[nagdu] Monty at the vet

avapup.7 at gmail.com avapup.7 at gmail.com
Sat Mar 23 16:58:15 UTC 2013


Hi Julie,

I definitely understand why you're stressing over his nail! Ugh, it's not pretty when that happens! 

When I was growing up, somehow our pretty female German Shepherd mix (who had both of her front dewclaws) got one of her dewclaws caught in a chain link fence, and it was injured in just about the same way you describe Monty's nail.

I remember her bleeding quite a bit, but she had no problem walking on it -- my mom or dad (I can't recall now) took her to the vet, where they removed the dewclaw and fixed where she'd torn her leg (I think she had a few stitches). She definitely was sedated, and may have stayed overnight. 

She never showed much pain, though, afterward, and walked around just fine, but, this was a dewclaw, not a regular nail. I think a regular nail would be different, and take a little longer to walk on. 

Plus, my childhood dog who ripped her nail never probably would've shown pain anyway, just because of her past -- she had been a stray on my dad's University campus for weeks, until finally he realized, okay she IS a stray. He actually called her to him, and without leash or collar or anything, brought her to his last class of the day with him, where she slept quietly under his desk! My mom picked my dad -- and new dog -- from class, and once the pup was in the car, my mom realized she was sick, very sick, and drove the girl right over to the Ohio State Vet Clinic which was conveniently nearby on campus. It turned out Scarlett (as the pup was named) was six months old, and quite literally dying; she was suffering from severe double pneumonia and distemper. She was severely underweight and malnourished. This was in the late 1970's, and the vet who treated her didn't know if she could be saved. He had some sort of experimental treatment protocol to try, a last resort sort of thing, and it was just about a month and a half later that Scarlett, the dog I'd later come to know and grow up with, was 100% cured -- she was healthy and happily living with my parents in her new home. She grew up to be a fairly big dog, about 55-60 pounds, and most likely a German Shepherd/Border Collie cross. She lived to be 18 years old. So she wasn't one to show pain easily, ever, I think just from her early experiences of being a "street dog."

Ack,'that was long. I hope Monty feels much better soon! That's not a good experience, but I hope he heals from his injury quickly!

Ava and Cocoa

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 22, 2013, at 10:47 AM, "Julie J." <julielj at neb.rr.com> wrote:

> Monty and Belle were in the backyard with my husband this morning.  they were running laps in the new snow, having a good time.  then my husband noticed that Monty was leaving bloody footprints.
> 
> I checked his feet and found that he has ripped a nail.  I mean that he completely ripped it like from where it grows out of the toe.  It was sticking up at a 90 degree angle from where it should have been and bleeding quite a bit.
> 
> We called the vet to let them know we were coming.  It wasn't busy this morning so we got right in.  The tech took one look at his foot and said that he'd have to be sedated so they could fix it.
> 
> I immediately had the urge to refuse.  Monty is extremely good about being handled and not fussing about being treated.  But then I stopped myself.  this must hurt him a lot and it's going to hurt more when they clean it up.  Surely Monty will be more comfortable with some medication.
> 
> It's just a ripped nail.  i know that's no big deal, but I am really worried about him.  We go back in a bit to pick him up.  I'm sure he will be fine.  My husband is staying home with him today so I can go into work.  He is self employed and has a much more flexible work schedule than I do. I didn't ask him to do this, he insisted.
> 
> Am I crazy for stressing so much about a broken nail?  I feel like I'm over reacting to a small event, but...well it's Monty.
> 
> Julie
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 




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