ripped dew claw

[Ellen]

Hi,

 Some advice needed.

Ally has ripped his dew claw. I heard him yelp but then he carried on as normal. It was only a few minutes later that I noticed some blood spots on the floor. The bleeding stopped after about  a minute  and the dew claw is intact but at a slight angle. He doesn't appear distressed and is  just licking it, He's not limping.

I must admit I have not tried to touch his paw.

 

Should I just do a careful watch and wait ?

 

Any advice gratefully received

[MerseyGrey]

Buddy came to us with a claw that was growing upwards (not a dew claw) which he caught in his first week with us, and then again almost a year later. The second time he must have all but broken it off, and he must have knocked it again as we took him to the vet as it bled freely (initially we hadn’t noticed that he must have damaged it as there was not blood, but he was limping).

If you take him to the vet, they may try and detach it if they think it won’t be too painful. They may just leave it, give Ally pain meds and see if it will fall off itself +/- some help from Ally. These were our two options and went with the second - Buddy must have lost his eventually when he was scratching after a wee or poo, without a peep from him. 

If you decide not to take him to the vet, you will need to keep an eye on him for signs of infection. If he’s limping he might need some pain relief, and visiting the vet might give you a bit more peace of mind. However I suspect they will not offer you much more.

[Ellen]

Thanks' for replying,

he seems to have licked it back into position and it hasn't bled since.

I'm just waiting for some boiled water to cool  to see if he will let me bathe it in  some saline. Luckily  he doesn't seem distressed .

I think I will omit his afternoon walk and let him rest for a few hours.

Any signs of inflammation/infection or pain   and I'll get him to the vet

 

Thanks' again

[greysmom]

If he'll let you, try and smear some Neosporin on it and wrap it lightly with vet wrap to keep it in place.  Use his muzzle or a long sock to keep him from licking it, or you'll have a bigger issue on your hands.

There's a reason we call them "doom claws" around here!!

[Annette]

Back in 2015 we actually went on vacation (1st time in 10 years).  We spent a week at my inlaw's cabin in Door County, Wisconsin.  We are pretty sure it was the first time Pogo was ever anywhere fun (he was a bounce) and he was overjoyed bouncing, pogo'ng, and barking at most every dog he saw.  We stopped to take some pictures of the sunset into Lake Michigan and left Miriam and Pogo in the van.  Pretty soon we hear a dog barking its lungs out.  We look and see Pogo barking at a standard poodle that was walking by with its human.  Of course we never admitted to being the parents of the lound, obnoxious dog, because everyone knows that greyhounds don't bark.  Later on that night (about 10pm) Pogo was lying on the couch and licking his foot.  Got a closer look and found that he had ripped his dew claw.  It wasn't really bleeding, there was only a small red spot where there was some dried blood.  Since it didn't look bad, we waited till morning to find a vet.  Surely we would be able to find a vet open on a Saturday, I mean Door County is just a long, narrow tourist trap where people stay in expensive hotels with their dogs, go out to eat, and shop.  Of course we couldn't find a vet in the County.  We ended up driving down to Green Bay.  By the time we got there, Pogo already did his own surgery and completely removed the dew claw.  The emergency vet took a good look at his paw, gave us some antibiotics in case of infection, and we were done.  She felt sorry for us and did not charge us an emergency fee.  

I miss that boy so much!