My dog ripped his toenail (du-claw?) off today while hiking, what should I do?

H

Hannah B

New member
His toenail got ripped off while climbing a steeper hill, and he slipped. It's still hanging on at the roots. So far I have cleaned it with water, put hydrodinperoxide and neosporin on it. It is now bandaged, and I am regularly changing the bandages on it, while keeping pressure. It is the claw on the inside, farther up the paw.

My main question is what should I do, and should I rip or cut the toenail all the way off so it can grow back, right now its just hanging and I'm not sure if thats doing more good than harm.

Any help would be appreciated!

ps, its a golden retriever, if that helps.
 
That should of been removed, when that dog was 4 days old. SHAME on that back yard breeder. You will have to take that dog to a vet in the morning. They will remove it and the other one.
 
I have a mix dog, and the same thing happened to him. He tore his on our chain link fence, running around. I bandaged his foot, too. I didn't clip off the broken part of his nail, because I would have had to cut through the quick (blood vessel) and my dog is very timid and reactive, and I didn't want him to have the experience of pain and bleeding and all that.

Want I did was just keep the bandage on for a few days til it started to heal, and then waited about week or so (til the nail was about ready to break off on it's own as the injury healed) to clip it off with his nail clippers.

So you know, that happened months ago, and his nail still is short and hasn't grown back to its full length, but i think that's normal. Our vet told us once about how if you don't keep a dog's nails short, the quick will keep growing, so the nail will get too long, even after you've trimmed it. The quick was torn, so now it's shorter, so now the nail's shorter. But if this at all worries you, talk to a et. You could probably just get advice over the phone.
 
You need to take it to a vet, don't rip it off the dog yourself, it must be so painful, this is why the dewclaw should be removed when they are very young.
 
My male rescue has broken both his dew claws at one time or another. Henry's first claw had to be cauterized. If the nail breaks under the skin, it can remain painful.

If the nail cracks but is hanging outside, you'll have to have a vet sedate him and cauterize it.

If the nail is clean, no longer bleeding, and not cracked under the skin. Keep it clean and disinfected. It'll grow back. However, my dog still seems to be bothered by his. I think they ache. Due to another health condition, he can't be put under to have them removed.

Because the nail can crack and run up under the skin, have your vet check it. He'll either want to cauterize it or he'll leave it to heal on it's own.
 
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