What it looks like when they remove a nail

by **BabyReba** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:14 am

Nail and quick gone, poor naked foot.

by **Amie** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:17 am

Poor guy!

Have you seen any change in his balance?

by **BabyReba** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:20 am

Not yet, but we've been keeping him quiet so he doesn't injure it ... but if he was running around like normal, it's possible that we'd see some oddness in how he's getting around.

Apparently, when they do this, they cut it back to the bone ... which I didn't know. I guess that's whey they called it an amputation. When they explained it to me, I thought they were actually removing part of his TOE to the bone, but it's just the nail and the quick and some attached tissue. Gross. I'll be really curious to hear whether the pathology report shows anything ...

by **dogs4jen** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:35 pm

Poor Button! Roscoe breaks his nails a lot, but we haven't had to resort to that yet, although one did get infected once. He's got lousy nails. I hope it heals fast for him, I bet he'd like to get back to running around.

by **BabyReba** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:12 pm

if it was just a break, i probably would have tried to cut it and let it heal myself, but somehow, he managed to mash it all up ... basically, what he had on his toe was a lump of mushed up, shredded, bloody quick with some ragged nail fragments ... it was gross. i brought him in, and they thought they were just going to be doing some first aid and cleanup, and when they looked, they were like ... "Oh ... that's not good." Poor pony. He's doing OK, though. He's healing up nicely, so no more bandage and in a couple of days, he can resume normal activity.

by **Sarah** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:27 pm

Pi did this to himself, when he broke his dew claw, and subsequently ripped it off and ate it. The vet said that because it was open to the bone, antibiotics were important.

by **Misskiwi67** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:37 pm

If you don't take the bone with the nail, there is a risk that the nail will grow back abnormally and cause similar or worse problems than before - its best to just amputate.

The weight-bearing toes are the two in the center, so I would be surprised if you notice any difference in his walking after he's fully healed.

by **Red** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 12:55 am

I have not noticed a single problem with Sneaky's nail being removed, as far as balance, or anything else. She might have less gripping surface when she pulls but we have not competed or worked on WP since her problem, which was a rather uncommon fungal infection. Her nail was completely removed in November last year, when they did the biopsy, and the vet who did the procedure did a pretty good job.

It seems that some of Button's nail is still there so it should re grow. Tux did a number on one of his nails in November 2010, which is now fully grown:

and another on a toenail in the back, a couple of months ago, and it is growing back:

by **BabyReba** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 8:02 am

Thanks for the photos, Val. Glad to see Tux's nails are coming back ... I'm thinking Button's probably will, too. They said it should. He's pretty dinged up and missing some parts already (including some brain cells), so even if it didn't grow back,it'd just be another thing to add to the list!

by **Red** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:44 am

BabyReba wrote:He's pretty dinged up and missing some parts already (including some brain cells), so even if it didn't grow back,it'd just be another thing to add to the list!

There is a list here too but hey, after an extra nipple, a very dangling penis (remember the two lymph nodes taken out instead of his testicles?) and everything else that Tux is...what's nail? :tongue:

by **Sarah** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:12 pm

The nail on Pirate's dewclaw was completely gone, and it grew back normally. The vet told me the options were a) it might grow back normal. b) grow back funky, but not be a problem; or c) grow back funky, and cause pain, so it would have to be removed. Pirate went for option a.

by **FBODGRL** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 10:45 pm

Khan's dew claw had that problem...but his has not grown back normal. It grows back, cracks or splits, gets cut back, repeat!

by **bethh** » Tue May 01, 2012 4:38 pm

Otis split his nail two weeks ago. Poor boy was in agony. The vet cut it back, looks like Button's. I had no idea this could cause so much pain - he cried all night after the procedure. Lots of pampering and pain meds.

by **BabyReba** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:41 pm

and here we go again. rob has him at the vet for yet another totally freaking split nail, all the way to the quick, bloody and torn. happened last night. the vet says it's so bad they can't really fix it without cutting the damn thing off. and i'm headed out of town for work tomorrow and the dogs are supposed to be with a dogsitter. this SUCKS.

WTF is up with my dogs lately? doc's freaking out about ghosts or something, tucker just got over a major illness and button's toes are falling apart.

i'm so very frustrated.

by **jamielvsaustin** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 3:26 pm

I haven't read the problems with Doc thread (lately) but do you think it might be the weather for him? We are in hurricane season...even if we're not getting them we're still getting a lot rain and wind. Would a thundershirt work? We've been using one on Bailey. At first I couldn't notice a difference but this last time we used it she calmed down pretty quickly.