Patent ID: 7124669

Claim:
A method, comprising: a) selectively illuminating a portion of an animal nail with an optical source; b) collecting light from the selectively-illuminated portion of the animal nail and transmitting at least a portion of the collected light to an optical sensor, thereby generating an optical signal level; c) comparing the generated optical signal level to a quick-signal-level range and to a nail-signal-level range, a generated optical signal level in the quick-signal-level range arising from a selectively-illuminated living-tissue-containing portion of the animal nail, a generated optical signal level in the nail-signal-level range arising from a selectively-illuminated portion of the nail substantially devoid of living tissue; and d) indicating to a user whether the generated optical signal level is within the quick-signal-level range or within the nail-signal-level range, wherein the optical source and the optical sensor are operatively coupled to an animal nail clipper and positioned so that when the generated optical signal level is within the nail-signal-level range and the clipper is actuated to cut the nail, cutting of the living-tissue-containing portion of the animal nail is substantially avoided.