Torn Toenail

[Danielle]

My dog recently splintered her toenail. At first pieces of the nail were hanging off, which eventually fell off. Then I noticed it looked sort of raw underneath - no blood though. I looked at it yesterday and it looked like something referred to on the internet as a "bloody stump". It's a raw bit of flesh that's been exposed because a portion of the nail fell off. It's not bleeding though. I wrapped gauze around the foot last night and the swelling has gone down because my dog hasn't been able to lick it as she has been doing. Is there anything I can apply to her wound such as topical cream in order to speed the healing? This has never happened before. Is there anything I should know about these sort of nail injuries? Will it heal on it's own if she doesn't keep irritating it with her licking??

[Renee750il]

Betadine or Neosporin ointment are good choices. The Betadine might stain carpeting or furniture, though. You might want to first clean it out thoroughly with hydrogen peroxide. It will tickle her with the fizzing, so be prepared to hang onto her.

[Danielle]

Is this the Neosporin that you can just buy at any drug store? I'll try that out, thanks. I'm always leary about using human creams or treatments on dogs because I'm not sure if they react differently to certain things.

[Renee750il]

Yup. Plain old drugstore Neosporin. There's a thread with good info on what to keep in your canine first aid kit - I think it's in the Dog Health Care Forum.