My dog has onychodystrophy. Is claw removal needed for diagnosis?

Yes, I would discuss surgical removal with your vet. It is likely causing pain when he is walking. It will be interesting to see the x-ray of his paw! Simply trimming it down won't help much, he needs to have the nail and the associated bone removed to prevent continued growth.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Ouch! You will need to pull the black nail that is lifted off the cuticle. If you don't that will be a chronic source of pain and infection. Be very careful doing this as it is painful and Ryder may bite. Have someone help you. Pull hard and fast. It may bleed. If you can't remove it make an appointment with your Vet. Good luck!

It sounds like he broke his dewclaw - most of the time the nail will need to be removed so it won't cause chronic irritation or infection. If you're unable to pull it off at home because he is too painful or because it is still attached you will need to see your veterinarian. Sometimes sedation is required if the nail is not completely broken and the nail is clipped very close to the base. If Otis seems comfortable and the nail is not bleeding this is not necessarily an emergency - you could wait until your vet is open and make an appointment. You should keep him from licking the area until then and he may need to wear an e-collar.

Morphine should never be used without a full veterinary prescription or outside of the clinical setting where he can be fully monitored and assessed. This is not suitable for such a procedure and should not be attempted. Morphine alone will not give sufficient pain relief or sedation for this procedure but would have significant risks of severe vomiting, reduced respiration and possible blood pressure effects. If it is too painful to be clipped while conscious he should be assessed by your vet and sedated under supervision

The correct approach would be to first take a small sample with a needle and a syringe, send it to the lab and get a diagnosis, this can affect the decision regarding the need to remove the surrounding tissue or not. if this is not an option then in order to be safe surrounding tissue should be removed.

Poor Paddt! Sometimes these nails need to be removed behind the break. It's hard to give you the best advice without being able to examined the nail. I recommend to have Paddt examined by the veterinarian. He should also be wearing an elizabethan collar at all times to prevent any licking since this could make the nail infected. The area should be kept clean and dry and the exercise should be severely restricted until the nail is healed (no walks, running or jumping). I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Dogs do get malignant nail bed tumors. This area does look angry and it certainly could be a malignant tumor. If you wish to be cautious you can get a second opinion from a veterinary oncologist or another veterinarian. It's difficult to get a good sample from this area so your veterinarian is correct to recommend a toe amputation. Since Hailey is young there is a chance that this is an infection also. You could try a course of antibiotics for a couple of weeks to see if it heals. If the mass continues to enlarge then I would definitely remove the toe as if it's a malignant melanoma they do spread and it could go into her lungs which is a life threatening condition. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Hailey.