Article updated as a result of a run of hits recently.
This cracked me up! They say ‘nail trimmer’ – it’s more of a ‘claw grinder’ for pets.
Just now (back in 2009, actually) on TV there was one of those adverts from JML Direct advertising PediPaws (it’s now been taken down and pedi-paws no longer features on their site) – a tool for trimming your pet’s claws. It seems to consist of a grinding wheel on a spinning shaft (it looks a lot like my Dremel multi-tool), and you push your pet’s toes through a small hole and the grinding wheel files their claws down. You can see the video on their site if you click the link above.
The best bit is where they are showing an owner trimming their cat’s claws. The cat is sitting there all contented, thinking “why is that camera pointed at me?” as the loving owner manipulates the PediPaws unit (obviously, you’ll have to take my word for it since the videos are no longer available to marvel at).
There is clearly no sound other than the voiceover – but it must be fairly obvious the device isn’t turned on during the demonstration with the cat behaving so nonchalantly.
Every cat I have ever owned was telepathic – you just had to think about spraying them with
flea powder, or taking them to the vets, or giving them a tablet, and they would tear off their outer fur coat and become Super Cat . Not the good Super Cat either, but the evil one – after Lex Luthor had made him hold some dodgy Kryptonite !
The noise alone would throw a cat into full-on Freddie Krueger mode in an instant. It would have done with any of mine (mind you, one of them was always half way there at the best of times).
When giving my cats tablets I had to wear leather gardening gloves – after the first time I tried it without, and nearly needed a blood transfusion. It was the same when spraying them for fleas – the hiss of the can created a Nightmare On My Street!.
And I had to use all kinds of tricks to get them to the vet, otherwise I wouldn’t see them for two weeks after they went into hiding.
So I find it hard to imagine that putting a high-speed rotary tool anywhere near any animal – let alone a cat – is going to result in anything other than serious injury to the owner. If the cat is tolerant enough to let you shove its foot into this tool, it sure as hell won’t be when it feels contact being made!
Incidentally, JML Direct (and its partner stores) are selling this thing for £24.99. It costs £4.99 from this online store (Key Fitness ) – this one seems to have gone, too!
Anyway, I think this must STILL rate as Stupidest Product Idea Ever – way above the nose hair trimmer (what’s wrong with pulling them out? It’s way more effective). Which made me think: imagine a nose or ear hair trimmer for pets… But I bet the Poodle, Cairn and Yorkshire Terrier, and Jack Russell owners out there would all be queuing in Wilkos tomorrow if they made one!
EDIT 24/12/2009: Wow! At the rate this one is getting hits, we could have a new champion post (beating the Man Has Pine Tree Growing In Lung story). I can see a lot of Yorkshire Terriers and other Fidos with a PediPaw in their Christmas stocking tomorrow morning (and yes, people DO put up stockings for their pets).
EDIT 21/3/2012: This article is getting a few hits again, so I’ve updated it. Amazon does it for £3.30, even though JML and that other place have given it up. Read some of the reviews (all spellings and pet names for real):
…then tried it on my dog who hated the noise, went bizerk…
…my dog is a staff & is not taken aback by much but even he refused to even enter the same room with it at first few times of use…
…plus my dogs where so scarred of it and i would not try it near the cat…
…She doesn’t seem bothered with the sound or vibration of it but as soon as you insert a claw into it she freaks out. Have not been able to trim her claws at all…
…my dog wasn’t too keen so took time getting him used to it but I think that was more because of the noise it made…
…Dog hates it…
…Noodle wasnt too happy at first…
…Dog did not like it at first but I amsure he will get used to it the more it is used. I think it is the vibration not the noise that put him off…
…It took a couple of goes for my dogs to accept it…
…extremely fiddly with small claws especially when she was riggling around to avoid having it done…
I told you! Even the ones who say it works seem to have little regard for whether their animals like it or not.