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My mother has no luck i swear. We have a 6 year old blue heeler named Diesel. He has intact dew claws on his hind legs. Well a few months ago, he almost ripped one off chasing a toy. If anyone knows how intense cattle dogs can get, well its crazy! It took 3 weeks to heal and it never healed quite right. Looked like he had a floppy third leg growing off his main leg lol. Well, somehow, in the 5 minutes my mom was inside showing me a funny video, he ripped it again, except all the tendons are clean ripped as well. So we think he will need an amputation. She is on her way to the vet now with him. The things we go through for our pets.
Oh, jeez. That’s awful.
And the worst part? Having three legs won’t slow him down any! (I know…I’m silly in the head and I’m awful.) At least I can speak from experience: my cousin had a 3-legged border collie; I swear she was faster with three legs than four…
*Anyway*
You have my condolences for your canine fur-body’s accident. Given that the tendons were ripped, amputation is highly likely–and that’s not a recouperation I’d wish on anyone. I hope that if amputation is necessary, it goes well and without trouble. And I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you during his recovery downtime, seeing as cattle dogs are rambunctuous to begin with…add in bored and limited mobility, and you’ll have quite a handful.
Oh. My misunderstanding. Nevertheless, I’ll expect he’ll be even more of a handful than normal. 😉
And, really, I don’t think we’d love our pets more if they were less annoying; they add such spice to life.
Oh, he wont lose the leg, jus thte dew claw on his leg. so that is a plus. its just annoying.
I feel your pain. My Saint Bernard has double due claws on both back legs. They are super floppy and I’m surprised he hasn’t caught them in something. We should have had them removed when he was a pup. Nothing like four extra nails to trim. Im so sorry you have to take him to get surgery.
Well, as of right now we were quoted 500 or less which is a lot better then i was thinking. but not sure how long he will be at hte vets. the surgery isnt until tomorrow at three. but still, i was expecting like 800 or something
Speaking as a once vet tech, rear dews are hazardous and should always be removed- even when they grow back. They do the dog no good and rip easily, and that’s when the owners are responsible and keep the nails trimmed so that they don’t grow back around into the dogs leg. And no they’re not natural; they’re one of those undesirable mutations we keep going in the species. On the plus side, Diesel won’t even be slowed down.
I must admit I think front dews should be removed on infant pups too; too many owners won’t keep the nails trimmed and I’ve seen too many dogs with dew nails growing into the leg. That IS crippling. Front dews are natural and dogs do use them, but not having them doesn’t harm them and you can’t count on the owners being responsible. *shrug*
Kind of like the arguments for/against surgical sterilization, except it only affects that one animal.huh, never knew that about the hind dew claws. i will have to talk to my mom about it. we thought it was just a throw back type gene or something
My German Shepherd has a dew claw on his back leg, but it’s more like an extra toe. It’s never caused him any trouble. He also has floppy ears, which is undesirable for the breed standard (but adorable from my perspective.)
Good luck with your pup! I hope he gets better soon.
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I was once a vet tech as well. I have to fully agree with everything pipsxlch has to say.
I’ve seen way to many dogs rip them off. Its extremely painful for them. They generally take forever to heal if not taken to a vet. And If they are… the best way to have them heal quickly and well is to have them removed.The best thing overall for this is prevention, as pipsxlech says.. removal as a young pup.
I hope your mom’s dog heals quickly now!
Speaking as a once vet tech, rear dews are hazardous and should always be removed- even when they grow back. They do the dog no good and rip easily, and that’s when the owners are responsible and keep the nails trimmed so that they don’t grow back around into the dogs leg. And no they’re not natural; they’re one of those undesirable mutations we keep going in the species. On the plus side, Diesel won’t even be slowed down.
I must admit I think front dews should be removed on infant pups too; too many owners won’t keep the nails trimmed and I’ve seen too many dogs with dew nails growing into the leg. That IS crippling. Front dews are natural and dogs do use them, but not having them doesn’t harm them and you can’t count on the owners being responsible. *shrug*
Kind of like the arguments for/against surgical sterilization, except it only affects that one animal.Looking for:
"COSMIC SHIFT DRAGONS and KI-RINS" and the "OCTOPUS TANUKI TEST PAINT #1"I’m really sorry to hear about your mom’s dog, Betrluk1!
