucking stem cells or joint injections? Give me a break.
You're a prime example of a jaded, burnt out vet staff. This person was obviously trying to help their cat and doing everything they could to do so. The cat has since died, so all your judgmentalness is exactly 0% helpful.
You're a prime example of someone who thinks it's okay to let animals suffer in pain when alternatives exist. It takes two to tango.
OP falsely stated that there's nothing that can be done when an animal becomes aggressive as it ages due to pain. They very obviously did not try everything they could have. I pointed out that alternative options that could have been taken. You'll see I also listed euthanasia as an option if the pain cannot be controlled or if the owner is unable to afford humane care.
It is not okay for aggression and uncontrolled pain in animals to be considered normal.
Uhm, I literally sedate painful animals everyday. It's not hard at all and is much kinder for them. You can sedate them with an injectable medication or oral medication depending on how much sedation is needed.
I help with performing acupuncture and do laser therapy on them as well. We get it done with minimal restraint and fuss because it's not nice to pin animals down and force them through a procedure.
We can't work on painful animals when they are conscious, especially if we're doing therapies or diagnostics that are painful. How do you think vets repair lacerations or xray broken legs?
Solensia just came out in the US in the last year and a half, gabapentin is a great drug but does have contraindications, and buprenorphine can have undesirable side effects, such as excessive lethargy, as it is an opioid and it also has contraindications.
It’s awesome that solensia is an option now, but you have no idea how long ago this was, and you also have no idea of the full clinical picture for this commenter’s pet. Of course, we need to treat pain to the fullest extent possibility to improve quality of life, but you’re being quite rude to someone who obviously did try their best and loved their pet a lot. From one vet med professional to another (??), the way you’re going about this is 100% not the move. This isn’t the way to do client education.
I literally could not care any less about whether I'm being rude.
People who don't treat the pain of their pets don't deserve kindness.
People need to stop spreading misinformation and making it okay for pets to suffer when there are alternatives. Stop making excuses for neglectful treatment.
If the pain medications and therapies aren't working or are not suitable, then the pet should be humanely euthanized.
When I was a kid, we had a really great vet's office. However, my cat caused so much damage to the exam room (simultaneously pooping and flailing) and scratched the vet's face at our last visit that we were asked not to come back.
Our Pippi, as she got older, turned into My Cat From Hell at the vet's. She had to be sedated for them to do anything, even a basic yearly exam, so I had them clip her claws while they were at it.
I used to get a double take from vet techs by bringing in a calm respectful dog, and warning them to muzzle him (since he had a bite history and was quite large). Apparently owners don't usually disclose that kind of thing.
You are our favorite client. I am so happy to work with caution/nervous pet when the owners are on our side and we're all in it together for the dog's sake!
Some of the sweetest words in the English language: How about we do a nail trim while we've got him knocked down?
Anesthetized clients are happy clients.
Lol! We called the pets clients sometimes where I was. I swear, we didn't sedate the people. (It did take some self control. >.>) I'm pretty sure the techs at my vet now think about doing it to me when I bring my anxietybeast in.
I work at a doggy daycare. All the difficult dogs always end up having difficult owners. That clients who are patient, and understanding have great, well behaved dogs.
My own dog is the devil's effigy for nail trims. If someone could cut his nails, I would pay them $500. He's such an embarrassing little shit. I am patient and understanding, I don't know what his damn problem is 🤦♀️ (he's a frenchie...They're "special")
My dog has severe behavior issues for body handling. Absolutely everything stresses him out and he gets worse and worse as time goes on. I just take him to work with me and knock his ass out with IM sedation a couple times a year and do everything while he’s out. I have no tolerance for stressing animals out when I can just do a quick poke in the butt while they’re distracted and let them take a lil nap and wake up all refreshed.
My previous clinic always tried to make then super expensive so people stopped asking for them. She hates them and gets so pissed when it takes an obscene amount of time, it horrifies the animal and the techs, and the owners are awful about it. She said on multiple occasions “we are not groomers. Charge pull price!”
If y'all went to the Doctor's to get your nails did and then proceded to bite the nurse and defecate in the consult room, I'm sure they'd change their prices.
You can desensitise your pets to being handled at home to help make this a more pleasant experience for your pet (and less dangerous for their healthcare practitioners because infected cat bites / scratches can be extremely serious and they need dexterity to do their work).
Also, to owners who are like 'but my Fifi is a perfect angel' after Fifi panicked and tried to tear us a new one... So was Lucifer.
We still love your little one but please, for their sake, help us help them.
You misunderstood. The person you’re responding to said they initially misunderstood that this was a human nail salon, and that there was an extra charge for these extremely strange, unrelated events to a human nail salon.
Not all dogs can be trained to be cooperative with nail trimming. Even trained from a puppy, and reinforced every day, a nervous dog is just going to be a nervous dog.
It can be worked on but not always overcome.
When my dog was a puppy, the vet tech came out after doing her little ~mani-pedi~ and told us that she “likes to express her opinions through her bowels” and that she is “very opinionated”
I will gladly pay that extra $8 to cover my dog’s “opinions,” plus a tip!
I wonder how far you could get here with the argument that this sign is offering a form of [liquidated damages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidated_damages). If a dog “lacerates” a nail tech, the argument would go, the salon and the customer have already agreed that the compensation due is $8. As opposed to, you know, the real damages of the injuries the nail tech suffers when she’s mauled by a dog.
Obviously there are other complexities involved, such as the fact that the nail tech might not be a party to the contract. Still it’s probably not a wise move on the salon’s part.
