Need Help! Torn Toenail...
 

Help! My husband and I are not sure what to do....Zoey was acting rather quiet so we got to looking at her and she was limping. We noticed that she must of gotten her toenail caught on something and its torn and bleeding alittle. Does anyone have any ideas on what we should do to treat it? This is her first ouchie and we are not sure how to handle it! We do not have 24 hrs Vet service where we live.....

She'll be fine.
 

Poor baby! Ouchie!

Take your little sweetie and wrap her firmly in a towel so that you can reach her toe without her stopping you. You may want to make it a two person job. If you don't have any dog clippers, use clean human toenail clippers or blunt small shears. Clip the nail that is hanging off, but try not to clip it any further towards the toe. It may bleed a little bit. If your hubby has a stiptic pencil, that will work to stop the bleeding. If not, use a little flour, that will make it stop enough for the blood to clot and stop. Wipe it down when it stops bleeding, and use a little neosporin on the boo boo. Just a little bit, you don't want her to lick it off.

Good luck! :p Give her puppy kisses from me!

Is the nail actually bleeding or the toe from the base of the nail? If it's just bleeding because the nail broke down by the quick you can stop the bleeding with a little cornstarch or cinnamon. Otherwise down at the toe you might put a little peroxide on a cotton ball and put a little pressure on it until it stops bleeding. If the nail is jagged trim it with nail clippers so it doesn't catch on anything else. Probably doesn't require a vet visit unless it's really bad.

It's like between the toe and the nail is torn alittle...Do you know how long its takes to stop hurting? Should I wrap it? I just feel terrible for her....You can tell she is in pain...

She is a 1lb 13oz wiggly worm! But good Idea cause I need to look at it closer...Its not hanging....its bleeding between the toe and the nail...Oh I feel soooooooo bad for her! My baby is in pain and Mommy does not like it! Thank you for your advise!

You shouldn't need to wrap it. If it's not gushing, it will stop bleeding pretty soon. But if there is any raggedy edges of the nail hanging off, you may want to just clip so she doesn't get snagged on anything. She'll stop hurting soon. Give her a chew toy or something to distract her, and she'll be OK. Maybe put a little ice on it will help if she will let you.

Good luck!

Thank You so much for your help! This is her fisrt boo boo and I'm not dealing w/ very well! Thanks for everything!

Well my husband ran an errand so I got to look at it closer....it very loose and believe it is hanging...? But its not very bloodly...so am I really going to have to cut it off? I'm sweating thinking about it....Will it grow back?

Yes, it will grow back!
 

Did you end up cutting it?

I am betting it is bothering you a lot more than her at this point! :p

This just happened to my Topher a couple of weeks ago. He tore his toenail and I didn't realize how bad it was until I took him to the groomers a week later and she told me that it was hanging off!! (I felt so bad that I didn't know....he never favored it or complained)

I took him to the vet and they froze his foot and 'amputated' (their word) the nail and wrapped his foot in gauze and tape for a week and a half. I had to go back every few days for them to change the dressing. Once the gauze was removed he wore a baby sock on his foot for about a week.

Until you get to the vet I would try to keep it covered so it doesn't bang on something or get dirty. According to my vet, she said that it would be like a human having their fingernail hanging off so it is a bit painful, so keeping it covered would help with that I would think. I am not an expert by any means, just going by what my vet told me.

Personally, I don't know if I'd want to remove it myself. When they removed Topher's she said that it bled quite a bit and I was amazed at how much flesh was open on his little toe! Your little one will be fine....I'm learning that these little guys can be quite tough...lol...though keeping the sock on his foot without him trying to take it off was a challenge! He did get used to it after a while, though.