u/PoolParty912

This guy hates having his nails trimmed, and we're losing our minds. We adopted him in October, and he was very compliant for the first few months at the vet but got progressively worse. The last time he had a proper trim was in April. Walking on pavement helps, but not enough. He's starting to slip on hardwood floors. He has gabapentin and trazodone for vet visits, but we haven't used those for a vet appointment yet. The meds don't work well enough for us to trim his nails at home, so I'm not convinced they'll work at the vet any better.

However, any vet or groomer will be faster and more confident and have a better setup, which would make a real difference. I've called a few places for advice on what to try next, and here was what they said:

• Our vet with the meds. They've done a ton of work with us to get him comfortable through happy visits, and those are working pretty well. They'd first try with the meds 2 hours before the visit. If that doesn't work, we'd try the night before and again the day of, or adjust the dosage. He'd be in the back and muzzled, which he doesn't generally do well with because of his separation anxiety.
• Trying a Fear Free vet. Their approach is basically the same as our vet (same meds, same schedule), but they'd consider letting us stay in the room if that helped, and they'd put cheese spray in the muzzle to distract him. They also use 4-5 people instead of just 2-3, which is what our vet does.
• Trying a local groomer who owns five heelers. I'm still waiting for a callback, but she is highly recommended by our doggie daycare. I feel like knowing heelers might be really helpful here. We could try with or without meds.

None of these seem like bad options, but I want to pick the one that's least stressful because I worry that fighting through it will just make it worse the next time. Neither vet recommends additional anesthesia until the gabapentin/trazodone combo has been tried a few different ways. We've been doing an online desensitization course for nail trims (Susan Garrett's Pedicure Please), and he's made progress, but not quickly enough. I'm curious what other factors people would consider in this situation, or what seems to work best.