Nail Problem

[Keegan's Mom]

Well, a while back, about a month ago, Keegan appeared to hurt his paw around his nail. He had licked it raw. Then we took him to get his nails trimmed and he wouldn't let the vet tech anywhere near his front paws.

 

Well, last night, he finally let me discover the problem. He split his nail near the top...where it attaches to his paw. Well it seems to be healing fine and he isn't as sensitive about me probbing there. I might say that he never found it too sensitive to run, jump, romp, and play...ever.

 

My question is...should I be concerned that this might not heal properly on its own? Should I have taken him to a vet? Will this split in his nail just grow out?

 

Thanks in advance for any comments.

[AK dog doc]

Hi Rachel

There are two possibilities with the nail. One is that it will grow out without trouble and you'll forget it ever happened. The other is that, as the split grows out, it'll be unable to withstand normal wear-and-tear pressures and then it'll tear back to the quick. In many cases the entire claw will tear off of the quick; if it does, it'll grow back. If it tears partly off and is dangling, it'll hurt every time the dangling part gets moved, bumped, jostled, etc. We usually pull the nail off if this happens (which sounds awful, but it allows the nail to start over and grow back in nicely.) This often requires a short-acting anesthetic.

 

It it's just partly split, keeping it trimmed short while it grows back out will decrease the chance of it tearing off. If it's in the dangly-ouchy state, I'd take him in and let them fix it - he'll be LOTS happier with the nail pulled all the way off than with it dangling and hurting (even though it sounds horrible).

 

Very rarely do these not grow out normally after this; those few cases are ones in which the nail bed is damaged in the initial injury in such a way as to not be able to grow a normal nail. That's quite uncommon, but if it happens and becomes an issue, that can generally be addressed surgically.

[Keegan's Mom]

Thanks AK Dog Doc...the more I think about it, it is actually looks more like a "cut" on his nail than a split. For example, when you look at the nail, it appears to have a small cut-looking line near the top that appears to be growing out like if you would have bent your nail back.

 

It is not hanging or anything. He is too fidgety to let us cut his nails so I'm making him another appt today to try to clip these front nails...they are getting quite long but wouldn't let the vet tech touch them before. I may just ask their opinion at that time.

 

Thanks again, I worry about this little guy but he doesn't appear to be as sensitive anymore when I examine it. I'm guessing it grew out because I couldn't see it until recently.

 

Have a Happy New Year!!!!

[Cholla1]

We keep on hand those little bottles to glue fake nails on and if a dog has a cut nail and we are sure is superficial, not into any tissues that may harbor infections, we wash it very good and put some of that glue on it. That keeps it from splitting all the way up to the nail bed.

 

We have never had any trouble doing that.

The glue dissolves or wears off in about ten days.

[deafbat]

hey, i just noticed a split in one of ben's nails. as i don't have any of that glue stuff you recommend, cholla, do you think that nail strengthening nailpolish stuff will work until i can get my hands on the glue?