A Pawdicure For Benson (Mikki Face & Paw Scissors)

Member Name: FourPaws

Product:	Mikki Face & Paw Scissors
Date:	28/02/09 (531 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Blunt ends, easy to use, effective but not extremely sharp blades, cheap, comfortable to hold

Disadvantages: None

*What are Mikki Face & Paw Scissors?*
These specialist grooming scissors are produced by the Mikki company, the famous pet care company who are best known for the large range of grooming tools and brushes, but also produce muzzles and training equipment.

*The product itself*
I love Benson, I really do, infact I absolutely adore him, but the amount of grooming he needs really is extremely time consuming, taking me at least 45 minutes per day to keep his coat in a good, shiny, tangle free condition. He is a Bernese Mountain Dog, and for those who are unfamiliar with the breed, they originate from the Swiss mountains and have extremely thick jet black coats with white and tan markings, which are meant for keeping them warm in the sub zero snowy temperatures up in the mountains. Now, of course we don't get those kind of temperatures in England, but the Bernese Mountain Dog still has the coat for it, resulting in an awful lot of grooming for the owners of these absolutely fantastic dogs.

With the amount of different product and tools I have for Benson in his grooming box, you'd be forgiven for thinking I run my own grooming parlour, instead of catering for just one dog, but each product has its job to do and I couldn't manage his coat without a single one of them, some items I use everyday and others only very occasionally, but these Face & Paw Scissors by Mikki are used very frequently.

As the name suggests, they're grooming scissors, designed specially for animals, but dogs in particular and are extremely useful in helping to maintain the fur around your dogs face and paws. They resemble human nail scissors in appearance, they're very small, just 4 inches or so long and have a soft easy grip rubber coating on the handles to ensure a good grip.

The blade is where they differ from regular nail scissors though, these Mikki ones have a rounded blunt end to them, which minimises the chance of accidentally jabbing the point into your pet whilst grooming them, and although sharp enough to effectively cut fur, they aren't sharp enough to cut skin without a lot of force, so this reduces the risk of accidentally cutting your pet which should increase confidence in those not entirely confident with grooming animals as they have the fear of hurting them. The blades are a nice medium length- long enough to be able to easily cut in between the pads of your pets paws but not so long they are difficult to control, and the easy clean stainless steel in which they are made from means they are easy to maintain and keep in good condition after each use.

*Packaging*
The Mikki scissors come attached to a small piece of black cardboard covered in clear plastic, which tells us the product and company name, a small section of information about intended use and lastly, contact details for Mikki should you have any questions or complaints. The contact address and number are, however, based in America so you may be best using the internet to contact them if needed.

*Price & Availability*
Mikki seems to be the most popular pet-shop sold brand of professional grooming tools and their products are stocked in most of the larger pet shops and online stores. I purchased my scissors from Pets At Home for £3.79.

*My opinion*
As I mentioned before, the coat of a Bernese, as I'm sure you can imagine, takes an awful lot of daily work and attention to keep it looking at its best. Not only does it need to be brushed, combed and conditioned regularly, it also requires occasional full body clipping, and in between these clippings- weekly 'tidy ups', especially around the face, legs, ears and on the paws. This is where the Mikki Face & Paw scissors come in.

If you own a dog (or cat) with long fur it is extremely important to regularly check the fur in between the pads of their paws. If neglected, and allowed to mat it builds up between the pads and the feeling this gives the animal is equivalent to us walking around with stones in our shoes- whereas we can remove the stones easily, animals have no chance of removing these mats without help from you, resulting in walking becoming uncomfortable, and over time, very painful. If you notice your dog licking a lot at their paws, or if you have a light coated dog whose fur is turning a reddy brown colour around the paws (salvia stains, from licking), then they may well already have these mats built up in between their pads, and they are licking and chewing at them to try and relieve the discomfort.

Ideally, you should get your dog (or cat) familiar with you checking, and grooming their paws from a young age, but with some animals, rescue animals in particular, this isn't always possible and you need to start slowly. I only use these scissors for Benson so I'll explain the procedure for dogs only in this review, although it is pretty much the same for cats-

Sit with your dog on the floor if they are large (or on a table if possible if they are a small breed), and give your dog the 'sit and stay' command in front of you, and either ask them to give paw if trained to do so, or just gently lift one of their front paws if not. If your dog isn't use to having his paws trimmed, then start by just gently playing with his paw to get him use to you touching it, and running the closed scissors around his paw area. Give him a treat and let him go off, and leave it at that for one day. Do this daily for a couple of weeks until he is comfortable with it, remembering to use lots of treats and verbal praise! Of course, though, with some dogs, you'll never get them happy with you touching their paws, so in these cases, professional groomers are the only real option.

When your dog is comfortable with this, you can start to use the scissors. Get your dog in the sit and stay position as before and holding his paw lightly, slowly and gently press your thumb into your dogs paw- between the 'main' pad and his 'toe' pads, this is where the biggest mats will be, and you can feel for any mats. If you find any, gently insert the scissors and make lots of very small snips at the base of the mat until it comes away, remember the scissors have a blunt end so there is very little chance of hurting your dog. You can then do the same with checking for mats in between the 'toe' pads, removing in the same way. Continue with all four paws, or just do one paw per day over a four day period if your dog is getting bored. And that's it, it is as easy as that to enable your dog to walk comfortably again!

I really couldn't be without these scissors, they're absolutely priceless to me to help keep Bensons coat in good condition. I use them as I described above- more so to trim excess hair to prevent mats forming in the first place though and also for trimming around his paws to keep them looking smart and tidy and the blades, although small and not overly sharp, never struggle to cut through Bensons thick fur so would be suitable for pretty much any breed of dog. The rubber grip on the handle makes them easy to hold and control which is obviously a major advantage, especially if your hands are covered in slippery grooming lotions, and the finger holes are large enough for myself, and even my fiancé to comfortably use. I'll use them to trim around his eyes too, and to keep the fur on his ears nicely shaped aswell and they work exceptionally well at both these tasks, aswell as trimming the fur on his tail to keep it nicely feathered and also to keep the fur around his erm.. manly bits, short too- dog owing is such a dignified task eh?!

In conclusion, I don't have one complaint to report about these scissors. They make the quite tricky and time consuming job of trimming fur around paws, the face, eyes, ears and tail much quicker and easier and are very easy and comfortable to hold too, with blunt ends and not overly sharp, but efficient, cutting blades suitable for all long haired dogs.

Summary: A must have piece of grooming kit for owners of long haired dogs