Our dog snapped his claw a few days back, whilst performing a sonic boom start after a cat in his garden.

It is snapped half way through at the point the nail meets the quick. He's spending a lot of time licking away at it but it doesn't seem to be causing him any obvious pain.

Does he need the vet, or can I do it with a set of clippers, or should I just leave it alone?

Antibiotics might be a routine treatment for this sort of injury, in addition the nail night need trimming back to prevent further trauma. Vet.

If you hve a really wussy dog, some kind of uber-inbred pedigree genteel thing then maybe, just maybe the vet. Otherwise DTFU! If you had done a similar type of injury to yourself would you need to go to A+E?

Hmm opposing views then…

I bet the cat's laughing at him 😆

If you had done a similar type of injury to yourself would you need to go to A+E?

If I ripped half my nail off, yes! In a quiet time, of course…

If it's just the nail that snapped / torn – no.
If the quick is not damaged nor exposed – no.
I'd trim the nail.
That's what you'd do if you tore your nail but did not bleed.
If the quick is not damaged, not bleeding, exposed or in any way compromised nor it's likely to be when he's walking on it (different to when he's just licking it), it's unlikely to get infected.

Should be OK, ours used to (getting bit old now) snap theirs from time to time. Try to stop it from getting worse, grass instead of rocky ground etc

Just keep it clean of muck after walking. Vet if thinks look inflamed or he becomes peaky.

It is split right up into the quick (just) and did bleed a bit when he did it. It's obviously bothering him as he's spent a large part of the evening licking it.

Think I'll do the vet thing tomorrow just in case. Cheers for opinions.

go to the vet.

Humans have the choice whether to go to A&E and they can tell each other if this is causing pain whereas dogs cant. If it looks sore to you and the dog is paying it attention then get it seen to

Phoned the vet first thing and she said to bathe it in salt water solution – if he starts limping, take him in.

He's still licking his paw but now looks absolutely disgusted after every lick, so it's a lot less frequent! Perhaps I could buy some of that vile tasting stuff that worried parents give to nail-biting adolescent girls 🙂

Mine did this recently, nail bed was exposed with a old half of the nail hanging off. Vet gave her some anti biotics. If the dog is licking it then its bothered so keep a close eye on it and keep it clean. It got better in a matter of 3 or 4 days.

He's still licking his paw but now looks absolutely disgusted after every lick, so it's a lot less frequent! Perhaps I could buy some of that vile tasting stuff that worried parents give to nail-biting adolescent girls

i'd imagine the dog is licking it as saliva has a mild antiseptic effect. that's why they do it, leave him to it unless you feed him foetid road kill.

My staffr broke a dew claw a few weeks ago, she just DTFU'd. Wasn a case of her having too much traction playing oout in the snow with the kids that diud hers, light bleeding only.

Re cats & dogs, my brother has a Manchester terrier that gets teased by cats parading in the garden, a few weeks ago the stoopid mutt got so stressed by one cat in particular that the dog had a fit! Resulted in vet sending for an MR scan etc to rule out tumour etc.

Re human nails, the wife has really odd big toe nails, and half ripped one off a few years ago, attended A&E, had a lignocaine ring block to numb the pain, then the medic just pushed it back down.

Last couple of times she's done it I've just pulled whats left of the nail off, and told her to WTFU.

Saline solution will have a mild antispetic effect.