We Play Ruff

Molly Tamale can hang in there with the big dogs, that much is clear.  She gets in there with the play growling and neck biting with the best of them.  Which is why we didn’t think too much of it the other day when we heard a small yelp out of her during a particularly rowdy play session with her brothers last week.  After all, she is smaller than they are, we figured she got stepped on or something.  She went right back to roughhousing and she seemed just fine.

Then over the weekend, we noticed her start to favor her back right paw a little bit.  When we took a closer look, to our horror we noticed this:

It’s a little hard to tell from the picture, but one of Molly’s toe nails had broken clean off!  All dogs have a vein that extends down into their toe nails, called a “quick.”  If a nail gets broken too low and the quick is exposed, it can bleed and is very painful for them.  (Ever heard the expression, “cut me to the quick”?) 

We got her into the vet as soon as we could on Monday. She must have known we were there to make her feel better, because she was very polite in the waiting room. She sat patiently and quietly until it was her turn to be called back to see the doctor. 

The doctor trimmed back the rough edges of the nail and cauterized the open wound to stop the bleeding, so the nail can heal and regrow itself.  Molly hobbled away with a pretty new bandage and a round of antibiotics.  She will soon be good as new!

She was still a little uncomfortable last night and was reluctant to put weight on it, but as soon as we got home she retreated to her sanctuary, where she spent the rest of the evening, happy to be home.

Of course we blamed ourselves for the entire ordeal…We’d been meaning to give Molly’s nails a trim for about a week, we just hadn’t gotten around to it.  We know that keeping our dogs’ nails trimmed up nice and short can help avoid ingrown nails, splits and tears in the nail.   A good rule of thumb (paw?) is that if you can hear your dog’s nails clicking on the tile or wood floor, then it’s time for a trim.  We like to use a Dremel on our dogs, because instead of sharp edges, it leaves the nail nice and smooth. 

So what have we learned?  One: Keep dogs nails nice and short – Molly’s nails grow at a speed that requires a trim about once every three weeks.  And two:  always remove the lens cap or hold onto it securely to keep it from clicking against the camera or bouncing into the frame when taking video:

If you’re interested in adopting Molly Tamale, please fill out an application with Agape Animal Rescue.

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