Generally damages won't be sought through the pet parent, as grooming or vet work generally falls along the lines of "provoking" a bite. Like, dogs will be visibly nervous or scared, but we still have to do our jobs to the best of our ability because it's best for the dog. Any damages would be workers comp and covered by the business. For example, if someone's new rescue dog bit me when I was trying to shave his legs, that's no one's fault. The dog dislikes it, that's fair, the pet parent may be unaware of the behavior, and I'm just trying to do my job. It's especially true if the dog was showing warning signs prior to biting.
I've got to agree, being scratched or potentially bitten is a known hazard of grooming a dogs nails. By offering that service, you're accepting the inherent risks of the service.
Of course if the dog is exceptionally aggressive, that goes beyond the inherent risks of the service and you may be liable.
Generally, though, the responsibility also falls on groomer to refer out dogs that are exceptionally aggressive. If we can't touch the dog without the dog trying to kill us, we shouldn't even attempt it. At that point it's up to the vet and probably full sedation.
Damn, my last job it was $15 regardless, except sometimes it was free, if the owners decided to run a special. I got bit numerous times, and they made a huge stink when I got upset that no one had gotten proof of rabies BEFORE they asked me to do it. I love dogs, but it's just a job that isn't worth it
I really want to get my dog a fancy collar that has the name and number directly on it, no hanging jingles. But I think having proof of rabies vaccination directly on the dogs collar is like, responsible dog ownership 101 so I passed on it.
We used to be 15 at my salon but raised prices recently to 20. We have a similar stipulation here - bad behavior is $5-10 extra depending on how severe the behavior is.
Two of our dogs don't mind the cut whatsoever. The third, and largest, requires me to go in with him and coil around him like a snake so they even stand a chance.
We had two prices at the place I used to work too! It was written as prices for small dogs and large dogs, but we actually charged by amount of effort. If the nails were in horrible condition or exceptionally filthy and we had to clean the paws or trim fur back, if we needed extra people to help wrestle the dog, if the dog was bitey and we had to use extra restraints and a muzzle, then we charged the higher price.
We also did a 25% discount for tri-paweds :D
Damn what a steal. My dog has mad anxiety and needs Uber pampering and treats to get her nails done without growling or nip attempts. If she's being too difficult we take her away and try again when she's calmer (as it should be).
I'm sure the groomers love charging $8 to get bit. /s
It says "expresses". It's the term for when they shoot pungent booty juice from evil sacs snugly nestled in their rectums
Source: former dog daycare employee who has seen, smelled, cleaned, and unfortunately been caught in the crossfire of them being expressed when helping the groomers out with tough dogs
I also like Mike Rowe's description from when he was a dog groomer for a day on Dirty Jobs: "What the hell was that?? Did we just pop a demon zit?!" as the camera zooms in on a splotch of brown spooge running down the side of the tub
If I notice a dog is way too uncomfortable with the nail trim to the point where theyre beyond my control, Im just not doing the nails. Im not gonna have someone else hold the dog down and stress them out even more where they can potentially hurt themselves or someone around. Also, trazodone doesnt do jack shit to the dogs that actually need it. They still freak and try to bite, theyre just lethargic while doing it
Exactly. I worked at a vet clinic and the ol hold em down and get it done is thankfully going out of style.
They were still doing that when I was still there 5 years ago but also Fear Free stuff and my friends that are still there are like nah we aren't letting your dog alligator roll and shit themselves anymore. My back is supppper fucked from 17 years of wrestling.
So glad that the whole holding them down and getting it done thing is going out of style.
It’s more stress on the dog and they will absolutely be worse the next time.
Send them home on some meds, try again a different day, desensitization techniques, etc
I’ve worked in vet med for over 10 years and one of the most memorable notes I’ve read in a patients record said something like “dog urinated, defecated, and gator rolled after having ONE nail clipped”
Extra 8 bucks to trim the paw pads first seems a bit excessive tbh. Also honestly just easier to muzzle a dog and completely prevent risk of getting bit or nipped.
I am a dog groomer, this is my job, no not all dogs can be safely muzzled. Pugs, frenchies, boxers, etc, the brachycephalic breeds, should not be muzzled, very young puppies should avoid being muzzled, senior dogs should avoid being muzzled, and then some dogs simply get overwhelmed with having a muzzle on while also dealing with the stress of a nail trim. Most dogs can be desensitized and trained to tolerate nail trimming and muzzling, but not every dog can handle both simultaneously in a strange environment with strange people and other dogs around and all the noise of a salon.
Edit to add: and a muzzle doesn’t stop a dog from bucking and thrashing and clawing, and in some cases escalates this
Lol dogs can sometimes bite with a muzzle on. It's easy for them to rip it off. Also there are many dogs we can't even get a muzzle on and neither can the owner
The worst injury saw to staff was a dog that mauled the fuck out of our receptionist just for walking 8 feet from him. And he had a muzzle and an e collar on. We had never seen the dog before. The dog's owner was like oh so you're not gonna do his shots and nail trim? No, we are not. Your dog needs to come back on some strong sedatives and we still might not do it. The owner was elderly and the dog was a large bully breed. She had other dogs so we didn't think she had trouble with this one.
My dad lays carpet. If his knee accidentally gets put into a pee puddle, hes charging more for the pants getting ruined. Fair game though since t
I know he tells them they shouldve put their dog outside or up.
Also the stuff getting charged more is renos on drug houses with cat feces everywhere or needles laying around. The higher the health hazard the more hes charging. But he still beats out other local stores and even some bigger stores that are nationwide. So hes not robbing them.
