Can someone tell me if my vet experience was normal procedure?

[whattooksolongtoloveadog]

Hello. I recently had a vet visit with my 3 yr old pit mix that felt wrong but wonder if I'm being too sensitive.
Her short history: Molly belonged to my neighbor who didn't take good care of her & though I never witnessed it happening nor saw any injuries I believe he was abusive to her. Since I adopted her, she has learned to love people (sometimes a bit obnoxiously) but can still be easily intimidated by a raised voice or fast movement. She is scared at the vet's office to the point that she pees on the floor & exam table no matter what we are there for.
She is 60 lbs & strong so when she gets her nails clipped at the vet it takes 3 of us to hold on to her to get the job done. One time she was sedated to get treatment on a nail that had broken off badly.

Most recently Molly had a split all the way up nail that was just starting to lift away from the quick. Being right in the middle of the holidays my regular vet couldn't get her in as soon as I thought she needed to be seen. I called the vet across the street & was able to get in there. When the appointment was made we specifically discussed the likelihood of her needing to be sedated & were given a cost estimate for the procedure.
Once there they did not sedate her & instead used 5 of their people to hold her down on the ground (1 woman had her knee on her head) & proceeded to cut the nail all the way off & cut the quick off right up to her toe. They finally managed to bandage her up after one of the guys had to go in search of the bandages. They added an empty drip bag cinched on with rubber hosing over the bandage because they were concerned she might bleed through the bandage. Her other front nails were clipped with several of the quicks being nipped. Then we went home with antibiotics & pain pills.
I can't imagine how painful this was for her & am wondering how I'm even going to get her through the door the next time she needs to go to the vet. To me it seemed inhumane to terrorize her in such a way instead of sedating her. I feel so sad for her to have been treated this way & also sad for other patients of this vet.
Am I overreacting & this is normal procedure?

 

[mari beauvais]

What a terrible experience! You will want to find a new vet.

She needs to get used to being handled and when she goes to the vet again take her for a simple procedure first. Like being weighed and a health interview.

Is it really necessary to sedate her to trim her nails? There must be a talented groomer near you who could trim her nails without sedating her.

It's actually pretty easy to trim your dog's nails yourself. Start with getting the dog used to you handling her paws, have a bag of treats near by. Even if you are not able to handle them much the first time, just make it part of your routine. Even when she is lying down and relaxed and your petting her, spend some time touching her paws and nails to get her used to it. Then handle her paws with the clippers in your hand but don't use them and work up to clipping one nail at a time, remember the treats. The nails don't need to be clipped that often and it's something that I've always done myself, even when my dogs were nervous at first.

 

[Laura in SD]

I see you wrote this in February. I hope your dog is ok and you found a more caring vet. Your experience was terrible!

 

[TheDeena]

I would NEVER let anyone cut my dogs nails to the quick, i have a bichon/poodle whose quick prevents them from cutting his nails as short as necessary therefore I have to drummel them myself to prevent him from scratching the hell out of me. I would suggest getting one and keeping up on your dog’s nails if he/she will allow you. And i would REPORT that vet to the board. How he handled you dog was inexcusable. Good luck and hope your dog is feeling better soon.