Badly Broken Dew Claw - Page 1

My male shepherd badly broke his left front dew claw.  The claw is running horizontal and appears to be broken at the very base (where the nail meets the skin).  Do I need to cut the nail offf at the break, or will the new nail simply push the old (broken horizantal) nail out of the way?

I would remove the nail if it was barely attacted, but it is still attached by a good amount of meat (skin).  I am a little concerned that since the nail did not bleed at the time of the break (only the flesh was exposed), I could make it worse if I removed the nail.

Thoughts?

I haven't had a broken dew claw but my girl cracked a nail bad once on the front foot. She was licking it constantly an would yip occasionally was how I figured it out. I suggest go to the vet and let them nip it off. They did my dog and it bled quite profusely and they had to put a thick wrap on it. Good luck.

I had the same thing happen 2 weeks ago.  IT turned horizontal and backwards, i took her to the vet, and she said to just leave it, as the base felt very secure (not ripping from the leg).  If the blood vessesl were damaged and such, that would be apparent in a few weeks and if they had to remove it they could do it then, but no need to do it now. 

I left it, the nail fell off while playing a day later and I don't think she's noticed a thing since it happened.  and now a new one is growin in.   NOt sure if it will end up the same for you, but that's where it sits with my dog.

I had a dog split a nail into the nail bed. It kept splitting as the nail grew, and it bothered him from time to time for MONTHS. Then, I was watching Animal planet, and it was some Kangaroo sanctuary. They had one with  a split nail and said it had to be totally removed so a new nail could grow out from the base. Leaving it split would cause the new nail growth to also split (like on my dog).  As soon as my dog's split nail was janked out with pliers (yikes) the dog yelped once, then was fine. The new nail grew out quickly and was never a problem again...

Have a muzzle handy, pain can do funny things to dogs you're trying to help.  Our big baby dog broke a back foot nail way back.  It was snagging on stuff and bleeding so we cut it off.  Had to muzzle him and he would never hurt either of us on purpose.  But it hurt! all  normal now, new nail is fine.

You will probably need to clip it off at the base.  At least that's what I would do.  Otherwise you risk them catching it on something and it hurting even more.  A muzzle is a good idea.  It really only hurts bad for a second, but it might bleed for awhile, so have some stipic powder on hand to apply and bandage.  You may want to keep it bandaged when the dog is working for a while.  Otherwise you don't particularly need to bandage unless he's messing with it too much.