Injured front dew claw ! - Page 1

Hey ....anyone have the experience of an injured front dew claw ? He got it caught on his ball on a rope today. Instead of it pointing straight down as normal, it is pointing straight to the other front leg. Thought I would ask before I take him to the vet on Monday. It is not bothering him now ...... licks it a little. In all my years working and handling police and schutzhund dogs I never had this come up. TY ! in advance for your input.  Regards .......  Greg 

I have experienced it. My bitch's damn thing came completely off, exposing all the guts beneath. Enough to really make your butt pucker. Well, I just had to wait and eventually hard nail came back out over the pink delicate stuff. Honestly, I was afraid to even bandage it because I figured it would feel  like sandpaper on a burn, so I just crated her. If the nail is still on there, I think I would get wide pet-wrap and tape the whole thing very firmly to the leg. And keep the dog crated for a week. 

I had one that was broke like that above the hairline. I brought him to the vet and she said it was pretty loose so she would try to jerk it out, she said if it didn't come pretty easy he would have to be knocked out. They took him in the back and did use a muzzle, but not sure they needed to, he never yelped or nothing and she brought him back in about a minute no worse for the wear. It was just a little pink thingy that was left. She gave us antibiotics and some topical if he licked but he didn't, weird it didn't seem to bug him at all, but while the nail was there he was licking it. The darn thing is it happened again and I jerked it out myself. Both times the nail did grow back, but on Ivan it was really loose before it got pulled. Good luck Greg.

Get some  EMT and glob it on it...go ahead and use the pet wrap for the first two days...remove pet wrap daily and then put net  EMT COLagen gel on it two times a day....let heal this time..  

EMT Gel can be bought at  Tractor Supply   wouldn't live without it...for every thing and everyone....Google    EMT  COLAGEN GELL>>>CAN BE ORDERED   but   Tractor supply is where I bought three tubes...comes on a cardboard package in the MED for HORSE shelf.....or hanging by the locked case...or   ASK

While I was away on a business trip a few years back, Libby declawed herself while she and Falon where destroying my beedroom.  My 18 year old nephew locked them in my bedroom at night alone and they decided it would be fun to shred the pillows, mattress and curtains!   She must have got her nail caught in something and ended up pulling the nail completely out.  My sister in law took her to the vet and they cleaned it out, antibiotics and wrapped it for a few days.  The nail is finally starting to grow back.

Good luck with your dog.

Cheryl

The front dew claw pad is attached to the leg with a small bone and ligament.  As in my male's case he actually tore the ligament and broke that little bone.  So his dew claw pad was loose and floppy, so I elected to have it surgically removed. 

Another owner I know dog stretched the ligament, with some Vet wrapping for a few weeks it allowed the ligament to heal.

So if it is only the nail that is ripped loose the above will work, but if the entire pad has been pulled loose then you would probably be better off doing the surgical removal IMHO.

Val