Dewclaw Removal

Wizard01

Has anyone had their dogs rear dewclaws removed when they were older?

The vet said he will remove my Bernese's when she is 6 months old as he will be able to do her anesthetic then.

She's 5 months next week and i'm dreading it!!!!

If anyone can answer these questions, i'll be delighted

Will she be in pain after it?

How long will it take her to recover?

Can she walk after it?

How long will it take her to heal?

Any advice appreciated.

marley123

OMG - why on earth are you De Clawing her????

Wizard01 wrote: »

Has anyone had their dogs rear dewclaws removed when they were older?

The vet said he will remove my Bernese's when she is 6 months old as he will be able to do her anesthetic then.

She's 5 months next week and i'm dreading it!!!!

If anyone can answer these questions, i'll be delighted

Will she be in pain after it?

How long will it take her to recover?

Can she walk after it?

How long will it take her to heal?

Any advice appreciated.

marley123

Apologies - didnt read the post correctly & jumped the gun!!

Why do her Declaws need to be removed?

ISDW

Are you planning on getting her spayed?

If so, then I would ask for the procedure to be done at the same time.

Outkast_IRE

My dog is 5 now and has had dew claws all her life , they dont affect her whatsoever , all we do is bring her to the vet once a year or so to trim them .

Were you told they would cause the dog problems?

ISDW

marley123 wrote: »

Apologies - didnt read the post correctly & jumped the gun!!

Why do her Declaws need to be removed?

Rear dewclaws can get caught on things very easily and be pulled out, causing a lot of pain and distress.

Chris_Heilong

I think they are called dewclaws, mine has them but they dont bother him and have never caught onto anything.

My guy had tore his a few times at this stage. He would come in with blood running down his leg. Never really bothered him. But i hate thinking about it being removed. I can imagine the crack ! :eek:

ISDW

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

My dog is 5 now and has had dew claws all her life , they dont affect her whatsoever , all we do is bring her to the vet once a year or so to trim them .

Were you told they would cause the dog problems?

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

I think they are called dewclaws, mine has them but they dont bother him and have never caught onto anything.

Do your dogs have dew claws on their back legs?

Outkast_IRE

ISDW wrote: »

Do your dogs have dew claws on their back legs?

Yes , they dont stick out loads like they do on some dogs , iv seen some dogs and they stick out almost at 90 degrees to the leg and i can can see how they get caught etc.

Chris_Heilong

No Front, it is rare enough to find them on the back but it does happen, the Dewclaw is not connected to the bone as far as I know and is an evolutionary leftover, like wisdom teeth and the appendix in Humans.

ISDW

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

No Front, it is rare enough to find them on the back but it does happen, the Dewclaw is not connected to the bone as far as I know and is an evolutionary leftover, like wisdom teeth and the appendix in Humans.

Front ones are totally different to the rear, very few dogs have them on their back legs, they have a tendency to get caught on things much more than on the front legs.

The OP is talking about rear dewclaws.:)

Wibbs

Oh they can get caught alright. Happened to my childhood dog. blood and gore everywhere :eek: He had to get them removed too. Simple enough op IIRC.

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

No Front, it is rare enough to find them on the back but it does happen, the Dewclaw is not connected to the bone as far as I know and is an evolutionary leftover, like wisdom teeth and the appendix in Humans.

Yea the odd thing is the dogs ancestor the wolf doesn't have them. If one does it's used by researchers as a definitive sign of breeding with domestic dogs.

ISDW

Wibbs wrote: »

Oh they can get caught alright. Happened to my childhood dog. blood and gore everywhere :eek: He had to get them removed too. Simple enough op IIRC. Yea the odd thing is the dogs ancestor the wolf doesn't have them. If one does it's used by researchers as a definitive sign of breeding with domestic dogs.

