Hello, im needing a bit of advise, my dog penny a nutty jack russell, has gone and broken her rear dew claw on her leg, its not bleeding or anything, but it is quite obviously broken as it flaps around quite freely unlike her other one.

Now, on the walk i didnt notice that she had done anything, no noise or squealing, but when i got home i noticed her licking it.

So i washed her leg, bobbed some antibacterial powder on it, and popped on a light bandage just to hold it in place against her leg.

She doesnt seem in any major pain, she is walking on it fine, and only every now and again she goes to it like its bothering her.

The thing is she has already had her front ones removed, because of something simliar except they bleed quite badly and she was in alot of pain, the noise she was making then was unbearable, and i asked the vet at the time if they should whip off the back ones but he said no because if she did break them he would just strap those up.

So am i doing the right thing, in strapping it up myself, can they heal, i will be ringing the vets tommorrow, but i just dont want her to go through being knocked out again for something so little.

Plus she seemed in more pain when she had the front ones removed than before they took them off, she couldnt walk properly for a week and kept wincing, she wouldnt eat or drink and just sulked with me, staring at me with her attempted suicide pink wrist bandages!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Is it just the 'nail' that is broken or the bone?

If just the nail, if there is no blood just do as you are doing. It will heal.

If the bone/ligament, then Penny does need to see a vet. The treatment may well be strapping as you are doing but the vet can also prescribe painkillers (probably Metacam). If her dew claws are prone to catching it may well be worth removing them - a couple of weeks of discomfort V potentially very painful damage.

Some dogs have no issues with dew claws - my Buffy has no problem (she only has front dews) Murphy only has clipping problems (Vet sees to that) but Hansel's rear dews didn't actually have any bones in them - just skin flaps with a nail at the end. Made grooming his feet difficult so when he was castrated we had his rear dews removed along with a couple of retained baby teeth. The lack of bone made it a minor op - I understand it will be more traumatic for Penny as it sounds like she has a proper dew claw.

just spoken to the vets, i have her booked in for this afternoon, they said i had done the right thing, in strapping it up.

so i will have to wait and see, i have a feeling the bone is broken, rather than the nail.

If they suggest taking it off ill have them do the other one, i just wish the vet had done them all the last time rather than just the front.

It doesn't have a bone, it's just a claw.

Mine breaks his front ones all the time, he just chews them off. It's just like a fingernail.

I thought they had a joint where the claw attaches? Having good feel of Buffy's now, the claw seems to go into a 'finger' which is attached to the paw, just higher and shorter than the other digits.

Some dogs have a proper bone in the dew claw, some just have a dew claw with flesh.

genetically dogs with all four with bone is very rare, but penny had bones in the front and the back.

Thankfully she has not broken it, but there is bruising, so it looks like it was just very painful for her, which is lucky!

When penny had the front ones removed she had to undergo a fully fledged op to remove them, it wasnt a case of knocking her out and cutting it off, there where nerves and little tendons alongside the bone that attaches the dew claw to her leg.

the vet said that it could be an option if i would prefer to have them removed as it would stop her from damaging it in the future, ill see how she goes but i think im in favour of having them off, as the pain she was in when she broke the bone of the front was just shocking, i could see the bone sticking out, thank god the vet immediately sprayed an anesthetic on it!

So all in penny has had a lucky escape, just a bit bruised, but she has had plenty of sweetys to cheer her up!