# Trimming Declaws



## luvmygoats3 (Jan 12, 2009)

Has anyone ever cut a declaw to short? I did this today on my pregnant LaMancha doe. It has been bleeding. Is there anything special I should do? I feel awful :sniffle. This has never happened before, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


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## paulaswrld (Mar 2, 2008)

I did the same thing a couple years ago and felt sooo bad. I did not have traditional blood stop powder so I used Cayenne Pepper and it actually worked...who knew...not me...but, my girlfriend said it did and I keep it at the barn now.

She will be okay...I take very little off the dew claws every few months just to keep them looking cleaner. BYW, Tim P. should chime in because I have NEVER seen feet done better than his job. He sent me two girls last year and they were 1 and 2 yr.olds and those feet were like babies and the dewclaws were so nice, amazing...sorry to say they do not look like that now... really don't know how he does it.

Paula


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## stacy adams (Oct 29, 2007)

I use a small rasp, sort of like the ones used for horses, only about a third the size. Every time I trim, I file their dewclaws. 
I trimmed one too short a few years back myself, and even with bloodstop I didn't think I'd get it to quit bleeding. Since then, I've learned about using a disbudding iron to cauterize it, but still, not cutting it seems to be the way to go. You can tell when filing, when to stop.


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## KingsCoGoatGuy (Dec 20, 2008)

Ditto on the rasp. I try to do my gals every 2 weeks in the summer that way I never really ever have to get out the trimmers unless they need shaping, or I am doing new kids feet. This sounds like alot of work but it is truly only a two second job since they wear their feet & dewclaws down going up the hill to pasture.


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

My friend showed me a way to trim dewclaws. You cut just the very end with the hoof trimmers and then peel back the dry layers. It's kind of hard to describe without actually showing you, but it keeps you from cutting them too short. Kathie


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## Daniel Babcock (May 28, 2008)

I trimmed one too short and it did not bleed. There was just this fatty white substance? I think I will start using the rasp like Alex!


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

corn starch works well too as blood stop


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

If you cut dewclaws everytime you trim feet they don't get so awful looking and need alot of trimming deep...or pealing! Vicki


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## stoneyheightsfarm (Jan 19, 2008)

Can anyone point me to a site or post photos of this? I've only seen one person barely take a tip off a dewclaw, and not routinely. None of the sites I've looked at show it. My goats climb around on rocks quite a bit, and their dewclaws always look as though they're getting filed that way... But maybe they're really overgrown and I don't know any better???


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## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

Paula,
I used an air hand sander/grinder on them. The one I use is a Porter Cable high speed air sander. They cost about $40. You still have to hand trim with the orange shears and then finish them out with the sander. Works great on bucks and foundered does that are so hard to trim.


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## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

Bump - read post above for type of sander.


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## paulaswrld (Mar 2, 2008)

Super, thanks so much.


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## goatdad (Mar 5, 2009)

I don't know if it works on goats but I use lime juice to stop bleeding on me and my dogs. It burns a little but it works really fast.


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## Narrow Chance (Oct 29, 2007)

I use the handy dandy spider webs to stop bleeding. I use on just about every cut that bleeds.. wether it is profuse or not. Even myself. It's cheap, handy, and the Charlotte's at my barn keep me in more than enough.


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## goatdad (Mar 5, 2009)

Spider webs. What a great idea. I love little tricks like that.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Rett my barn is much to clean to find spiderwebs to use on the goats!!

Course if I ran into the house right now I am sure I could find them!

Honestly I powerwashed my barn before does kidded, but if you look up? Just don't look up! Scarry!

I trim dewclaws, we have such spongy leaf loam, sandy soil that dewclaws need as much trimming as feet, and I just hate long scraggly dew claws in my older does. Vicki


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## Feral Nature (Oct 26, 2007)

Long scraggly dew claws match my does long scraggly beards and long flowy waddles....beauty is in the eye of the beholder don'tcha know.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

OMG I've NEVER trimmed my dewclaws! Well, the goats dewclaws. I HATE chesnuts on my horses, and keep them peeled down to nothing always always always. Can I do the same peel on the dewclaws? 
Anita


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## cariboujaguar (Feb 9, 2009)

I've never had long dew claws, they must wear them down playing... my horses never develop large chestnuts, it would bug me if they did tho...


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## Narrow Chance (Oct 29, 2007)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> Rett my barn is much to clean to find spiderwebs to use on the goats!!
> 
> Course if I ran into the house right now I am sure I could find them!


Well... I have a sign hanging in my kitchen. 'We both can't look good. It's either me or the house."

Hubby has come to expect a messy house when it's kidding season. I sometimes get away with it when it's not.. lol


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Rett my sign is: I am not Martha Stewart! Vicki


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## Qvrfullmidwife (Oct 25, 2007)

"Hubby has come to expect a messy house when it's kidding season."

I just blogged about this...pictures of the two faces of kidding season. One pic of cute baby goats, the other pic of my pile of unfolded laundry big enough to bury most of my children in!


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