Get those dew claws removed

pitbulliest

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#21
I think the chances of the dog catching its rear paw's dew claws is greater than the front ones..however..with that being said..I don't think its necessary to get dew claws removed..some people do it, some dont..its a complete option.. both my dogs have their front dew claws and I've never had any problems...thank God...
My suggestion is to keep them short and tidy, and there shouldn't be a problem. And for the love of bajezus, don't remove your dog's dews when its older...because it bloody hurts!!!
 
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#22
I've seen the loose ones more often on small dogs. They're only attached at the base with a thinnish band of cartilage and if they're floppy. Those are the ones I've heard people talk about having problems with; catching on things, tearing off - all the horror stories.

Call your vet and ask to talk to him about it before Thursday. If it needs to be done, now's the time to do it. As Pitbulliest says, don't do it after you're dog's grown - it's much too traumatic then.

And may I say as an aside . . . people - don't de-claw your cats! Trim their nails. How would you like to walk around with no toenails or fingernails to cover that tender skin? Not to mention being utterly defenseless in an emergency!
 

snookums

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#23
Renee, you should have seen the look on the vet tech's face when I said I wanted to ask her about getting the dew claws removed. She thought I wanted to DECLAW my DOG. I'm all, "Nooooooooooo, DEW claws!"

Anyway, she was groomed today (went ok, although she didn't get the pretty pink bows I was hoping for) and the groomer said that it didn't matter, and especially since she is a dog that will need to be groomed periodically, that I can be assurred that even if I flake on trimming them, they won't.

So, I think I am leaning towards leaving them on although I am going to get a good look at them when my husband comes home to make sure they aren't "floppy." They are actually pretty hard to find under her fur - you have to dig for them!
 
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#24
If they're that small and unobtrusive, it's probably a pretty good guess that she shouldn't have a big problem with them catching on things. Just get a good look, talk it out with your husband, the vet, and/or whoever you need to talk to to make yourself comfortable with your decision.

In the end, there's no definitive right or wrong answer; it's all circumstantial and you can't foresee the future with any certainty; you can only make an educated guess.
 
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Smooshie

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#25
Renee750il said:
Actually, Karen, what your vet told you makes a lot of sense and is very responsible, not wanting to put an animal under the stress of general anesthesia for dew claws - especially since it would mean a nice fee for some relatively easy work. If you keep the nails on those dew claws trimmed and filed off smooth it should keep problems to a minimum.

We've been fortunate that all of our dogs' dew claws have been the type that lay right in next to the concave part of the muscle above the foot and have never had any problems. Oddly enough, I've watched our Filas actually seem to use them holding onto things. I've never seen dogs do that before.
My male Boxer still has his dewclaws...I too am lucky that they lay flat. He has yet to catch them on anything (so far so good).
I don't have any experience with Filas but I find it interesting that they seem to use their dewclaws for holding...I have observed this same trait with my Boxer.
 

RD

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#26
To add to Renee's comment about declawing cats...

How would you like it if you had no end digit to each of your fingers? And how would you like to endure this:

You imagine the guillotine dog nail clippers. Picture them a bit bigger and sturdier, and then picture them clipping off the end digit of all 5 fingers!

I've seen LOTS of surgeries, from spays and neuters to eye surgery to the amputation of legs, and I still find declawing the most unnerving. I just don't like seeing a bunch of kitty toes sitting on the operating table. :(
 
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#27
Renee750il said:
I've seen the loose ones more often on small dogs. They're only attached at the base with a thinnish band of cartilage and if they're floppy. Those are the ones I've heard people talk about having problems with; catching on things, tearing off - all the horror stories.

Call your vet and ask to talk to him about it before Thursday. If it needs to be done, now's the time to do it. As Pitbulliest says, don't do it after you're dog's grown - it's much too traumatic then.

And may I say as an aside . . . people - don't de-claw your cats! Trim their nails. How would you like to walk around with no toenails or fingernails to cover that tender skin? Not to mention being utterly defenseless in an emergency!
We had our cat declawed in the front, as we were trying to avoid upsetting my Yellow Lab who was a "cat hunter". It took over a week to get him to ignore the cat as it was, and almost another week to let the cat loose in the house with him. He never really cared one way or another about him after that, but other cats were open targets, and he would do whatever he could to "get" them. I didn't want Orville to scratch him, and have something bad happen. A 92 pound dog against a (at that time) 1 pound cat was no contest, claws or not. When he was 28 pounds, his teeth were a decent defense.

We hadn't heard how it was supposed to be traumatic to them, etc, until later on. We took him to the vets in the morning, and he got neutered, and had the claws done, none of the techs or anything mentioned the declwing at all. He never even acted like anything at all had happened to him! We let him out of the carrier later when I picked him up, and he came out and did that little sideways dance thing he did when he was wanting to play, and ran around and ate fine. I would probably not have it done if I ever get another cat though. With King the way he is, I've passed on a lot of free cats, and I don't really want to go through the week or two of hassles waiting for King to burn himself out....
 

snookums

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#28
Small update...

She was spayed on Thursday (and doing great, you'd never know she had a hysterectomy as she hasn't been "down" at all, but her regular usually spazzy self, even when I picked her up from the vet), and we did NOT get the dew claws removed. We were so indecisive literally up to that morning, that I told the lady at the front desk to have the doctor call me before surgery to tell me what he thought. He called, and said that unless she is out doing a lot of hunting, it's not going to be a big deal, and since she'll be good friends with a groomer all her life, the dew claws will never be neglected.

So, that's that!
 
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#29
I am so glad everything went well at the vet. If I had to decide to remove the claws, I don't know what I would 'dew'.....

Chazhound
 

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