All about Those Toes; The Importance of Nail Trims
by Cathryn Adolph, BS, LVT
Feet are awesome! We take our feet for granted, but they are a complex combination of muscles, tendons, ligaments, many small bones, and nerves. They keep us in touch with the ground, propel us forward, maintain balance, and help us brake to avoid collisions. In this blog, we will discuss how to care for the foot and nail trims.
The Dog’s Foot
While humans walk with their feet and toes flat, dogs walk on their toes with the bones held at angles. These angles allow the foot to serve as shock absorbers for the limb and thus prevent the impact from affecting larger joints closer to the body and even the spine. The feet also have many sensory nerve endings that are designed to protect the body from injury. If we were to step into a divot in the grass, the sensory nerves in our feet and ankle sense the sudden and abnormal change in direction and signal the brain to correct the problem. All this happens before we are even consciously aware that we were off balance! Continue…