# New Question: Hurt Nail



## giandaliajr (Nov 24, 2012)

Berkeley's injured nail ended up falling off this morning (about a week after his injury). The vet initially prescribed antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and said the nail was pretty firmly attached so he didnt think it needed to be removed. He had a couple bleeds throughout the week when he was having some zoomies. 

Has anyone experienced a nail falling off before? It seems like most situations the nail breaks and they end up trimming it back to the break. But in this case he actually torn the nail out a bit and then eventually it just died and fell off (i guess kind of like a dislocation).

I'm guessing the red nasty looking bump is the "quick" that has retracted already, but im not really sure. Our vet is closed until tomorrow so i wanted to try to see if anyone had experience with this already.

It seems that in most cases the nail grows back but i think this is rare case, so we are a bit concerned that the nail wont come back.

Any advice is appreciated! Thanks.








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Original Post: "Berkeley hurt one of his hind leg nails today jumping on top of his crate! It didn't rip all the way out but it looks like it is sitting higher than the rest (but doesnt look crooked). A fair amount of blood. It was pooling when he put pressure on it but stopped after we elevated the leg.

We poured hydrogen peroxide over it and then lubed it up with some EMT gel (our first time using the stuff in our dog first aid kit), then wrapped it. Our vet is closed sundays but we got in contact with him and he said as long as we can stop the bleeding he can probably wait until the morning to be checked.

Does anyone have any experience when the nail is angled up higher than the others? The doc said sometimes they have to remove the whole nail but it depends what happened. 

Im curious what to expect in terms of getting it back to normal. 

Thanks!


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## Kafka (Jul 24, 2013)

*Re: Hurt Nail*

Something similar happened to my dog. The nail was pointing upwards. It happened after taking her swimming, and there was no blood by the time I saw it on our way back home. She didn't lick it a lot or seemed bothered by it (it just looked really freaky). After two days the outer shell fell off after running around the fields. What was left was a very short nail. It healed well.
Before that, she hurt her nail and because it was the first time and it bled a little, I took her to the vet. The vet checked it and said it might need to come off, but to wait first to see if it healed. It did. It bled maybe twice after the vet visit while running around, but then it healed.
It's good you're having it checked out by the vet, and hopefully it will heal by itself!


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## giandaliajr (Nov 24, 2012)

*Re: Hurt Nail*

I made the mistake of leaving for a few minutes and by the time i got back he got the wrap off and was licking it (the wrap not his foot). I took the opportunity to take some pictures because he was calm.


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## Kafka (Jul 24, 2013)

*Re: Hurt Nail*

That does look more bloody than what happened to Kafka.
Try to apply pressure and maybe you can put a cone on her or give her a favorite chewing toy to leave the wrap alone.


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## giandaliajr (Nov 24, 2012)

*Re: Hurt Nail - UPDATE*

Luckily he didnt have to have it removed. The doc said he cleaned it up and cauterized around the nail because there was some light bleeding. He said it should be a lot better after a couple days. He gave us some antibiotics to prevent infection and then anti-inflamatories for pain/inflammation. 

Pretty good news but im sure he wont be back to 100% for a couple weeks. At least he is walking on it for the most part, until he sees the cat and bolts then realizes that he shouldn't have run that fast. It's going to be a battle for the next few days keeping him from running around like a mad man.


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## Rudy (Oct 12, 2012)

*Re: Hurt Nail*

Do not use (Hydrogen Peroxide) yet bro its a far latter helper

last line of defense 

early it can keep the infections and bugs trapped in early if its round 1

a Far better round 12 finisher

blood, breath/air the right care and heals


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## giandaliajr (Nov 24, 2012)

.


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## huntvizsla (Jun 8, 2013)

Epsom salt soak is a great help in speeding this type of healing. Puppy Caesar had a similar injury - took a few weeks and he was right as rain with soaks to heal and toughen up the skin (but he was NOT cooperative during the first few soaks - good thing I was wearing old clothes and we were outside). Left the foot unbandaged but kept him clean as possible.


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