Today, while looking through the “As seen on TV” isle at Walgreens, my wife and I purchased one of those PediPaws nail trimmers for our dogs.  Her cordless Dremel tool had gave up the magic smoke a few months ago and she had been using my variable speed model to sand the dog’s claws down after they were trimmed.  The product, as advertised, claimed to trim the nails without needing to clip them first, which caused splinters.  I was a little leary, but was $19.95, and took two C cell batteries, so we gave it a try.  In short, I am taking it back because it is one of the biggest pieces of crap I have ever seen.

Alex doesn’t like it either:

(click image for full size)

Taking it out of the box, I quickly noticed that it’s a cheap knock off of the Dremel rotary tool with a bigger sanding disk attachment and a plastic “guard”, or “gauge” that the nail to be trimmed slides in to.  I also quickly realized that it’s a cheap plastic case with the kind of DC motor you find in really bottom end toy cars at Radio Shack.

Moving on, I put a fresh set of C cell batteries in it and turned it on.  Seemed to be working.  We tried it on one of Alex’s nails and the tool immediately pulled his nail in between the guard and the rotating sander, stopping the motor.  Can you see where this might cause harm to a  small dog, especially if it rips a nail off altogether?  We thought maybe it was because he was so small, that he may not have been the target audience for the tool, so we tried it on Teddy, who is a 20 pound Lhasa Aapso.  Teddy had recently had a bath, and had his nails cut, but they still hadn’t been filed down because of the non working Dremel tool.  As soon as we put one of his nails in, the motor completely bogged down.  If this was the case just trying to sand the edge off of a nail, I seriously doubt it would be up to the job of completely trimming a dogs toe nail.  Now before you say anything, my wife has groomed dogs professionally for ten years, and I seriously don’t think this is a case of us not knowing what we are doing.  In fact, I would definitely call her an expert.

Save yourself some trouble for both you and your pets and pass this inferior tool by.  The appealing price does not outweigh it’s uselessness, nor does it make your pet getting hurt a justifiable alternative.  Get a dremel tool with a sanding disk, or, have the vet trim them.  I think I will exchange this for one of those “Pro Caulk” tools and see if that is worth it!

Addition:  I just found out that Amazon sells an actual Dremel “Pet Nail Grooming Rotary Tool” for $21.84 with Super Saver (Free) shipping.  That seems like a deal to me.