Broken Nails

[flrpwr52]

My 1 1/2 year old BC broke 3 nails while playing in the snow yesterday. The snow was more fluffy than hard and icy and her nails were not long because I had just cut them Monday. I have never had this happen before.

 

Other than the blood everything is fine but I'm wondering if this has happened to anyone else. Could she be lacking something in her diet to cause this? I feed my dogs Canadae ALS.

[Allie Oop]

That's too bad! I'm sorry, Allie hasn't had the nail issue, but we have done quite a bit of snow play in the last few months and Allie has had torn pad injuries a couple of times, even on the powder snow. I could never find anything that would have caused them, but it's happened at least twice. There was, however, a Golden Retriever at the park that broke off a nail below the quick line, and the only thing we could figure that might have caused it was that the dog snapped it off digging into the snow for traction and then quickly changing direction when chasing the ball.

[WyoBC]

Sorry her nails broke off. That can't be any fun. I hope she's feeling better, or as better as she can.

[flrpwr52]

I was hoping someone might have some insight as to why her nails broke. They definitely look broken not worn down. The nails that are broken are the ones that she would use when turning.

 

This little dog is accident prone. She has had a deep tissue bruising and was on leash restrictions for 5 months then she broke a canine, bruised the other back hip and now the nails. The poor thing is only 1 1/2 years old. When she is playing or working she gives 300%.

 

Until the nails grow back out she will be wearing her boots.

[AK dog doc]

Two things come to mind: One, what was the footing like UNDER the snow? If the snow was light and fluffy, her paws may have been sinking down through it to the underlying footing. She can't SEE what's under the snow, so she might place her feet "badly" and have broken nails as a consequence if there was any ice, or hard or rough terrain undreneath. (I have LOTS of expereince with this personally, since snow can disguise a multitude of hazards. It's quite hilarious to onlookers, I'm sure.)

 

The second thing would be to wonder about her thyroid. She's a little young for that to be an issue, but I did once have a patient with poor thyrod function whose ONLY symptom was splitty nails. He was an Akita with GLORIOUS coat; big, stong, well-grown young dog, active, fit and energetic... but always breaking toenails. Thyroid meds fixed him right up.

 

That said, I suppose you MIGHT have a nutritional issue - not every dog does well on every food, and the RDA for nutrients is the RECOMMENDED daily allowance, not the ABSOLUTE daily allowance of what is needed for every creature forever and ever amen. Some animals need more of one thing or another than the next animal over, based on individual metabolism. However, because good thyroid function is important to health in ALL body systems, not just for the integrety of toenails, I would advise getting that checked to be sure that's not a problem before we blame it all on food.

 

Also, bear in mind that some dogs just have thin, splitty nails - just like some horses have brittle, shelly hooves, and some people (such as yours truly) can't grow their nails out to save their lives. It's a pain, but sometimes them's the breaks. So to speak.

[flrpwr52]

Thanks AK dog doc.

 

You have given me some things to think about, food and thyroid. I will check with our vet at her next visit.

 

Until the snow is gone I will have her wearing her boots. I don't like dealing with the bloody carpets.

[mjk05]

I remember someone recently talking about stuff they'd added to their dogs' diet to address dry/fragile nails... having a bit of a mental blank, but I think it might have been silica, as well as zinc.

 

Some dogs just seem to have a predisposition to fragile nails, just like some have tender paws. I have no idea if the silica works, but might be worth looking into.

[2 Devils]

Tempe broke a nail on the way to the nail bed a couple weeks ago (it was an injury). A week later I noticed that the nail beside it looked dead and a couple days later I but it off all the way down to the nail bed because it was dead and breaking. When I called the vet about it, they said to keep an eye on it because some nails become brittle (easily broken) due to a fungal infection. We don't think she has one since her nail issue was due to an injury but it is something to watch for. A fungal infection and continue to worsen and infect the bone in the toe I believe. I know 3 dogs that had to have toes amputated because of fungal infections that were not caught before they infected the toe so bad that meds did not help.