My dog has a broken toe!
Narrated from: Dog HealthLeg injuries are quite common for dogs. A broken toe is one of the more serious problems, but there is no reason to panic. The injury is not that serious and sometimes it can even take you some time to notice that something is wrong.
You need to be on the watch if you know your dog has had an accident. A dog can break a toe if a door hits its foot, or if it falls when it is running. Nail injuries can also lead to complications.
The symptoms depend on which toe is broken. There are weight-bearing toes and non weight-bearing toes. When a weight-bearing toe is broken, it is easy to notice. The dog will limp or carry the injured foot. With non weight-bearing toes, it may be a little harder to realize that something is wrong. The dog will probably just seem depressed or lethargic – it could move less, appear listless and lose appetite.
A broken toe should be treated by your veterinary. Even if it appears that the injury is minor, it is still a good idea to pay the vet a visit – he could have an X-ray scan of the dog’s foot and determine whether there is a long-term risk.
If the dog has broken a non weight-bearing toe, there will probably be no need to splint the toe. The vet can just prescribe some medications to control the pain if he deems it necessary.
A weight-bearing toe needs to be immobilized. You can splint the toe at home, but the vet is the only one who can determine how serious the injury is. With large fractures, a surgical procedure might be needed to pin the toe in place internally.
A surgical procedure would make the recovery harder, as different complications may occur, and there is always a risk of infection.
However, in most cases splinting the broken toe is more than enough. A broken dog toe will heal in between six and eight weeks. During this period you need to monitor the dog and make sure that it doesn’t move the injured leg too much. Still, you need to find a way to exercise the dog – some sort of a game that doesn’t involve running will do fine.
And don’t worry – the dog’s broken toe will heal in no time! Soon enough your canine buddy will be ready for ‘fetch’ once again!
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