This month’s story is of Bambi, a beautiful Boxer with complications from a broken nail.
It is a reminder that although torn nails are very common in dogs, it is a good idea to get them
checked out to make sure it is nothing more serious. Not to mention they are very painful
(imagine getting your nail pulled out- ouch!) and often need pain medication.
Bambi came to see us recently with a very sore toe on her back foot. It was painful for her to walk on
and the nail was sticking out at an abnormal angle.
Bambi was admitted for radiographs of her paw under sedation as it was suspected to be more than
just a torn nail. The radiographs showed that the bone inside the nail (phalanx 3- the equivalent of the
little bone at the end of our fingers) was actually broken and being eaten away by infection that had got in
under the ripped nail. Poor Bambi, no wonder it was so painful!
In these injuries there is no way of fixing the broken bone, and with infection present it was
recommended that we amputate the end of Bambi’s toe. This may seem extreme for what initially
seemed like a simple broken nail but Bambi sailed through the surgery under the care of Dr Tammy
and was up and walking around really well by the time she went home that afternoon.
Bambi is healing well from her operation and her owner reports she doesn’t miss her toe at all!