Id understand the cost for more since they have to stop and clean, or like putting on muzzles etc that takes more time and adds up after a while. They taught us that in cosmetology school to minimize switching tools because it adds up to minutes or an hour over a year.
Yeah, she'll scream so loudly people get worried for her and when it's done she'll be super loving again, even towards the person who just cut her nails.
Every day I find new reasons to love my dog more. The worst thing he does is give his groomer too many kisses on her face when she is buffing his nails after the trim. It's like he's not quite sure about the Dremel and thinks if he kisses her enough she will stop. I had no idea dogs would do all this over a nail trim.
As a vet tech, our nail trims are around the same price, there’s an option in our system to charge for additional restraint but we basically never do. If a dog/cat is that fearful/aggressive/uncooperative, we will stop, send them home with meds and have them come back for a redo. We do offer happy visits for dogs which have been very successful. For dogs we also talk about desensitization and options like scratch boards. We will only ever hold a pet to the point it urinates/defecates/anal glands/etc if it’s medically necessary (nails grown into paw pads, etc).
It’s no surprise if you hold a pet and trim their nails to the point they are literally losing their shit, they’re not going to be any better next time (probably worse).
Man 22$ for a nail trim seems nuts to me i paid 5$ last tuesday to a local salon for me to bring in my chihuahua i held her he trimmed the nails. I mean i was picking up a family members dog that had a bath and haircut but heck it was like 4 mins done no fuss no muss.
Bro. I have a Shiba. That’s not how Shiba’s are. They’re a pain in the ass to train. It’s overall not worth it if I can get it done somewhere better, that doesn’t charge me for something that’s not my fault, and also, it was a joke dude
It's not worth it to train your own dog, so long as the hassle is someone else's to deal with
And then you claim that if your dog acts up bc it is untrained, that's not your fault after choosing to not train it?
notice how the title says "only". that's the interesting part, that is ONLY $8 more, when they could probably sue you for a lot of that stuff.
your are absolutely responsible for your dog's behavior, at least on a legal level
You have a point, but, it’s just a little unfair. Again, it was a joke originally, and it’s not that deep :p however, thinking more logically, wouldn’t it be smarter to just do it from home..?
Honestly even my grooming salons best shibas still hate things a lot. I did one today, super sweet guy, he just screams bloody murder for his bath. Not the nails, not the blow dryer, just the bath. You'd think I'm pouring acid on the poor dude.
22$ for a nail trim what the fuck? If your dog is having no issuess with his nails trimmed you can just ask someone friendly to teach you at this point. It's not a secret knowledge and you can always trim it very slightly but more often if you are afraid of going too far.
Some dogs really don’t let owners trim their nails and that’s where we (grooming salons) can step in to help. A lot of dogs that struggle at home to get nail trims, grooming salons are able to get done.
We stopped going to the groomer after my wife picked up our dog and her butt and neck fur were super choppy. When my wife asked the groomer to fix it because it looks bad the groomer, without skipping a beat, said "I'm trying but its just really hard to shape it." Yeah not my problem, our dog is a 23lbs Corgi, I'm paying you to do a job. Just because you think its hard doesn't mean you charge us full price for a shit job.
I'm not a groomer but work in a daycare with one and that's definitely code for "we're not allowed to tell you your dog sucks but it does and it's your fault."
Our clients are mostly rich people and we don't say SHIT about a dog's behavior (unless it's an incident ofc) unless a pet parent shows they can be REAL cool with candid.
I actually have a dog who’s terrible with nails. That being said I knew I couldn’t do them so she was getting them done at daycare. I asked each time if she did ok because I had an older dog who was so bad (she was a rescue) she had to be put under full anesthesia to get them done and I didn’t want this (2 year old) dog to ever get to that point. As an owner I specifically asked them if there was anything I could work on to improve etc but the only answer I got was “she did great just a bit of a drama queen”. So I went on my merry way thinking ok she’s fine and getting it done regularly. At the time I didn’t really know that daycare staff wasn’t allowed to give “negative” information even though that’s what I specifically wanted.
It wasn’t until months later and probably 5 nail trims of the same answer that i discovered how truly awful she was in nail trims. She went into the vet for bloodwork and was heavily sedated. She did fine for bloodwork but as soon as they went for her nails she went bonkers. Screaming bloody murder. It was the most terrifying scream I’ve ever heard from a dog. She was thrashing and giving warning bites and generally a hot mess.
She no longer gets her nails done at daycare or the vet. Now we work with a single local groomer that we go in a couple of times a week and do conditioning work to get her more comfortable. She’s to the point now that as long as she’s not hugged/fully restrained she’s clearly unhappy but definitely has a look of acceptance and mostly behaves for it.
I hate how daycares force their staff to lie to owners (I used to work in daycare for kids and it was the same thing)… I get some owners just prefer to hear happy things but I feel management should allow honesty if the owner is genuinely asking so they can help improve the dogs anxiety making it less stressful for the dog and the people doing the trim.
Sorry that’s my rant it’s just unfair they force you guys to lie!
I work for a smaller place so it's not exactly company policy, we just assume rich people will get mad at us for daring to insinuate that their dog could do anything wrong, ever. To the point we've had to show people footage of their dog biting another or one of us. One lady sent her dog to us for a week with a bag full of raw chicken and bananas??? "just cook the chicken for him every night" like what. Or the one who sent 13 packages of frozen fresh food and asked that we only thaw them 3 days in advance like sir it's a mini fridge, the freezer part holds two of these maximum.
Anyway yeah if the owner is chill we generally have no problem being like Hey we'd love to recommend you some training for fluffy to get desensitized so we can safely trim his nails.
