Paw nail got ripped off

[cali baker]

I got home tonight and saw some blood in the entryway and panicked. I suspected Tate and Finn got into a fight. I quickly looked at each of them and didn't see any obvious injuries. As I was cleaning up the blood, I found a nail. It was Tate's...from his front paw...the one that looks like a "claw". Now he has this "stump" left where the nail used to be. I dabbed some hydrogen peroxide on it and the bleeding stopped already. I'm just wondering if I should have the vet take a look at it or is this something that will just take care of itself. He doesn't seem bothered by it at all, walks fine, playful, etc...

Thanku in advance!

 

[Fontanafox]

Oh my gosh! I would definitely have a vet look at it. I use to have a Border Collie who tore her dew claw and the vet recommended they be removed which I did. Sorry don't know about a regular claw. Sounds like it should hurt.

 

[Vicaroo1000]

Bea injured one of her nails earlier this summer...it wasn't pulled out but you could see that it was injured in some way. There was blood and she was limping on it with prolonged use of that foot - like on the way home from a walk. Naturally, it was the weekend and Dr. Terry wasn't open. I Googled nail injury and went to work; epsom salt baths for the foot 3X a day, keeping it extraordinarily clean in between. I smeared neosporin on it after each foot bath - she wasn't licking it at all so that worked fine. I tried to wrap gauze and an ace bandage around it - but she would have NONE of that though and I never did get the rubber bootie that was suggested on some website. She stopped favoring it right away and seemed to enjoy the attention of these little foot baths to boot...LOL

 

[dozersmama]

Poor thing. When this happened at daycare we used stiptick powered to stop bleeding and then cleaned it later if part of the nail was still remaining. Most of them were fine. If you keep it clean , he isn't in pain and part of the nail remains he should be ok; HOWEVER if he starts limping he may have gotten an infection and needs to see the vet.

 

[SunDog]

This happens to our Boston a lot. Probably four tomes a year. When we used to take her in, it was a big production resulting in a big wrap up to her elbow, and $150. I trained myself to treat it at home. If the nail has come off completely and there's no sign of pain, I agree with [MENTION=2614]Vicaroo1000[/MENTION]: give it a swipe with neosporin a few times a day. You can try some gauze and ace bandage overnight. That stump will seal itself and the nail-like material will slowly return.

BUT since this is the first time, a vet check makes sense just to be super safe. Why risk an infection, right?

 

[NikkiSchoolcraft]

Its happened to Winston too. I just clean it, wrap it and give him antibiotics of a couple days. This is what the Vet told me to do and saved me the cost of a Vet visit.

 

[JeannieCO]

Poor guy. Don't really have any thing else to say as I agree just keep it clean and if it seems to be hurting Tate or shows signs of infection then take him to the vet - that's what I would do.

 

[cali~jenn]

Ouch. Cutty did this when he was young also. vet gave antibiotics and we were mainly worried about it growing in properly but it did thankfully. Just grows very slow now. For him it was his dew claw and broke off completely at his paw and he was VERY sore for a while anyhow. This was the beginning of his ocd for water out of the hose. lol

 

[GatorRay]

Yikes! I don't have experience with this but others have given you great advice. I would just watch it as well and put some neosporin on it a couple of times a day.

Poor Guy!!!! I sure hope it doesn't hurt too bad

 

[cali baker]

Thanks everybody, for your replies! I didn't get to read any of 'em til now 'cuz my internet has been down all day!! And i just got on. Anyways, i ended up taking Tate in this morning b/c i was worried about an infxn as Tate was licking his "stump" when he woke up. Turns out the vet thought it looked fine, wants me to apply the duoxo pads (chlorhexadine) on it twice a day for 5 days and just keep an eye if it worsens. He offered oral antibiotics at first but then thought about it more and said only if it worsened.

[MENTION=390]cali~jenn[/MENTION], this was the dew claw too! i didn't know that's what is was called til today

oh, and the good news about this visit was that after Dr.Steve examined him and looked him over, he said that Tate looked "fantastic"!
I was such a proud mama! It was very reassuring b/c sometimes i just don't know if i'm doing the right thing w/my boys. Anyways, hearing that was worth the fifty bucks! (I think)!

 

[cowsmom]

aw im so happy its going to be ok. dont have experience with this so no advice to offer but a big yay its ok.

 

[nyerathrt]

jameson does this once a year....we clean it up put neosporin on it and wrap it up....it eventually grows back