My dog keeps licking his paw. Is his nail split or broken? What to do?

I would be hesitant to do anything at home as it may be too painful. The dark part is likely old blood and discharge over the nerve part the shell protects. The shell is displaced exposing thisbtissue. Often times they need to be sedated to have it cleaned and trimmed back past the break to get to healthy tissue. You can try to soak it warm water to see if you can clean up around hr nail and get the discharge gone but it may be too painful to do. I would get him to your vet for this when you can

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! While it is hard to say exactly what is going on without seeing a photo, it is possible that Devon somehow broke his nails. The blood you are seeing may be due to the quick, or the small blood vessel that runs through each nail being exposed. This is pretty painful and can be why Devon is constantly licking. I recommend getting him an E-collar or “cone” to prevent him from licking and causing further trauma and having him seen by a vet who may prescribe pain medication. I hope this helps!

Swelling, pain/discomfort and itch, redness, discharge of the area involved are all possible signs. From what you described it may be possible that the nail bed is infected or there may even be a comminute fracture of the last phalanx. A check up is unfortunately needed to confirm this clinical suspicion and treat appropriately. Antibiotics may be needed. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

Hello. It looks like she may have broken that nail and the hard “shell” of the nail is lifted off of the quick which is the pink fleshy part. This can be painful which is why she is probably licking it. It is best to have your veterinarian trim this back and maybe bandage the foot. If it is trimmed back, the nail will regrow .

Hi, I think the old nail should be removed. It would also be great if we could prevent Marley from licking the area as this can cause inflammation and infection. I know this is tricky given Marley’s breed ! Another thing you could do is bathe Marley’s paw in diluted Chlorexidine twice a day, dilution is normally 1:10 (i.e. one part of chlorexidine to 10 of water ) but even to make a very diluted pink solution will do and dry up with a clean cotton cloth afterwards. Hope this helps !

Not dangerous, but it does hurt a lot. I would recommend taking Colossus to the vet tomorrow. Some types of nail damage may need oral antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. You will need to prevent him from licking since it will delay healing and can lead to infection. You can cover the foot with a sock or have him wear an e-collar.

Loki’s paw is clearly bothering him. It could be he injured the paw, have a foreign body, or a growth. I’d have this checked out by a vet on Monday. To stop him from licking until then, put an Ecollar on him. You can make one at home or buy one at a pet store.