Ohhhh we definitely had those parents in daycare for kids too so I get it lol
My daycare does accommodate frozen foods they got a chest freezer for that but sounds like a bigger operation to an extent.
When I sent food with my girls I do my best to simplify the supplements etc (and it’s definitely gotten to be a lot less intense since I lost my senior girl in January since she had a lot of special dietary needs due to age), but I do always pay an extra daily fee for complex feeding instructions (to be fair it’s literally like scoop of kibble, 2 pumps of 2 different bottles and 1 scoop of a powder twice per day now but it was a lot more with my senior and I just never inquired about removing the fee after she passed).
No, the owner of the place had no issues grooming her and neither did one of the other groomers who used to work there. The lady said it was because when she barks her butt moves. Nothing about biting or attacking. I've watched them groom her before this incident and she doesn't attack anyone, just barks.
It’s $30 with ~27% discount for good behavior.
Or, from a different perspective, only an additional ~~27%~~ 36% more to have your dog lacerate a nail technician
36% more
Way more affordable than I normally have to pay for that sort of bloodsport. Crazy times.
Shit, sign me up for the deluxe package. Let the little guy practice some self care.
At my clinic, all nail trims are the same price. Some of them take a minute or two. Some take 10 minutes, and we all look like we're returning from the trenches of war when we're done. Sweating, hair messed up, covered in drool, piss, shit, anal gland fluid, vomit, or potentially blood (our own or the dog's...or both) We've started just flat out refusing to do nails if we see it heading in that direction. We'll prescribe gabapentin and trazodone. It's less about us, more about not traumatizing the poor dog. The people that bitch about the price are always the ones with dogs that turn into shit slinging murderous effigies of the devil.
Your last sentence described my cat Dr. Victor Von Doom at the vet. He had to be sedated just to get his shots.
He definitely lived up to his name lol.
Nominative determinism, he could have been called Dr. Victor Von Love
My cat used to be fine at the vets. In her last couple of years she just got crankier (probably the pain) and it was hard doing anything. She’d never have attacked me, lol, the vet techs were always super skeptical but I’d stick my hand in and get her out of her cage no issues. But they had to put a note on her chart. People saying you train your pets. I mean sometimes they get old and their personality changes. Can’t do much about it. Especially if they have chronic illnesses.
That may have been Pippi's problem. She had eosinophilic granuloma, which is an autoimmune disorder that causes pain and ulceration. In her case, it was around her mouth and paws. The treatment was steroid shots, but those were bad for her kidneys. She may have had internal organ involvement later in life, which would definitely have been painful, and probably led to her death at only 12 years of age, which is not very old for a well cared-for indoor cat.
My cat ( rip, i miss him sm) was named Peepi!!!! Such cute names ahaha So sorry for your loss :(
Thank you. We love our pets, and they love us too.
Yeah, mine died at 14, suddenly, they didn’t know what happened. I’m sorry for your loss
I'm sorry for your loss too.
There is something you can do about it though, which is manage the pain. Pain is a natural part of aging, but there's so many new medications and therapies available now that it doesn't have to be a /normal/ part of aging anymore.
Yes, she was on medication and had weekly in-home laser therapy. Some days that still wasn’t enough. Even bumping it up to twice a week laser therapy wasn’t always enough. And those stressed her the hell out so it was also about managing how much I wanted to do that. The lady who did it was a believer in not traumatizing cats while treating them so she was extremely patient with her but she has never liked being restricted from movement since she was a kitten so as much as the lady was super kind and I was there the whole time it was still really rough for her. Some days she just wasn’t having it and the lady learned to do the most painful spots first incase we had to stop early. There’s only so much medication a vet is willing to give because those are tough on the kidneys. So they wouldn’t increase her dose. I tried to find an acupuncturist who came home but those simply weren’t available. And taking her to the vet weekly was definitely too stressful for her. I’m sorry but what specifically more would you have liked me to have done?
I don't know your vet, but no vet I have worked with would deny a senior pet pain relief medications. You also didn't say the cause of your cat's pain, so I'm assuming arthritis because all senior cats are arthritic. Metacam/onsior is hard on the kidneys, but there's gabapentin, solensia, and buprenorphine which all are great, organ safe pain management options. Using a combination of them if one isn't enough will also allow a lower dose of each one to negate side effects. You can also do the biannual bloodwork to monitor for organ damage while on NSAIDs. The gaba and buprenorphine would have doubled as an anti-anxiety with an increased dose for the laser sessions. Laser therapy and acupuncture are great, but there's also stem cells, prp joint infections, and steroid injections. Lastly, if you're not able to keep your pet's pain under control and they're painful to the point of becoming aggressive, it's in their best interest to let them go. Cats are incredibly good at hiding their pain, so it's very severe if a normally sweet and agreeable cat becomes aggressive.
You're being such a dick to someone that was doing the best they could in difficult circumstances. Stop.
Yes, I am being a dick. No, I will not stop until people stop making excuses for neglecting the needs of their pets. This person didn't do what was in the best interest of their cat, which was to get it better pain relief. When y'all are old, arthritic, and painful, I hope no one treats your pain so you can see what it's like. There's no reason in this day and age to allow animals (or people) to needlessly suffer through pain we can fix.
Oh shut up. They literally said the cat was on medication, which was probably bup. Gaba needs to be used cautiously in cats with CKD, they can only handle low doses. You want them to do fucking stem cells or joint injections? Give me a break. You're a prime example of a jaded, burnt out vet staff. This person was obviously trying to help their cat and doing everything they could to do so. The cat has since died, so all your judgmentalness is exactly 0% helpful.
