Poor Mosi

The saddest thing happened today. I have been needing to cut Mosi's nails and have been putting it off because I have been afraid of cutting them too short. Dogs nails have this area called the "quick" which is the blood vessel and nerves that feed the nail and if you cut it too short it will bleed and hurt your dog. So in preparation I bought the special dog clippers that have a guard on them so that you don't cut them too short. Well...I am obviously not advanced enough to be cutting my dogs toe nails because on the first toe nail I cut it too short and it started gushing blood. I started freeking out not knowing what to do. First I tried applying pressure but that wasn't very effective. Then I went up into my first aid kit and tried to put a band aid on it...I knew that it wouldn't work but I felt that I should at least try...my puppy was bleeding! When that didn't work I took paper towels and tightly wrapped up his foot and then secured it with masking tape. Then I got a big bag of ice and wrapped it around his foot to vasoconstrict the vessel and stop the bleeding. This worked like a charm. I felt very proud of myself and I just had to take a picture of Mosi because he looked so cute and tortured. After the damage had settled I googled "What to do when you cut your dogs toenail too short". I found that when this happens you simply apply flour, cornstarch or bar soap to the tip of the nail and it will stop the bleeding...go figure. I learn something new every day. I still think my way was more effective.