Dremel for trimming pet nails and beaks

I’ve got one more product I’ve been wanting to write about for ages, even though it’s not quite as entertaining as Panic Mouse.  Really, nothing is, so we’ll just have to appreciate the Dremel Minimite Cordless Dremel Tool for being inexpensive and very efficient.  I used to trim my dog, cat, and bird nails with clippers, but the small dogs can be antsy (I’m looking at you, Cricket), and the bigger dogs have such thick nails that they can be hard to cut.  With the birds, it’s difficult to keep them still, and I always do nail trims with a container of KwikStop around for emergencies because a nick is inevitable.  I know our vet uses a Dremel for trimming, so I decided to invest in one.  I thought I could just buy any old Dremel, but it turns out that the really expensive ones are actually too powerful for nail and beak use, because their high RPMs generate too much heat.  Dremel actually manufactures a special model, the Dremel 761-01 Pet Nail Grooming Kit, specifically for pet use, but I did some research and found that it only runs on AA batteries, and that it requires a special tool to change the bits.  I didn’t really like those restrictions, and found that the Dremel Minimite Cordless Dremel Tool was just $5 more expensive, and it had tool-free bit changing, and also came with a rechargeable base which just plugs into the wall when not in use.  You can buy extra batteries if you feel you want spares on hand, but so far I haven’t had any trouble with my battery running down.  The RPMs are nearly identical in both—6000/12000 and 5000/10000—and the 5000 RPM setting has provided ample power for the trimmings I’ve done.  I even did some quick cleanups of two overgrown beaks and it was quick and easy, and no blood!  The pets are very pro-Dremel and don’t care if they ever see regular clippers again, so consider picking one up if you do your own pet grooming.  Don’t forget—biggest isn’t necessarily better, so be sure to buy something which won’t overheat during use.  Good luck!

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UPDATE:  Amazon.com no longer carries the Dremel Pet Nail Grooming Kit, and they also don’t carry the Dremel Cordless 750D, which is the product I originally reviewed, bought, and which I currently use.  However, you can still purchase a very similar model (Cordless Dremel Minimite), via Amazon.com’s third-party sellers.  If you don’t mind a corded model, try the Dremel 395D Variable-Speed MultiPro Tool… just remember to use the low speeds for pet nail trims.  It comes with free shipping, too.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/04 at 09:36 PM

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  1. Thanks for the tip!  We will have to pick a Dremel up. 

    I made the mistake once of cutting our JRT’s nail too short and she bled like crazy.  :o( Ever since then, I have been too paranoid to cut anyone’s nails and we have been taking the birds to the vet to get a trim and taking the pups to the groomer to get their manicures.

    Posted by Expat  on  04/06  at  02:51 PM

  2. We used to live in a very “pet-friendly” apartment complex—it was so pet-friendly that at least one tenant raised monkeys, and almost all tenants had one large dog or a couple of small ones.  One day I got a call from the front office—a resident had tried to clip her Quaker parakeet’s nails, had made him bleed, and was absolutely panic-stricken.  I had the office send her over to my place where I stopped the bleeding with my handy-dandy Kwik Stop, and then I showed her how to stop the bleeding at home by using a bar of soap, or even just some corn starch.  I don’t think she ever tried to trim the nails again, though.  We’ve only had one bad “incident”—our parrotlet had an overgrown beak, and when I trimmed it, it bled and wouldn’t stop bleeding.  We had to run her down to the vet to have them cauterize it.  It eventually turned out that she had liver disease that didn’t allow her blood to clot, so I’m not actually a brutal barbarian.  Still, now that I’m friends with the Dremel, I hope to avoid blood loss in the future.  The only blood loss occuring during nail trims will be when the birds bite me!

    Posted by Mudpuppy  on  04/06  at  03:13 PM
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