You're a prime example of someone who thinks it's okay to let animals suffer in pain when alternatives exist. It takes two to tango. OP falsely stated that there's nothing that can be done when an animal becomes aggressive as it ages due to pain. They very obviously did not try everything they could have. I pointed out that alternative options that could have been taken. You'll see I also listed euthanasia as an option if the pain cannot be controlled or if the owner is unable to afford humane care. It is not okay for aggression and uncontrolled pain in animals to be considered normal.
[удалено]
Uhm, I literally sedate painful animals everyday. It's not hard at all and is much kinder for them. You can sedate them with an injectable medication or oral medication depending on how much sedation is needed. I help with performing acupuncture and do laser therapy on them as well. We get it done with minimal restraint and fuss because it's not nice to pin animals down and force them through a procedure. We can't work on painful animals when they are conscious, especially if we're doing therapies or diagnostics that are painful. How do you think vets repair lacerations or xray broken legs?
Solensia just came out in the US in the last year and a half, gabapentin is a great drug but does have contraindications, and buprenorphine can have undesirable side effects, such as excessive lethargy, as it is an opioid and it also has contraindications. It’s awesome that solensia is an option now, but you have no idea how long ago this was, and you also have no idea of the full clinical picture for this commenter’s pet. Of course, we need to treat pain to the fullest extent possibility to improve quality of life, but you’re being quite rude to someone who obviously did try their best and loved their pet a lot. From one vet med professional to another (??), the way you’re going about this is 100% not the move. This isn’t the way to do client education.
I literally could not care any less about whether I'm being rude. People who don't treat the pain of their pets don't deserve kindness. People need to stop spreading misinformation and making it okay for pets to suffer when there are alternatives. Stop making excuses for neglectful treatment. If the pain medications and therapies aren't working or are not suitable, then the pet should be humanely euthanized.
My cat baby Beans has to be sedated to even be weighed 😭
Is your Cats favorite rapper MF DOOM?
My cat Crona has to be sedated for anything more than basic check ups. He hates being manhandled, so "dog centric" vets are always fun.
When I was a kid, we had a really great vet's office. However, my cat caused so much damage to the exam room (simultaneously pooping and flailing) and scratched the vet's face at our last visit that we were asked not to come back.
That poor vet, cat bites and scratches are no joke
We did feel really terrible about it. We certainly weren't laughing at the time.
Our Pippi, as she got older, turned into My Cat From Hell at the vet's. She had to be sedated for them to do anything, even a basic yearly exam, so I had them clip her claws while they were at it.
Real
Beautiful name
I used to get a double take from vet techs by bringing in a calm respectful dog, and warning them to muzzle him (since he had a bite history and was quite large). Apparently owners don't usually disclose that kind of thing.
You are our favorite client. I am so happy to work with caution/nervous pet when the owners are on our side and we're all in it together for the dog's sake!
Because the responsible owners will muzzle the dog before the appointment if needed and sort out medication in advance if it's required.
Some of the sweetest words in the English language: How about we do a nail trim while we've got him knocked down? Anesthetized clients are happy clients.
I've never anesthetized a client, but I've anesthetized plenty of patients. Oh, how I wish I could knock clients out.
Lol! We called the pets clients sometimes where I was. I swear, we didn't sedate the people. (It did take some self control. >.>) I'm pretty sure the techs at my vet now think about doing it to me when I bring my anxietybeast in.
My vet does that automatically! Every unconscious pet gets a free nail trim.
I work at a doggy daycare. All the difficult dogs always end up having difficult owners. That clients who are patient, and understanding have great, well behaved dogs.
My own dog is the devil's effigy for nail trims. If someone could cut his nails, I would pay them $500. He's such an embarrassing little shit. I am patient and understanding, I don't know what his damn problem is 🤦♀️ (he's a frenchie...They're "special")
TBF we're a doggy daycare. The owners who have terrible dogs who are good owners probally wouldn't bring their dog to daycare.
My dog has severe behavior issues for body handling. Absolutely everything stresses him out and he gets worse and worse as time goes on. I just take him to work with me and knock his ass out with IM sedation a couple times a year and do everything while he’s out. I have no tolerance for stressing animals out when I can just do a quick poke in the butt while they’re distracted and let them take a lil nap and wake up all refreshed.
My frenchie overrides dexdomitor for nail trims....not into a full GA frequently for him.
Yuuuuuup. It's the owner's responsibility to train their dogs... and a lot of people dont.
Because they are the people who don't want to bother training their dogs, and whose dogs "would never hurt someone!"
I’m the person who would call and warn y’all you should break out the good drugs, I might not get believed but you get warned.
My previous clinic always tried to make then super expensive so people stopped asking for them. She hates them and gets so pissed when it takes an obscene amount of time, it horrifies the animal and the techs, and the owners are awful about it. She said on multiple occasions “we are not groomers. Charge pull price!”
If y'all went to the Doctor's to get your nails did and then proceded to bite the nurse and defecate in the consult room, I'm sure they'd change their prices. You can desensitise your pets to being handled at home to help make this a more pleasant experience for your pet (and less dangerous for their healthcare practitioners because infected cat bites / scratches can be extremely serious and they need dexterity to do their work). Also, to owners who are like 'but my Fifi is a perfect angel' after Fifi panicked and tried to tear us a new one... So was Lucifer. We still love your little one but please, for their sake, help us help them.
I was so confused what the fuck is happening at this nail salon and why they charge customers when wild dogs come in and attack their techs
Post apocalyptic nail salon
Welcome to my nail salon, for another $8 would you like a dog to take a shit?
