Broken Toe Nails in Dogs and How to Treat Them

When your dog breaks a toe nail, it is very painful for him/her, not to mention painful for the owners to watch. A broken toe nail usually occurs when the dog's nail is too long and gets caught on something such as carpeting or concrete. The nail will usually bleed quite a bit, as the nail commonly breaks at the quick (the nerve/blood supply for the nail). So what happens when your dog does this? Well, when you are at home, do not attempt to remove the nail yourself, unless it is dangling in the air by a thread. If you do, you may risk your dog biting you when trying to do so. If you have help and the proper wrapping material, by all means, go ahead and cut the nail and wrap the foot. When your dog breaks a nail at the quick, you should take him/her into your veterinarian's office to have it examined.

Depending on the severity of the break, some broken nails can be left alone if still somewhat firmly attached. At other times, the nail will need to be cut off. So what does treating a broken nail entail? First, the nail will be examined and if it is severe enough, the doctor will basically trim the nail, but will trim it up above the break. Sometimes the break is all the way at the top, so it will be trimmed as close as possible. Once it is cut, the bleeding will need stop prior to wrapping, otherwise you will have one blood soaked bandage. The veterinarian will use a powder that also contains a numbing agent or will use silver nitrate sticks to cauterize the area. Once the bleeding stops, your veterinarian will wrap the entire foot and you will need to bring your dog in for bandage changes 2-3 times thereafter. Depending on the severity of the break, your dog may be sent home with antibiotics to aid in the prevention of infection.

If infection sets in, you will need to continue with more wraps and will need to flush the area with antiseptic solution. If your veterinarian believes that there is an infection, he/she will flush it prior to the final bandage wrap. To prevent infection from setting in, you should immediately bring your dog in after the initial break so that bacteria does not have a chance of growing in the wound. To prevent a broken toe nail, you should either cut your own dog's nails or have your veterinarian's office trim them before they get too long.