dog split toenail

[PigCowSheep]

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This isn't much related to vet school, but tonight my dog came in from feeding the horses with my dad bleeding from her paw. She didn't appear to be in any pain, no whining or limping, but was leaving little bloody footprints all over. I had my dad restrain her while I looked for the source of the blood.

Turns out, she split her toenail lengthwise. It doesn't start directly at the tip, but a little bit down from it and it goes almost all the way to the base. So essentially it looks like a doggy form of a hangnail. By the time I got to her, the bleeding was stopped so I cleaned it with some isopropyl, put a dab of triple antibiotic (I have a huge tub from the vet from when one of the horses cut himself...) on it, and wrapped it in gauze and vetwrap.

She hasn't been pulling at the bandage at all, and it's not bleeding through, is there anything I missed?? She seems really down and out - just not herself really.

If it's still not looking good in the morning I'll be taking her to the vet 🙁

EDIT: it's her back left, by the way

 

[kittenj]

You did what I would do for my dog 🙂

At the clinic I work we see a decent number of these, we treat them similarly, sometimes we cut the nail back with the dog under iso if it looks like it will grow back better that way.

If she's still not herself tomorrow take her in, theres always the potential for infection or for there to be something you didn't see the first time.

Hope she's better soon 🙂

 

[aussiered]

It sounds like you've done what the vet would have done first up anyway. If she's happy to keep the bandage on (not trying to rip it off) and you're happy that you can keep it clean I'd leave her. Change the bandage every couple of days and that way you can keep an eye on it's healing. If there is a fair bit off nail hanging off and we (the clinic I work at) think it might be irritating to the dog we will knock them out and remove the flap and cut the nail back shorter, but if not it's just bandaging and keeping it clean while it heals.

As for her not being herself, her foot will be sore but if you're worried it' always best to take her to a vet. Our clinic dog always rips her toenails and when we bandage her foot up she sulks for days and doesn't act herself. Anyone who doesn't know her thinks she's sick, she's really just a sook

 

[TurtleLover]

Yea, the first thing that comes to my mind is possible infection from walking on the ground where horse fecal matter may be. Hopefully its cleaned out pretty well and nothing will happen. Hmmm I wonder if something caused that to happen or if it was just simply like a hang nail.

 

[PigCowSheep]

Yeah, I definitely cleaned it out really really well and hopefully the triple will ward off any infection. It'll be staying covered up for a few days to be sure and she's definitely not allowed anywhere around the horses till it's better.