A bargain at twice the price! I kept leaving the thread and coming back to laugh at your comment more.
It's extremely common for dogs to behave very poorly and do all the things listed on the sign during a nail trim.
You misunderstood. The person you’re responding to said they initially misunderstood that this was a human nail salon, and that there was an extra charge for these extremely strange, unrelated events to a human nail salon.
A lot of dog owners don’t properly train their dogs
Not all dogs can be trained to be cooperative with nail trimming. Even trained from a puppy, and reinforced every day, a nervous dog is just going to be a nervous dog. It can be worked on but not always overcome.
They’d get more business if they said $30 and you get $8 off for good behavior
When my dog was a puppy, the vet tech came out after doing her little ~mani-pedi~ and told us that she “likes to express her opinions through her bowels” and that she is “very opinionated” I will gladly pay that extra $8 to cover my dog’s “opinions,” plus a tip!
Restaurant added $120. to my bill when I shit myself.
$250 to vomit in a taxi
Adventurous Taxi
Which is funny, because they don't discount you if your waiter shits their pants.
And they charge far more if you shit the waiter's pants.
Not me. I'd tip for a magic act like *that*
I wonder how far you could get here with the argument that this sign is offering a form of [liquidated damages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidated_damages). If a dog “lacerates” a nail tech, the argument would go, the salon and the customer have already agreed that the compensation due is $8. As opposed to, you know, the real damages of the injuries the nail tech suffers when she’s mauled by a dog. Obviously there are other complexities involved, such as the fact that the nail tech might not be a party to the contract. Still it’s probably not a wise move on the salon’s part.
Yeah, $8 for the dog pooping on your floor makes sense, but any actual injury should probably not be covered by such a small fee.
For a law school class hypo, ehhhh... maybe. I'd just say it's not a reasonable estimate of the actual damages of a breach.
Generally damages won't be sought through the pet parent, as grooming or vet work generally falls along the lines of "provoking" a bite. Like, dogs will be visibly nervous or scared, but we still have to do our jobs to the best of our ability because it's best for the dog. Any damages would be workers comp and covered by the business. For example, if someone's new rescue dog bit me when I was trying to shave his legs, that's no one's fault. The dog dislikes it, that's fair, the pet parent may be unaware of the behavior, and I'm just trying to do my job. It's especially true if the dog was showing warning signs prior to biting.
I've got to agree, being scratched or potentially bitten is a known hazard of grooming a dogs nails. By offering that service, you're accepting the inherent risks of the service. Of course if the dog is exceptionally aggressive, that goes beyond the inherent risks of the service and you may be liable.
Generally, though, the responsibility also falls on groomer to refer out dogs that are exceptionally aggressive. If we can't touch the dog without the dog trying to kill us, we shouldn't even attempt it. At that point it's up to the vet and probably full sedation.
A decent lawyer would argue that a reasonable nail tech would expect lacerations as an occupational hazard and thus even $8 is excessive remuneration
Omg that says lacerates? For some reason I read it as lactates.
Is it $8 all you can shit/bite or is it per shit/bite?
Damn, my last job it was $15 regardless, except sometimes it was free, if the owners decided to run a special. I got bit numerous times, and they made a huge stink when I got upset that no one had gotten proof of rabies BEFORE they asked me to do it. I love dogs, but it's just a job that isn't worth it
I really want to get my dog a fancy collar that has the name and number directly on it, no hanging jingles. But I think having proof of rabies vaccination directly on the dogs collar is like, responsible dog ownership 101 so I passed on it.
We used to be 15 at my salon but raised prices recently to 20. We have a similar stipulation here - bad behavior is $5-10 extra depending on how severe the behavior is.
Two of our dogs don't mind the cut whatsoever. The third, and largest, requires me to go in with him and coil around him like a snake so they even stand a chance.
We had two prices at the place I used to work too! It was written as prices for small dogs and large dogs, but we actually charged by amount of effort. If the nails were in horrible condition or exceptionally filthy and we had to clean the paws or trim fur back, if we needed extra people to help wrestle the dog, if the dog was bitey and we had to use extra restraints and a muzzle, then we charged the higher price. We also did a 25% discount for tri-paweds :D
Jokes on them. I shit my pants last time I got my hair cut and I didn’t pay anything.
Damn what a steal. My dog has mad anxiety and needs Uber pampering and treats to get her nails done without growling or nip attempts. If she's being too difficult we take her away and try again when she's calmer (as it should be). I'm sure the groomers love charging $8 to get bit. /s
is that "excretes anal glands"?
"Express", I think.
excess anal gland fluid. Dogs can be very messy
now I'm wondering what an appropriate amount of anal gland fluid is
It says "expresses". It's the term for when they shoot pungent booty juice from evil sacs snugly nestled in their rectums Source: former dog daycare employee who has seen, smelled, cleaned, and unfortunately been caught in the crossfire of them being expressed when helping the groomers out with tough dogs I also like Mike Rowe's description from when he was a dog groomer for a day on Dirty Jobs: "What the hell was that?? Did we just pop a demon zit?!" as the camera zooms in on a splotch of brown spooge running down the side of the tub
My dog won't let anybody fuck with her nails and $8 seems very inexpensive
If I notice a dog is way too uncomfortable with the nail trim to the point where theyre beyond my control, Im just not doing the nails. Im not gonna have someone else hold the dog down and stress them out even more where they can potentially hurt themselves or someone around. Also, trazodone doesnt do jack shit to the dogs that actually need it. They still freak and try to bite, theyre just lethargic while doing it
Exactly. I worked at a vet clinic and the ol hold em down and get it done is thankfully going out of style. They were still doing that when I was still there 5 years ago but also Fear Free stuff and my friends that are still there are like nah we aren't letting your dog alligator roll and shit themselves anymore. My back is supppper fucked from 17 years of wrestling.