Are you referring to amputation as to remove his entire “thumb”? Dogs are amazing animals,
and as long as infection and too much scar tissue didn’t set in, he should be fine. 🙂My sister’s dog, Atticus, is a Blue Heeler [Australian Cattle Dog, Queensland Heeler, Hall’s Heeler — however you wanna call them], and his dew claws were removed the day of his birth. He still has all four of his “thumbs” on his paws and his feet, since it was just the claw removed. I always talk to him about his “toe tufts” because the fur over-top sticks out a little bit. He just turned 9 on the 3rd.
I know how it is to have a dog who didn’t have their dew claws removed when they were born. Lulu, also a Blue Heeler, had hers removed when she was 4 months old. The same time she was fixed. She only had dew claws on her paws, not her feet. The vet had to amputate both thumbs, because the claws had set into the bone, and it was no longer possible to remove just the claws themselves.
She passed away early 2012 at age 10.
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☙ #224 KOI GB '22 Young Qi'LinYears back we had a beagle pup with dew claws on his front and back legs. When we got him neutered the vet also removed the dew claws, as like others have said, its way easier to remove them when young, and before any accidents. Since Odie ,the beagle, was going to be a rabbit hound and would be doing lots of running through the woods, an accident with his dew claws would have been guaranteed. He didnt seem to even notice that they had been removed 😉
Sorry to hear about your dog! Jynxx that one is cute too! I used to have a border collie and before him we had a lot of rescued mixed breeds through the years, terriers, spaniels, other collies, etc. My mom would rescue them and foster them and find the m homes and we would keep the odd one until it passed away. I honestly don’t remember my dogs having dew claws or having problems with them.
Our Siamese mother cat Cookie ended up having another litter before we could get her spayed and two of the 4 kittens were polydactyls with extra toes. We found out their stray father was when we trapped him and took him to a rescue to get neutered. So one kitten we kept has 6 toes on each foot including 2 extra dew claws on the front feet that stick out kind of funny. He looks like he’s wearing mittens so we named him mittens. A couple of the dew claws seem to turn in a bit and seem a bit looser than the other toes so we are keeping an eye on them and keep them trimmed so hopefully he doesn’t catch them on something. So far we haven’t had problems but I am sure they are different than dogs that way.
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Yes, Kim you’re right about the cats. The entire time I worked as a vet tech I never saw a cat come in with ripped dewclaws. I think cats are just more self aware and picky about where and how they place their feet than most dogs.
I had a cat for 14 years with 7 toes on each foot, front and back. It never gave him any trouble at all. As a matter of fact he soon learned how to nab flies out of mid air. He was so good at it I can’t recall him ever missing one.
I used to tell him he would miss if he didn’t have catcher’s mitts for paws. lol.Looking for:
"COSMIC SHIFT DRAGONS and KI-RINS" and the "OCTOPUS TANUKI TEST PAINT #1"I think polydactyly in cats is a different mechanism than dewclaws on dogs. Dews are vestigial toes, normally present (in front) on all dogs/wolves from birth, not attached to the skeletal structure of the leg although there may be a vestigial splint of bone attached to them, and they usually posses the remnants of a normal toes’ metatarsal bones. (rear dews are not present at all to my knowledge in wild canids, and with rare exceptions they have no bone or cartilaginous structure)
Polydactyl toes (a dominant genetic trait, as Kim’s kitties show) are usually true toes in excess numbers. They have normal toe bone structure and musculature; in many cases, at least some of the toes can have the claw extended and retracted with the normal toes, giving normal functionality. They are located at the paw, instead of higher up the leg as with a dog’s dews (rear dews may be down by the paw). I saw lots of polydactyls and have owned several; I never saw one with a problem with the nails growing around, except for one old cat on her 8th front toes who never had a problem when she was younger.
The polydactyls we owned were when my family moved to a rural area up in Maine; they were traditional, owned and bred on the farms Maine Coon cats, not the registered show strain. The farmers up there/then considered the polydactyly an identifying trait of a true Coon Cat as much as the size, coat and hunting prowess. They called them ‘snowshoe paws’ and thought they functioned as snowshoes in the deep winter snow (maybe, but…). They certainly didn’t hinder the cats!I think the extra toes (polydactyly) on some cats is comparable to the extra fingers some humans have; the extra toe (front dew claw) all dogs are born with is comparable to the chestnuts on horses- the first is a duplication mutation of a normal structure, the second a vestigial structure.
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