Rucksack's claw has come off ...

Rucksack has been licking and licking a back paw. I have just bathed his foot and had a good look and it looks as though an entire claw is missing. It all looks quite clean and it has not been bleeding but there is the 'quick' just sticking out. If it is still bothering him in the morning I will of course take him to the vet but my concern is that I will have to get him out for a walk again later in the hope of him doing all his business before the storm arrives overnight. Should I leave it open and bathe it again when I get back or bandage it? I tried to put a medi-boot on and apart from the fact he refused to walk he grabbed it and ripped it off.

He was licking it yesterday and I stupidly assumed it was due to the harvest mites .... and I have a horrible feeling it happened when he was crawling over one of the wooden slated bridges (which he hates) at Painshill and I trod on his foot and he yelped.

I assume letting air at it is a good thing and I can divert his attention to stop him licking it too much. He isn't lame on it.

Any advice would be appreciated.

No expert advice I am afraid but I should think as long as you can keep it clean it should hopefully heal.

Gentle (((hugs))) for Rucksack. xx

Thanks Malka

Jack snapped one of his claws earlier this year and was fine once the broken piece had come off. I did take him to the vet and she trimmed a bit off that was digging into his nail bed but said she would prefer not to remove the whole claw as it would be painful with lots of blood and take much longer to heal. She said that he would have to put up with the occasional bit of pain and it would soon heal but to keep it clean with cooled boiled slightly salted water.

If Rucksack isn't having any problems, I wouldn't go to the vet but just keep an eye on it and keep it clean. Once the quick has started to dry, he probably won't bother with it any more.

Hi Jenny poor Rucksack , I would bathe the paw in a saline solution (a pint of boiled water to a level tablespoon of salt allowed to cool) .

Covering an injury unless absolutely necessary can draw attention to it.
Better to distract from any signs of interest or nibbling and keep an eye out for infection.
As always if you are concerned see the vet.

Jenny, I have just posted on the daily thread that I would just bathe it in salt water, dry it gently and then let him lick it to soothe it, his saliva should be healing enough for it. So if you have to take him out in the mud and dirt again before the storm sets in then I would bathe it again once you come in and dry it and leave the rest to Rucksack he will lick it to soothe it and it will heal in good time. Steve accidently over cut Amber's claw last time they were cut but she licked her's better.

When Bella did the same (but it was her skinny withered claw on back paw) vet trimmed it right back (advised a dilute iodine dip) but said he didn't want to take the whole thing off (he would never trim that one back either saying it was hard to know where the blood vessel was or even if there was one?)

Well although it obviously wasn't 'bothering' her as she wasn't limping at all, she just wouldn't leave it be and it wasn't long before the whole thing was gone so I assumed she pulled it out or gnawed it off? Took ages to grow back but she had no adverse effects from it at all.

I hope Rucksack will be the same.

(I've no idea how Bella's happened - I noticed it the day after collecting her from boarding - if it had been a front paw I would think she'd been jumping at the door/fences but it was a back paw)

Thanks so much. There is no sign at all of any claw/nail just the quick. He's not licking it so much now and I'll bathe it again in saline after a lead walk later.

I assumed it was better to let the air get to it, but thank you all for confirming that was the thing to do.

Fingers crossed. I find they do sometimes go 'overboard' with the licking away at any (even tiny) problem and don't know when to stop. Sort of 'becomes a habit' quickly. But then it probably doesn't harm it either.

Good old dilute salt water. That soon cleared up Bella's mucky eye too.

What are his other claws like? I think I've mentioned this before but if there was no injury, infection or fungus making the claw fall off, it reminds me of SLO.
My dog Musette has it and she lost all her claws like that. It was the first time I saw a claw come off like that. My dog Lasqa had occasionally hurt her claws and ripped them off (dew claws), but never like that. With Musette, the claws came off easily and without causing pain, she just licked more than usual. What was left was the quick, and that's it.
It never bothered her though, all she did was lick them a lot before they fell off. What's characteristic for SLO is that more than one paw is affected and that eventually all claws might fall off and never grow back (as was the case with Musette). If it stays the one claw, it might just be fungus or a little infection or injury or something.
I hope it clears up soon