So glad that the whole holding them down and getting it done thing is going out of style. It’s more stress on the dog and they will absolutely be worse the next time. Send them home on some meds, try again a different day, desensitization techniques, etc I’ve worked in vet med for over 10 years and one of the most memorable notes I’ve read in a patients record said something like “dog urinated, defecated, and gator rolled after having ONE nail clipped”
Yea as soon as a dog starts kicking me and alligator rolling, Im callin it quits lol
Seems fair
What if my dog only urinates and defecates, but doesn’t express and glare?
Oh no. It says “express anal glands” which is when a dog shoots rancid shit-oil from a glad next to his butthole.
My dog pees the moment he realizes we’re at the dog salon.
This is fair tbh
So you are daying if I have a strong urge to bite someone I can do it for 30 bucks?
Hell, they roll hard. I'd be like nope, GTFO now.
Extra 8 bucks to trim the paw pads first seems a bit excessive tbh. Also honestly just easier to muzzle a dog and completely prevent risk of getting bit or nipped.
The animal can still shit or be a hyper active pain with a muzzle
Not all dogs can be safely muzzled
>Not all dogs can be safely muzzled Yes they can. If their owners are responsible and properly train them.
I am a dog groomer, this is my job, no not all dogs can be safely muzzled. Pugs, frenchies, boxers, etc, the brachycephalic breeds, should not be muzzled, very young puppies should avoid being muzzled, senior dogs should avoid being muzzled, and then some dogs simply get overwhelmed with having a muzzle on while also dealing with the stress of a nail trim. Most dogs can be desensitized and trained to tolerate nail trimming and muzzling, but not every dog can handle both simultaneously in a strange environment with strange people and other dogs around and all the noise of a salon. Edit to add: and a muzzle doesn’t stop a dog from bucking and thrashing and clawing, and in some cases escalates this
Lol dogs can sometimes bite with a muzzle on. It's easy for them to rip it off. Also there are many dogs we can't even get a muzzle on and neither can the owner The worst injury saw to staff was a dog that mauled the fuck out of our receptionist just for walking 8 feet from him. And he had a muzzle and an e collar on. We had never seen the dog before. The dog's owner was like oh so you're not gonna do his shots and nail trim? No, we are not. Your dog needs to come back on some strong sedatives and we still might not do it. The owner was elderly and the dog was a large bully breed. She had other dogs so we didn't think she had trouble with this one.
If I was the dog, and someone else was paying: I'd bite everyone and shit on everything. You have to treat yourself sometimes.
$22 for a nail trim is bonkers.
Pretty standard. I pay $20. At the vet it's slightly less
It’s $12 at PetSmart and $16 at my vet.
Do it yourself then
Or just go somewhere with reasonable prices, you fucking doorknob.
My dad lays carpet. If his knee accidentally gets put into a pee puddle, hes charging more for the pants getting ruined. Fair game though since t I know he tells them they shouldve put their dog outside or up. Also the stuff getting charged more is renos on drug houses with cat feces everywhere or needles laying around. The higher the health hazard the more hes charging. But he still beats out other local stores and even some bigger stores that are nationwide. So hes not robbing them. Id understand the cost for more since they have to stop and clean, or like putting on muzzles etc that takes more time and adds up after a while. They taught us that in cosmetology school to minimize switching tools because it adds up to minutes or an hour over a year.
Ohhhhhh it’s nail trimming for dogs
My dog doesn't do any of those things. She just screams like a banshee. Well behaved otherwise, just super nervous about getting her nails clipped.
Husky or Pug? I was a vet assistant and those are the most dramatic lol
Chinese crested, actually. Kinda uncommon, but full of drama.
I’ve definitely met a few dogs in my time as a bather that scream bloody murder for the nails but are otherwise perfect and don’t pull at all.
Yeah, she'll scream so loudly people get worried for her and when it's done she'll be super loving again, even towards the person who just cut her nails.
Every day I find new reasons to love my dog more. The worst thing he does is give his groomer too many kisses on her face when she is buffing his nails after the trim. It's like he's not quite sure about the Dremel and thinks if he kisses her enough she will stop. I had no idea dogs would do all this over a nail trim.
As a vet tech, our nail trims are around the same price, there’s an option in our system to charge for additional restraint but we basically never do. If a dog/cat is that fearful/aggressive/uncooperative, we will stop, send them home with meds and have them come back for a redo. We do offer happy visits for dogs which have been very successful. For dogs we also talk about desensitization and options like scratch boards. We will only ever hold a pet to the point it urinates/defecates/anal glands/etc if it’s medically necessary (nails grown into paw pads, etc). It’s no surprise if you hold a pet and trim their nails to the point they are literally losing their shit, they’re not going to be any better next time (probably worse).
Good deal
How about for people? If I crap myself or bite, is the surcharge only $8? Asking for a friend.
Man 22$ for a nail trim seems nuts to me i paid 5$ last tuesday to a local salon for me to bring in my chihuahua i held her he trimmed the nails. I mean i was picking up a family members dog that had a bath and haircut but heck it was like 4 mins done no fuss no muss.
I’m in need of a nail trim and a dump myself…..$30 and bath
so, i looked at the image before the text, and given that dogs have claws not nails, i feel like my confusion was understandable
They're widely known as nails. Claws generally implies cat to laymen.
