Somehow my dog managed to partially tear off her dew claw. It hasn’t bled, and it doesn’t seem to be mostly torn off, but it is certainly damaged. And she is spending most of her time licking the spot.
Is this something that will heal by itself, or should I take her to the vet?
Veterinary advice, like medical advice, is better suited to IMHO than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Vet. They can snip it off.
Ditto vet. If she keeps licking it, she could end up with a lick granuloma, which won’t help matters.
You could wrap it in vetwrap or ace bandage, if she’ll tolerate it and leave it on, until tomorrow rather than go to the vet ER. But really, best to get it seen to sooner rather than later. If the dewclaw isn’t functional or firmly attached, rather just attached by a bit of skin, it won’t be a big deal for them to remove it.
I heard that a dew claw can also be attached to a tendon, so I would go with vet.
I have JRTs and we had them removed two days after birth, easier than waiting for each one to be injured.
Torn dew claws aren’t a given, mind you - Briards (French herding dogs) have a minimum of two dewclaws on each hind leg, anything less is a “disqualification.”
Dogs with very tightly-attached and functional dewclaws are less prone to having them torn or injured, mind you, especially if active, like a typical JRT. Most of the dogs in my life have had dew claws (and that’s a lot of active dogs!) and only one ever tore one. On a Sunday, of course. I took him to the ER vet and because it wasn’t tightly attached with muscle or tendon, they gave him a local, snipped it off and he was pretty much back to normal by the next day.
The vet can remove the dew claw. No more trouble.