Ah ha, or maybe it could be used to show that domestic dogs don't come from wolves;)

planetX

my dog ripped his, so I had the other one removed when he was neutered. There was only one stitch, but it caused him more discomfort than the stitch he had 'elsewhere', and took longer to heal.
I don't know if it would be worth an operation by itself. If you're planning to neuter have it done then?

are you serious

Wizard01 wrote: »

Has anyone had their dogs rear dewclaws removed when they were older?
I had one of Izzy's done at 9 weeks long story, breeder made embarrasing mistake thought he done both, it was so small. Everything went fine.

If anyone can answer these questions, i'll be delighted

Will she be in pain after it?
NO
How long will it take her to recover?
There is not much healing required, apart from the cone you wont see any difference once you get her home.
Can she walk after it?
YES
How long will it take her to heal?
Izzy was back in vets 9 days later to have stitch removed no sign of any scar, perfect job done by the vet..

The vet will give her a cone so she wont be able to lick where the bandage is! I wouldnt worry too much it is a small op.
As has already been said above, if you are thinking of having her spayed I would get the vet to do both at the same time!

mickmcl09

Alot of show dogs have them removed. I not sure of the specifics, ie whether it's a requirement for some breeds to have them removed from a showing perspective.
From a practical point of view, only dogs that frequent overgrown areas, ditches and the likes really need them to be removed. E.g. Working gun dogs should have them removed.

Cherry Blossom

I highly recommend anyone that has any intention of ever taking their dog to a groomer get the back ones done. Much better to be done by a vet under anaesthetic than done illegally and without anaesthetic by some idiot that thinks they know better, causing pain and distress to your dog and a lifetime worth of issues with groomers and vets from that point onwards.

Chris_Heilong

ISDW wrote: »

Ah ha, or maybe it could be used to show that domestic dogs don't come from wolves;)

No, thats not true, problem is scientists keep looking at American Wolves when in reality there are many types, saying dogs didnt develope from wolves is wishful thinking by some:P

Kali_Kalika

My girl Kali now has her front dew claws removed - not by choice but by vet recommendation - when she was around 6 months old one of them caught in some grass, a stick I honestly dont know what but after a romp in the park I noticed blood running down her leg, nothing major but enough I knew something happened - her dew claw was nearly torn out - she was due to go back for a post-op check of her spay so he checked the dew claw then and said it would be fine and we left it alone.

Every so often she'd catch it again - not as badly as the first time - but enough to get a bit of blood around the dew claw area - finally she caught it good and it came completely off - rushed her to the vet and he said as it was gone not much he could do other than tidy it up and clean it and dress it - he then examined her other front dew claw and said that 99% chance something similar would happen to that one - so we agreed he'd remove that one as well since she was going to be put under anyways.

The op. was fine and I collected her a few hours later - she had a few stitches in each front paw but wasn't limping (she was limping when we went in originally) but you could tell she was a bit tender on her feet and I made sure to lift her into the jeep. Immediately she got into licking and nibbling (not full chewing just nipping at it) the bandages on her legs - he'd given me a bit more to use as patches if she got working on them. I quickly ran out of that and while looking around in tescos for something equal to it to use (this was really late at night and I didnt want to bother the vet just for more tape!) no luck in the health section but I did spot childrens long sleeve tee shirts (3 for 3 euro!) so I scooped them up - they were the perfect fit for her and the sleeves were too long so they fully covered her paws so she could only lick and nibble the shirt and not get to the bandages or wound below. It was the best solution! And the deal made it so I had a constant rotation of them (one for muddy walks, one for lounging in the house and nipping out back for wee's and then one for bed time!).

The vet advised 1 week of rest for her - no jumping, no fast walking - only a 5 minute shuffle up and down the street 2 times a day. Which she actually seemed to accept so I know it was a bit sore for her. After the week was up we went back for the stitches to come out - she'd gotten a bit of an infection in one of the sites so he cleaned it up - more anti-biotics and another week of rest for her. On the next check up all was clear - infection was gone and the stitches came out.

