My dog's black, swollen, smelly nail: Is it infected? What to do?

The quick of the nail does have a blood supply in it, and that may be what you are seeing. But it could also be that King's nail is infected. Without seeing him in person, I can't say for certain. I would take him into a vet today to get checked out. Best of luck.

The nail seems attached but the nail bed is infected. The pink tissue seems inflamed but I would not jump to surgery yet. You can keep the area clean with soap and water and apply neosporin. the most important part is to stop him from licking it by getting an e collar or putting a baby sock over it. He does need to see a vet for antibiotics to see if it can heal as an open wound with that. IF that is not successful then they will go towards the surgery route

It sounds like it is infected. You could soak his paw in a warm Epsom salt solution and see if that helps. He should also be examined by a vet as he will probably need an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory to help treat the problem.

Ouch. That does look swollen. Dogs can get bacterial or yeast infections around their nail beds. If that is what is going on, the Epson Salt soaks will likely slowly make the swelling go down over a couple of days. However, if Tom is licking the nail, it will likely stay moist and have a harder time resolving. Unfortunately, there are other conditions that can occur around nail beds like tumors and auto-immune problems, so if it is not getting better, is getting worse or seems painful I would take him to your vet. i hope that answers your question. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I am sorry Waffle is not feeling well. It is hard to tell based on the picture but it appears that his skin might be infected above the nail bed. It does not appear the nail is the issue. I would recommend taking Waffle to the vet to determine where the infection is coming from and get proper treatment. hope that helps

It does look like there is some discharge/pus around the nail bed and I would recommend getting it rechecked by your vet, if confirmed she may require a course of antibiotics. Bathing the are in saline/salted water and drying carefully will help to freshen the area in the meantime. If she is very lame x-rays may need to be considered to rule out underlying factors behind the lost nail/swollen toe

The nail needs to be checked, it could be a bacterial infection or a fungal infection, these are treated differently (antibiotics or antifungal), i would recommend taking Jester to the vet in order to get it checked and treated.