Looking to see how to get nail polish off of your dog’s fur? We’ve listed 2 methods to help you safely remove the nail polish from your dog’s fur. Find out how below.

Before cleaning your dog’s fur:

Firstly, keep your dog’s head and nose as far away from the nail polish as possible, and make sure the dog does not lick its fur. This is because certain ingredients commonly found in nail polish can be extremely harmful for dogs.

You can prevent the dog from licking the nail polish by placing an Elizabethan collar over its head, or even by placing a t-shirt on your dog until you can remove the nail polish.

It might be easier to let the nail polish dry before removing it. If the nail polish is still wet, you may risk the nail polish spreading across to other parts of the dog’s fur, multiplying the problem!

Read the methods below.

Methods to removing nail polish off your dog’s fur

1. Trim off the affected fur

This is an easy method if there’s nail polish on a small surface area of your dog’s fur. Don’t use this method if the polish is around your dog’s face and eye area!

Grab a pair of trimming scissors with a rounded tip and carefully cut off the affected fur.

With this method, you’ll avoid using chemicals to clean off the nail polish and makes for a quick and easy task.

Here is a video on how to trim your dog’s fur:

2. Use acetone-free nail polish remover on a cotton pad to remove the polish

Double-check that the nail polish remover is acetone-free! Also, even though the nail polish remover is acetone-free, it’s better to avoid applying chemicals to your dog’s skin so be careful with this method.

Make sure your dog’s face and nose are away from the cotton pad and fur at all times.

• Add a 2-3 drops of nail polish remover to start with. Make sure you don’t completely drench the cotton pad in nail polish remover. You don’t want excess remover dripping down onto your dog’s skin!
• With two fingers, cup the cotton pad around the affected fur.
• Pinch the fur with the pad, and rub upwards, away from the fur. Repeat this method a few times, as it may take time for the nail polish to remove (rubbing upwards will help to make sure nail polish doesn’t spread to other parts of the fur)
• Immediately after, wash the affected fur with dog shampoo or water to wash out the nail polish remover.

Conclusion

We hope this was a helpful and visual guide to removing nail polish from your dog safely. We have similar guides which require different approaches, such as removing poop from your dog’s fur, or how to remove oil from your dog’s fur.