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broken/infected toenail


blackacre
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Nap bent his toenail back a week or so ago and sprained his toe. No break or hairline fracture showed up on the x-rays. I toook him back today because he kept licking it. Now it seems that the toenail is split at the base, has become infected and needs to be removed. The vet suggested two options: 1. removing the nail + antibiotics in the hope that it will grow back, or 2. taking the first joint off as well as the nail. I opted for 1. Any one with experience with this? Does the nail grow back? Will it affect his performance?

Gloomy,

A

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Hi Andrea

One of my kelpies did something like this- she ran around a tree- yes, compulsive herding mode, and came in lame and bleeding. Her dewclaw was affected- he had avulsed the nail. They wrapped it, and put her on abx. The nail DID fall off, but has grown back. I would *really* try and save that toe if you could.

Julie

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Guest TheRuffMuttGang

I actually have very recent experience with this...twice. Two of my dogs broke nails a couple of months back. The first was broken well below the quick. My vet knows I do not anesthetize my dogs for things such as this. I hold on tight, he cuts the nail off and wraps the foot. This one bled so much that it needed a HUGE bandage to stop the bleeding. A few days worth of antibiotics and about 4 weeks of healing and he is fine now.

 

The second one was a little more complicated. The nail was broken way down at the base of the nail and the entire nail needed to be cut off from right at the toeline. Again, I held on tight while the vet cut the nail. He cauterized this one and wrapped it. Again, a few days of antibiotics and what I thought would be just a couple of weeks of healing. After about 3 weeks I noticed the nail was growing in sideways so I took her back to the vet. The vet just peeled the nail right off and proceeded to tell me how the body can reject new nails that have to grow from scratch. So, we had to start all over...but the good news is, her body didn't reject it the second time and she is fine now. It took about a month and a half to heal up completely.

 

Most vets with anesthetize to cut a nail completely off but my vet knows and trusts me to hold my dogs well enough for him to be able to do what he needs to do. A 10 minute, $18 procedure can easily be turned into an entire day, $150 procedure when you add the anesthesia. I am sure there are some cases of broken nails that would require anesthesia but if all that needs to be done is the nail cut, I will always just hold on tight and tell the vet to get it done.

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Hey, thanks RFG,

That was useful. How long before dog two was using the foot? I worry about infection or that the new nail will get ripped off.

Julie, they took the nail off right down to the nailbed, wrapped it up and put him on antibiotics. He ripped the first bandage off, he's now on the second one and receiving messages very well on his satellite dish. Happily for him, since it doesn't fit in his crate, he is currently a house dog 24/7 and enjoying his convalescence thoroughly.

A

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Try boots. They can work really well. Look at:

 

http://www.ruffwear.com/Products/dog_boots

 

You do need to supervise since they can pull them off but I've found boots really useful to have around for all kinds of things. Also as the nail bed heals, the boots can allow the dog to get out and do things while keeping the foot out of the wet/dirt.

 

Just an idea.

 

Kathy

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Guest TheRuffMuttGang

My vet does not even recommend the bandage be left on very long. With Mojo, his was left on for only 24 hrs and then taken off and allowed to heal on it's own. He was using his foot almost normally inside but outside he would hold it up and I called him "Flamingo Dog." Once the tip of the quick was grown over with nail he walked fine. For him that was around 3-4 weeks to be able to go back out and run. I never used a cone. I let him lick the nail as much as he wanted to. If it got dirty outside, he'd clean it off. He had only 5 days of antibiotics and it never got infected. The infection generally occurs if the nail is broken and not removed from my understanding (what it sounds like happened to your dog). Once the nail is removed it can begin to heal and infection doesn't have a chance to get in. If it's already there, a short course of antibiotics should kick it easily.

 

Rascal's nail was cut all the way to her nailbed also and her bandage was on for 48 hrs. Again, I took it off and left it off. 5 days of antibiotics. She cleaned it if it got dirty. Hers was the one that grew in and got rejected so we started the whole process over 3 weeks later. But that was nothing that a bandage would have prevented--it was her body rejecting the nail. I don't like to keep things bandaged a lot because it slows healing down if no air gets to it. At the end of 5 days of antibiotics, there should be a protective covering grown over the nail enough to prevent any infection.

 

This is all assuming you are restricting activity, etc. I was taking my dogs out on leashes until the nails were in the process of healing well. Then they could go out alone in the yard to potty. No running, no rough housing, etc, until they were completely healed.

 

Let us know how it goes.

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Andrea,

Jill had a door opened on her foot a couple of years ago and the nail was damaged to the point of having to be removed. Unfortunately the nailbed was also damaged so that when the nail grew back, it grew in two pieces--one from each "section" (after being damaged) of the nail bed. Both also grew in crooked/sideways. Since she is retired now, I didn't worry about it, but the crooked nail doesn't bother her, and the little second bit of nail nestles right next to the main nail and never seems to need trimming. We didn't wrap her and did use both topical and oral antibiotics.

 

J.

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I hope you can avoid that surgery. I had a dog sprain a toe and get an infected place on the top of it. He (orthopaedic specialist) was concerned about the infection going down to the bone but said that removal of the toe in a performance dog really would make a difference - more risk of soft tissue injury in the future, etc.

 

Thankfully we were able to avoid that and I hope you can too.

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I would opt (as you did) for removing the nail & antibiotics as opposed to the joint thing as a first resort. June actually ripped a nail completely off about a year ago. It took it months (like 7 or 8) to grow back, but it *did* grow back. Alas it didn't seem to help June's work on sheep much, so maybe it won't negatively affect your guy! We'll keep our fingers crossed that it will do the trick!

 

Oh, and I can't speak for the dogs but I had a nail removed down to the nailbed - and it hurt like you wouldn't believe. I'd imagine dogs would feel the same.

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Update on the Napster:

He got the bandages off today. The nailbed looks better, less red and inflamed and it doesn't seem to bother him a bit. Still wearing the dish--reception apparently remains good. We got a signal from Siberia just a few minutes ago.

But, the best part is that I got him a cool set of bright red Vibram-soled booties (thanks for the tip Kathy!). Of course he only wears a single, when he goes out, which gives him rakish pirate look. I promised the guy I'd take pics of him working sheep in his bootie for him to post in his store.

Thanks for all the input guys. The internet is an amazing resource.

A

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