Alley broke her nail

[Novel]

Just asking for opinions and any experiences with this.

Alley, because she is the most accident prone dog I have, (something to do with being a Boxer and never actually stopping) has broken her front toe nail.

Now she didn't break it completely off, she more of broke the outer hull of it, and it moved off to the side. See the pictures. So now the fleshy part is exposed and the nail part is hanging to the side.

I trimmed as much of the nail as I could off. It's the dark spot to the left of the flesh in the picture. She isn't favoring it and between her and I, we have kept it very clean. She really doesn't seem to notice it until I come in to clean it up.

Questions. Am I being too laid back, if I just leave it and let it grow out and trim it as I can, until the nail is fine again. I have a friend that this happened to with their Weim, and she was in for multiple vet bills, and a surgery and antibiotics, and I just wonder if I'm being too ho-hum. It does not seem to be that big of a deal. It will take a while to grow back, and it'll have to be kept clean, but I can't imagine her going in to have it surgically fixed. Alert me if I'm thinking incorrectly, please!

[Schwe]

I'd say that if she is not limping, the nail is not bleeding, and you keep it clean, you should be fine. Sophie broke her nail almost a year ago and I had to take her in to the vet because it wouldn't stop

These pictures are a day or two after she broke it. Whenever she hit the nail on something while walking or running it would bleed.




The vet sedated her and removed the nail, bandaged her up, and sent her on her way.


A week or so after, I got to take the bandage off. If you look in the pictures of the broken nail above, you will see that the nail next to it was cracked as well. The vets trimmed that back to prevent any problems from arising from that break. You can see the trimmed nail in this picture, as well as what the nail with the bad break looked like after the bandage came off. The fleshy part you see dried/scabbed over and a new nail grew in.

[Novel]

Thank you Schwe for those pics. Yours are so much better than mine, but they look exactly the same.

So far she hasn't been making it bleed, just me when I clean it. It's only been about 16 hours since she broke it, and so far no real problems. If it does begin to bleed or there's any swelling, I'll have her into the vet.

Thanks again. Those pictures were great. That last one looks exactly like what I have here.

[Schwe]

it might be a good idea to put some or (click on the image to see more info on the product) on it after the next time you clean it to keep dirt out of the raw area.

[Novel]

Great idea! I happen to have some. I would have never thought of that, but that would probably help protect the nerve endings, etc.

Thank you again!

[calgal]

Great close up shots. So clear. Wow, how interesting. My Chi broke hers like that when she was 3 months old and had her first shots. She went into convulsion's and flopped wildly in the cage. The toenail never did grow right after that. The Vet. gave me an antibiotic wash, but that was all.

[Novel]

Al's limping a little today, more so when she comes in from outside, I think the sand irritates it. So, I've been trying to keep her in and keep her foot clean. It's not red or swollen, and she doesn't notice it except for after I clean it, so I think we're still safe. The new skin seems to have helped but, since the old nail is still somewhat attached, I can't get all the new nail bed covered. That's where I'm afraid an infection may start, so I tried to clip off even more today. There's about an 1/8 of an inch of the old nail still left. I'll give it another try tomorrow. I need someone to hold her. She sits still for me, but she insists on trying to lick it as I try and trim it. I don't really feel like adding an injury to her tongue as well.

[Schwe]

If I am not mistaken, the licking is a pain reaction. Do you have a dremel? Maybe sanding down the sharp edges would help. Sophie made hers bleed when she ran towards the back door from the yard, often times clipping her foot on the stairs on the deck. Keep an eye on the toe/foot, making sure that it does not get warm or hot to the touch-- this is a sign of inflammation (and infection).

Sophie ran around like a fool, and only limped a couple of times. Her pain tolerance is so high that I took this as a sign of time to get her to the vet. When she actually did injure it, she did not show any signs of pain or stress. She was on a table at training and jumped down from it. Her nail got stuck in the table and that is how she broke it. She just walked around normally directly afterwards... I didn't notice anything wrong until she hopped up onto the bench of the picnic table I was sitting on and bled all over god's creation.

aaaaaaanyway, I'm rambling!! Keep us posted on her progress. I hope that you won't have to take her in to the vet. It cost me around $125 to remove the toenail (and the prices at our vet are not high). The worst part of it all was picking her up from the vet-- man what a sad face!

[Novel]

That's what I was thinking, a dremel to get those last edges that I can't clip away. Now where did my husband put that???

[kazkirkpatrick]

Been there, done that got the vet bill....twice...




I even have the matching broken tooth

[Novel]

The tooth looks more painful...
Not to generalize or anything, but why are all these the same general type of dog? Are they predisposed to nail injury? or is it just a biased sample. Just wondering.

All three feet look like they could be from the same dog. And everyone's nails look short. That was my first guilt trip I tried to lay on my self, her nails were too long and that's why it happened, but I keep her nails pretty short. I need to find that dremel though. I was always lots happier with how those nails turned out vs the clipper nails that seem to get misshapen.

[Schwe]

Novel, Sophie injured her nail in a way that any breed of dog could have. She was sitting on a table at SchH. It is a metal table, the top looks almost like mesh, but it is not flexible. The holes are almond-shaped and just the right size for nails to get caught in. When she jumped down her nails on her back foot got stuck in the holes and cracked one, and split the other in half. After this incident, needless to say, no dogs were allowed to get up on that table!

I think that our dogs being from the same "family" is a coincidence... but I could be wrong! It would be interesting to find out for sure.

[Mom2Many]

My Pittie Jedi always used to break his nails down like that. First time I placed a frantic call to the vet who just said, clip it down as far as you can and wash it with some antibacterial soap. I hated cutting it, knew it had to hurt something fierce. I used the liquid bandaide on his so it wouldn't keep reopening the wound. He did this so many times I can't count it on both hands. It was from the full fledged running after balls. It would happen if I played with him outside in the winter as well.