Overall - its not something I'd have done by choice - but it happened so we had to deal with it and as the vet said it would have eventually happened with the other dew claw so it was best to deal with them both at once even if only one was being an issue. I know it was sore for her, especially with the infection then as well - it really wasn't a fun process for her. But after the stitches came out and she was approved for full exercise again she was tearing around the place without a bother on her. Her fur has fully grown in on her legs again so you could never tell that anything has been changed with her paws either by look or by watching her. I dont think she's even noticed or cared that she doesn't have them anymore - she's just happy not to have to wear the tee shirts anymore!

ISDW

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

No, thats not true, problem is scientists keep looking at American Wolves when in reality there are many types, saying dogs didnt develope from wolves is wishful thinking by some:P

Have you read the Ray and Lorna Coppinger book?

Zapperzy

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

I highly recommend anyone that has any intention of ever taking their dog to a groomer get the back ones done. Much better to be done by a vet under anaesthetic than done illegally and without anaesthetic by some idiot that thinks they know better, causing pain and distress to your dog and a lifetime worth of issues with groomers and vets from that point onwards.

You've heard of groomers removing them? :eek:

Cherry Blossom

Zapperzy wrote: »

You've heard of groomers removing them? :eek:

Have had it done to my own dog!

Zapperzy

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

Have had it done to my own dog!

That's horrendous, just because it's not connected by bone doesn't mean you can snip it off, that's like a beautician snipping off the tip of your ear, how could they even think to do that. :eek: Did you report them? Are they still open?

Cherry Blossom

Yes and yes, a lot of people I spoke to at the time didn't seem to think it was a big deal, I was even asked was it not normal to do that and my vet (same practice as the vet nurse who recommended them) said ah, he's done that before, the vet nurse (a personal friend) insisted I must be mistaken and she didn't have them to start with :rolleyes:. This made me wonder how I could actually prove it and I 'gave up' eventually.

Zapperzy

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

Yes and yes, a lot of people I spoke to at the time didn't seem to think it was a big deal, I was even asked was it not normal to do that and my vet (same practice as the vet nurse who recommended them) said ah, he's done that before, the vet nurse (a personal friend) insisted I must be mistaken and she didn't have them to start with :rolleyes:. This made me wonder how I could actually prove it and I 'gave up' eventually.

That's sickening, I wonder how many other dogs he's done it to. Shocking how a vet would know about it yet seem unbothered by it.

Cherry Blossom

Ah, see we're 70 years behind the rest of the world up here . I have heard similar stories from other people elsewhere in the country since though, but I was pretty shocked that no-one else seemed to share my horror!

Zapperzy

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

Ah, see we're 70 years behind the rest of the world up here . I have heard similar stories from other people elsewhere in the country since though, but I was pretty shocked that no-one else seemed to share my horror!

Oh don't I just know, I seem to spend all my time up your neck of the woods these days (well the county in general, don't know what part of it your in). Well I share your horror, thank dog my fella doesn't have rear dewclaws, and there's only one groomer I trust 100% with him!

Wizard01

Thanks for all the replies everyone

I hate the thought of her being put through it but I know its for the best.

Her rear dew claws are huge and catch in everything, even the rug we had in our hall had to be lifted because she was forever getting caught on it, there are 2 of them on each foot, they just seem to hang off her feet and as we live in the country it will just get worse as she gets bigger.

The vet is removing them in March. He said she should be fine as she is such a placid puppy but it does take longer to heal in larger dogs

Wizard01

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

I highly recommend anyone that has any intention of ever taking their dog to a groomer get the back ones done. Much better to be done by a vet under anaesthetic than done illegally and without anaesthetic by some idiot that thinks they know better, causing pain and distress to your dog and a lifetime worth of issues with groomers and vets from that point onwards.

I can't believe the groomer did this to your dog, that's awful!!!! She must of been in so much pain.

Did you report this so called groomer?

I hope she isn't still in business!!