Broken toe or nail??

qh8519a · 11-04-2009, 04:28 PM

Good afternoon,

My border collie injured his back foot. It appears that either the nail partially ripped off or his toe was broken. He must have caught it on the corner of a wall or doggie door. There was ALLOT of blood when he first hit his toe....

I called the vet and they said to give it a little bit of time. My dog is in no pain unless the toe nail is touched. When it is touched, he flips out and appears to be in extreme pain.

I attached a picture of his toe to see if anyone has had a similar situation and what I should do for him.

Thanks
Drew

seebrown · 11-04-2009, 04:46 PM

We took our cat to an emergency vet visit for a similar problem: she had split a toenail and was limping on it. The vet gave us two options: give her pain killers until the nail grew out (which would take longer and be very painful for her), or remove the nail and give her pain killers until the nail grew back in (which was more expensive, but would heal quicker and be less painful for her). We opted for the second option because we didn't want to see her in pain for so long. If you aren't concerned with spending a bit of extra money to see him in less pain (I think it was a few hundred dollars for the cat), you could ask your vet if there are other options. I would also be concerned with it getting infected if he goes outside a lot. I remember that being a concern with the cat (we had to keep her inside with an e-collar and use pellets for her litter).

borzoimom · 11-04-2009, 05:19 PM

Raises hand- been there! Femka did the same thing. It is important to keep it clean. We used beta iodine in a jar with warm water- soak the paw, and remember- iodine stains so have a junkie type towel to dry off the foot. With her, the crack was so bad the vet put her on antibiotics to prevent infection, but she did fine. About a week later the piece fell off.

Mikey · 11-04-2009, 05:37 PM

Poor doggie!!! It's hard to tell...if it's a toe break-could they even set it? I dunno.

As others have said, if it's a split toenail (or even a lost toenail) that's easy-just keep it really clean.

For that kind of thing -where it's kind of hard to see, I would soak in peroxide. That's what we did when Mikey split his webbing between his toes. (whenever he sees that cup now, he goes to sit on the couch out of habit); We'd fill a cup with peroxide and just dip his whole foot in there. (You can buy JUGS of peroxide for cheap)

We soaked it in peroxide then applied pancur (but neosporin is perfect too!) and then wrapped it up in vet wrap to keep it clean.
I also made a sock type thing out of canvas -elastic kept it on pretty well-so that he could go outside without getting it filthy.

Crio had used some other type of cleaner-and iodine something or other. That may be better. Hopefully she jumps in and says what it is. Peroxide is super disinfectant but it does take away new skin cells as well as dead ones, so it can take longer to heal.

Also-go buy a cone (e collar) if your dog is licking it; he can keep it open and get it pretty dirty doing that

borzoimom · 11-04-2009, 05:42 PM

Oh and you do not cover the break. First of all its more painful that way, and second it can make an infection due to lack of air. I use to soak her paw after she came to get off any dirt etc. To go out, yes- she wore a sock ( with a small plastic bag over it, but even that was a struggle to keep her from trying to take it off.
Oh- if the dog looses the nail completely, Femkas nail grew back.

Mikey · 11-04-2009, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Oh and you do not cover the break. First of all its more painful that way, and second it can make an infection due to lack of air.

Thanks for correcting me!! Borzoi has been through this-so listen to her not me! Don't wrap it up

borzoimom · 11-04-2009, 05:49 PM

Yea blood infection types is the risk here and it does better to remain uncovered. Also it aids in adding enough oxygen etc that the nail, if mostly broken off, the quick will resend . And toes bleed- alot! Like someone getting hit in the nose..

**Criosphynx** · 11-04-2009, 07:25 PM

Emma did that to her nail... The vet snipped it off at the break, it was like pulling a bandaid off, hurt for a second but she was fine after.. It sucked because we were at the vet the night before putting our dog down and had to go back the next day with a busted nail.

yours looks way worse tho...ow ow ow.

borzoimom · 11-04-2009, 07:28 PM

( aww Criosphynx- I am sorry... )

**Criosphynx** · 11-04-2009, 07:50 PM

its ok...you should have seen the look on the staffs faces tho.