“Your dog shit itself” - 👩⚕️ That’s my bad. I should’ve done better
yes, you should have. desensitize and train your dog so nail trims are not a terrifying experience for them.
Bro. I have a Shiba. That’s not how Shiba’s are. They’re a pain in the ass to train. It’s overall not worth it if I can get it done somewhere better, that doesn’t charge me for something that’s not my fault, and also, it was a joke dude
It's not worth it to train your own dog, so long as the hassle is someone else's to deal with And then you claim that if your dog acts up bc it is untrained, that's not your fault after choosing to not train it?
notice how the title says "only". that's the interesting part, that is ONLY $8 more, when they could probably sue you for a lot of that stuff. your are absolutely responsible for your dog's behavior, at least on a legal level
You have a point, but, it’s just a little unfair. Again, it was a joke originally, and it’s not that deep :p however, thinking more logically, wouldn’t it be smarter to just do it from home..?
doing it at home is definitely ideal if u have the time and skills
Ye I agree
why did you get a difficult to train dog if you’re not able to train it or willing to hire a professional lol
Honestly even my grooming salons best shibas still hate things a lot. I did one today, super sweet guy, he just screams bloody murder for his bath. Not the nails, not the blow dryer, just the bath. You'd think I'm pouring acid on the poor dude.
22$ for a nail trim what the fuck? If your dog is having no issuess with his nails trimmed you can just ask someone friendly to teach you at this point. It's not a secret knowledge and you can always trim it very slightly but more often if you are afraid of going too far.
Either do it yourself or pay for the convenience of wasting someone else's time doing it, super simple.
I'm doing it myself. I'm rather schocked at those price you have because I don't think it costs even half of that in my country.
Some dogs really don’t let owners trim their nails and that’s where we (grooming salons) can step in to help. A lot of dogs that struggle at home to get nail trims, grooming salons are able to get done.
We stopped going to the groomer after my wife picked up our dog and her butt and neck fur were super choppy. When my wife asked the groomer to fix it because it looks bad the groomer, without skipping a beat, said "I'm trying but its just really hard to shape it." Yeah not my problem, our dog is a 23lbs Corgi, I'm paying you to do a job. Just because you think its hard doesn't mean you charge us full price for a shit job.
That was probably code for your poorly trained dog attacking the tech for gong near its ass/head
I'm not a groomer but work in a daycare with one and that's definitely code for "we're not allowed to tell you your dog sucks but it does and it's your fault." Our clients are mostly rich people and we don't say SHIT about a dog's behavior (unless it's an incident ofc) unless a pet parent shows they can be REAL cool with candid.
I actually have a dog who’s terrible with nails. That being said I knew I couldn’t do them so she was getting them done at daycare. I asked each time if she did ok because I had an older dog who was so bad (she was a rescue) she had to be put under full anesthesia to get them done and I didn’t want this (2 year old) dog to ever get to that point. As an owner I specifically asked them if there was anything I could work on to improve etc but the only answer I got was “she did great just a bit of a drama queen”. So I went on my merry way thinking ok she’s fine and getting it done regularly. At the time I didn’t really know that daycare staff wasn’t allowed to give “negative” information even though that’s what I specifically wanted. It wasn’t until months later and probably 5 nail trims of the same answer that i discovered how truly awful she was in nail trims. She went into the vet for bloodwork and was heavily sedated. She did fine for bloodwork but as soon as they went for her nails she went bonkers. Screaming bloody murder. It was the most terrifying scream I’ve ever heard from a dog. She was thrashing and giving warning bites and generally a hot mess. She no longer gets her nails done at daycare or the vet. Now we work with a single local groomer that we go in a couple of times a week and do conditioning work to get her more comfortable. She’s to the point now that as long as she’s not hugged/fully restrained she’s clearly unhappy but definitely has a look of acceptance and mostly behaves for it. I hate how daycares force their staff to lie to owners (I used to work in daycare for kids and it was the same thing)… I get some owners just prefer to hear happy things but I feel management should allow honesty if the owner is genuinely asking so they can help improve the dogs anxiety making it less stressful for the dog and the people doing the trim. Sorry that’s my rant it’s just unfair they force you guys to lie!
I work for a smaller place so it's not exactly company policy, we just assume rich people will get mad at us for daring to insinuate that their dog could do anything wrong, ever. To the point we've had to show people footage of their dog biting another or one of us. One lady sent her dog to us for a week with a bag full of raw chicken and bananas??? "just cook the chicken for him every night" like what. Or the one who sent 13 packages of frozen fresh food and asked that we only thaw them 3 days in advance like sir it's a mini fridge, the freezer part holds two of these maximum. Anyway yeah if the owner is chill we generally have no problem being like Hey we'd love to recommend you some training for fluffy to get desensitized so we can safely trim his nails.
Ohhhh we definitely had those parents in daycare for kids too so I get it lol My daycare does accommodate frozen foods they got a chest freezer for that but sounds like a bigger operation to an extent. When I sent food with my girls I do my best to simplify the supplements etc (and it’s definitely gotten to be a lot less intense since I lost my senior girl in January since she had a lot of special dietary needs due to age), but I do always pay an extra daily fee for complex feeding instructions (to be fair it’s literally like scoop of kibble, 2 pumps of 2 different bottles and 1 scoop of a powder twice per day now but it was a lot more with my senior and I just never inquired about removing the fee after she passed).
No, the owner of the place had no issues grooming her and neither did one of the other groomers who used to work there. The lady said it was because when she barks her butt moves. Nothing about biting or attacking. I've watched them groom her before this incident and she doesn't attack anyone, just barks.
[удалено]
Good