Almost nobody avoids trimming their pet's nails because the clippers are bad. They avoid it because of the quick, the vein running down inside the nail that bleeds dramatically and hurts if you cut it, and one bad experience is usually enough to put both parties off for a year. Everything useful about this tool is aimed squarely at that problem rather than at the cutting, which was never really the hard part.

An LED sits behind the blade and shines through the nail as you position it, so on pale or clear nails the darker shadow of the quick shows up clearly and you can cut in front of it with some confidence. The unit is rechargeable and pairs the clipper with a grinder head for smoothing the cut edge afterwards, which stops snagging on carpet and sofa fabric. A digital display shows the remaining charge, so it does not die halfway through a paw.

• LED light that illuminates the nail to show the quick
• Clipper and grinder head combined in one rechargeable unit
• Digital charge-level display
• Grinder smooths the cut edge to stop snagging
• Suitable for dogs and cats
• Single version, no variants

The light does not solve black nails. If your dog or cat has dark nails, no amount of illumination reveals the quick, and the only safe method remains taking very small slices and stopping when you see a pale oval appear in the cut face. Grinders are also noisy and vibrate, so introduce it switched off first, then running near the paw, before you touch a nail with it.

Who it's for: Owners doing nails at home, especially on pale-nailed pets, who want to stop guessing where the quick begins.