Gavin's bad leg and nail(s)

[Cindy]

So I routinely trim Gavin's paw fur and trim his nails. But since the paw on his bad leg is in a bootie, it gets less attention. Well, since he toe touches on that paw, his nails grow awkwardly. One kinda grows to the side, which is easy to trim. Well, one curled up and grew under itself. This was a hard one to fix. The skin around that area was tender (Gavin doesn't react, but it did bleed quite a bit when I was probing the area). So I came up with trying to weaken the nail where it curls under so I could separate the excess nail away and work it out. The dremel was not a good choice since positionally it would get his skin (that was sore already). So out comes the old nail file! Thankfully, after a few minutes, it was loose enough that I was able to pry out the excess nail with tweezers. I was worried the nail had actually internalized, but I managed to catch it in time.

So now I won't be forgetting the nails on his bad leg!

 

[Piper's mom]

Poor Gavin…good thing you caught it in time Cindy!
I remember years ago my mom’s dog broke a nail. The vet said it probably wouldn’t grow back…unfortunately it did and twice as thick! That nail was impossible to trim (prior to my days of using a dremel) and he’d have to get it trimmed at the vet!

 

[Cindy]

Well, I was lucky that Gavin can't feel much in that paw, cause I'm sure otherwise it would have hurt and he would have at least squirmed. The nail didn't just curl under, but kind of folded under. My next step would have been the vets office.

 

[Sharon7]

Ack, never fun to work on funky nails. Glad you were able to figure out a way to do it. Give that super senior boy a hug from me.

 

[Ann]

Poor Gavin and poor you, Cindy. That couldn't have been fun to do. How fortunate that you were able to get it done. My Ruffles has one front dewclaw that grew back after they were removed and it's very thick and awkward and cutting it is a bear. I can never get it at the right angle, and heaven forbid if I forget and let it go too long. At least you caught this before it got worse. An extra cookie for good boy Gavin!

 

[Margi]

Poor guy! Glad you got it fixed with minimal trauma.

 

[trini]

Happy ending to a tough situation. Keeping a nail/s trimmed when they don't grow normally is really hard.
Trini

 

[Calliesmom]

glad that you got it before it got really bad...........

 

[Ron Atkinson]

Glad you were successful. Gavin definitely deserves an extra cookie.

 

[Caro]

I have the same problem with Tully, it must be painful to walk on. Unfortunately hers grew under when she lived with my mum for a year (when I had cancer) and her nails were never trimmed. Now that nail is permanently curled under and her other nails are splayed. I even went and brought a dremel to do it but the shape and position is too hard. I also brought a giant nail file but it isn't great, wondering if a metal human one would be better - I have a metal dog one which is useless. What type did you use?