I Almost Hacked off a Toe

Well, OK, it wasn't really quite that bad. 

Sunday I went to the pet store to buy toenail clippers for Isaac.  I'd been using my own toenail clippers to cut his nails, but his  nails are bigger and thicker and stronger than mine, and it was hard to cut them with my clippers.  His nails were pretty long because I'd been putting off cutting them, meaning to buy doggie nail clippers.

I took Isaac to the pet store with me, which I usually do not do, because he acts like a nut in the pet store.  This time, he peed in the store.  I was shocked and embarrassed.  I'm sure another dog had peed there and that's why he did it, but he still knows better.

So I bought the doggie toenail clippers and came home and snipped one of Isaac's toenails.  It was much, much easier than doing it with my own nail clippers.  I snipped the second nail and Isaac yelped and blood started dripping off his food onto my living room carpet.  Isaac lay down with his head on my lap, like he wanted me to protect him, which is kind of cute but also sad since I was the one that hurt him.

I yelled for Mike to come help me, and told him to get me the cornstarch out of the kitchen, which is supposed to stop the bleeding when you cut off too much of the nail and cut the vein inside.  I scooped up some cornstarch in the palm of one hand and with the other hand, stuck the bleeding toe into the cornstarch.  It did stop the bleeding, but by that time his whole foot was soaked with blood and there were red spots all over the carpet.

I felt so terrible.  I fed him some treats and took him out for a walk.  He wasn't limping at all and didn't seem to be in any pain.  I took him for a really long walk and let him play in every puddle we passed, trying to cheer him up, I guess.  Although he already seemed pretty cheery.  I think he got over his injury faster than I did.

Later that night, I clipped two more toenails.  He was all relaxed and sleepy then and didn't seem worried at all.  I was afraid that he would develop a fear of  having his nails cut.  He never has been too fond of it, but I was afraid that now he would be afraid it would hurt.  So I just wanted to cut a couple nails right away so he could see that it didn't hurt.  I think I also wanted to show myself I could cut his nails without amputating a toe.  I didn't want either of us to be scared of the nail clippers.  I'm still nervous about cutting his nails, though.