# Dog Lost His Toenail - Vet Wants to Cut It Off



## ddhawks (Sep 28, 2012)

Hi everyone,
I have an almost 1 year old black lab, golden retriever, great dane mix. He weighs 72 #. He ripped off the hard outer shell of his toenail on his back foot. We were out walking when it happened, and I think it happened when he was trying to jump up on something. Anyway, he didn't whine, yelp or anything. In fact, I didn't even notice he had injured himself until we got home from our walk. He wasn't limping, and the bleeding was very minimal so I thought he had just chipped it down to the quick. This was on Sunday. I kept an eye on him for additional bleeding or limping, and there has been none. We have continued to go on fairly long walks (4+ miles), with no problems at all. On Thursday, I took him to the vet for his regularly scheduled check-up, and I brought it up to her. She looked at it and said it doesn't look infected, but she wants to cut off the fleshy part because there's a high possibility that it will get infected. They want $360+ to do this. I'm asking you all for your opinion. Do you think it's necessary to go that extreme? What can I do to help prevent infection? When I asked the vet, she "if it's going to get infected, it's going to get infected. There's nothing you can do." I feel there has to be something else. Does anyone have any suggestions? We really can't afford the $360 to get this done, especially if it's not necessary. Obviously, if he needs it though, we will find a way to get it done. Thanks for reading!


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

I'm NOT speaking as a vet but- I had a foster dog that did something similar (cracked the outer shell way way back to near the base) and the vet cleaned it out well and left it as is (the outer shell trimmed so it wouldn't crack more and the fleshy part left as is). You could ask another vet. One possibility would be a round of antibiotics maybe to prevent infection while it heals. Wearing a dog boot to keep it out of contact from dog poop, dirt and other contaminates could be an additional option. My dog had surgery last week and he's taking a 2 week course of antibiotics to prevent infection where his stitches are. 

But if another vet agrees that it is a high risk thing, that price quote sounds fair. It would be very painful to cut so it would likely be general anesthetic. Figuring blood work, the anesthetic, a tech and a vet's time, and pain meds after, that's about what i would expect it to cost. 
Is he neutered or do you plan to neuter him soon? If you plan a neuter soon, you could maybe combine the surgeries and save a lot as opposed to doing them separate.


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## ddhawks (Sep 28, 2012)

Thank you for your reply. Yes, he is neutered. I asked the vet about antibiotics, but she wouldn't give him anything because it isn't currently infected. I asked her about wrapping it, and she said that would delay healing. Would the boot do the same thing? It makes sense to me to have him wear one, or even a sock - anything to keep it clean.


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## Miss Bugs (Jul 4, 2011)

I would get some Vetricyn (http://vetericyn.com/- best stuff ever invented lol) spray it on the fleshy part 3-4X a day and put a boot or sock on it when outside while it heals(take it off inside so air can get to it properly) the vetricyn helps fight infection and speeds up the healing..I use that stuff for everything, including myself, it's like magic and has litterally saved me $1000's in vet bills.


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## Fade (Feb 24, 2012)

broken nails are tricky things. MOST of the time it turns out just fine but sometimes the way it cracks into the nail bed can cause additional complications so many vets will always suggest to remove the nail. but for starters if she was truly concerned about their being a problem she would have started you on antibiotics as a precaution but that is just my opinion. 9 times out of 10 there is not a problem. but then again if people elect not to have the nail removed we always send them home with antibiotics. My Husky ripped his front dew claw right out at the root a few months ago. At first we didn't know what happened all I saw was blood SQUIRTING out of his toe. It was a sunday of course but I ran to work called in another employee and we stopped the bleeding, We thought he might have ripped his whole toe open. So I called the vet he said if the bleeding has stopped he could wait till the morning. Grabbed some antibiotics and some pill form sedatives to keep him calm cause he didn't seem to feel any pain whatsoever. The next morning. He is such a good boy and let us look at it. With all the swelling we could not sit there and try to bend the toe to get a better look without causing him a lot of pain so we ended up sedating him. STILL thinking the toe was ripped open. Once he was sleeping we got a closer look realized the nail was yanked out right at the root. So I just cleaned it really well and bandaged it up and put him on antibiotics, he did just fine. and other then this time he has cracked a lot of nails and so has my other dog. but as mentioned above it all depends on the split in the nail. some more then others expose the nail bed to germs and that is where the problem is.
honestly. With this sort of thing you can watch it and see what happens. keep a close eye on the base of the nail bed for any swelling or redness. If something happens and you catch it right away you can always have the nail removed. Your vet should give you OPTIONS not just a 1 way street. My pet peeve is when a vet says its only this way and no way else. There are ALWAYS options. Vets that do not offer options to me it is suspicious. Someone came in with a dog the other day with an ear infection and their vet told them the only way to treat it was to do a surgical ear flush. and would not give them any medication. Yes that is ONE way to fix the problem if you want to milk money out of your clients.


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## Mr. V (Jan 28, 2010)

Miss Bugs said:


> I would get some Vetricyn (http://vetericyn.com/- best stuff ever invented lol) spray it on the fleshy part 3-4X a day and put a boot or sock on it when outside while it heals(take it off inside so air can get to it properly) the vetricyn helps fight infection and speeds up the healing..I use that stuff for everything, including myself, it's like magic and has litterally saved me $1000's in vet bills.


What is this stuff? I can't find any list of active ingredients?


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