Dog Chewing toenails..... Suggestions

[punk-a-doodle]

I have a heeler who was adopted as an extremely anxious dog. She has since calmed down, but still nibbles her nails when she is either stressed or bored. It seems to be a nervous habit for her. She doesn't bite or lick her feet, but goes click click click on her nails...even her dew claws somehow, especially if...woe of woes, something has been moved in the house. Love her to death, and definitely don't mind not having to trim nails. She does an awesome job between that and running them down.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Forgot to mention that she never comes close to making them bleed though. I would definitely try to break that habit before it becomes ingrained, since he takes it to an extreme. Bitter tasting but safe substances on the feet may work, or Velcro dog booties which you can buy or make (check out dog carting and dog sledding forums for patterns). Some dogs don't do much of anything when their owners are gone (is. We have a backyard, but if our little girl is out back alone, she just waits by the door...first month of having her, we took her camping in a huge forest...someone left the zipper flap open and we was sure she was gone forever, but all night rather than run wild, she waited patiently for us to wake up right outside the tent door), so check for signs of separation anxiety. Finding out what is triggering what kind of anxiety will be helpful..or seeing if it is anxiety at all. Finding things or making things like puzzle feeders can help. Our dog bonded strongly to our cat, and curls up with her when we work, so sometimes another pet can help. Sometimes it makes things worse. Bones that take a long time to chew, or finding other forms of stimulation while you are gone can help. When home, some dogs feel tops when learning tricks, some being brushed, some playing a game of ball, but there is probably something your dog loves doing with you, so make sure you schedule in some dog time each day. If deep seated and unresponsive anxiety is proven to be the cause, some homeopathic, herbal, and medicinal treatments exist. These things should hopefully help.

I wouldn't rule out irritation of the nail beds or feet though, since the chewing is so focused.

 

[LyonFuzz]

Just a thought, but could it be lupoid onychodystrophy? It's an auto-immune disease that affects nails. It's very treatable, but painful if not diagnosed and gets bad. Take a look.

http://www.grassmere-animal-hospital.com/SLO.htm

 

[MrsKemmerlin]

Give him something exciting to do while you are gone, to pass the time. Maybe there's a bone, hoof or toy that he goes crazy for? That would give him something to look forward to when you are leaving instead of the dread that you are leaving him behind... Just a suggestion

 

[CherylM]

My dog does the exact same thing. He chews the nail sort of-though is mostly going after the quick area underneath, which causes blood to spurt out when its opened up!!! He does not chew his actual toes at all and they are very healthy looking. He has lost no mails (as you would find eventually with SLO-the autoimmune disorder mentioned by others). After months of treating this as a behavioural concern (e.g. anxiety, boredom) with extra exercise etc. or as pain (torn open initially while in the yard playing), as well as tx for it as an allergy, and a fungal infection.

People were very quick to suggest it was behavioural....however, he only ever chewed his nails when we were not watching him...usually sneaking upstairs to a bedroom by himself and chewing them...so its obvious it wasn't attention related in retrospect...oh well...

We did three months of Selsun Blue then Niazoral (spelling??) soaks (multiple times per week), and oral Ketakonazole before the surgery when we thought it was a fungal infection.

We also for several weeks each in separate trials: apple cider vinegar soaks, Oil of Oregano spray several times a day (we all hated the smell and no effects were observed), Coconut oil, and Colloidal Silver (found out he is extremely allergic to metal!!).

In treating it as an allergy, we fed only raw deer meat for 3 1/2 months (plus one month on deer dry kibble vet food) and the only change was that he lost lots of hair! He has now been on pork for 5 months. No changes were noticed with any of the diet changes (except for the hair loss!). The hair grew back immediately after the deer trial ended. We had him on benadryl until recently...it didn't seem to do much, but it slowed him down.

Our vet offered to do investigative surgery and so we decided to put him under anesthetic and test for a few things (he is a great dane, now 6 yrs). Our vet took a sample of one entire nail and underbed (quick) and 6 samples from each of his actual toes. In this process we were able to rule out SLO and determined that he had a staph infection. She also sent a full blood panel to the US (we are in Alberta, CAN) for concern with possible Thyroid dysfunction (mainly because of the hair loss at that time), which came back excellent as with all his other levels. He was on Tramadol after the surgery and seemed to really benefit from pain management - poor fella has probably had a lot of pain along the way with all the quick's being torn open so frequently.

He has been on antibiotics (a levaquin was necessary according to the chart) for the staph and now its been 5 months and it is still not resolved. The antibiotic chart showed 2 months tx was required so we are well over that now. I am hoping we can give it a try for a different antibiotic.

We are able to manage him chewing open the quick's by keeping him in dog boots (only the back two feet are damaged), which I wash frequently with vinegar and then plain water rinses. We have about 4 pairs of XXL Muttlucks thank goodness. We went through a phase when he was really at them and we fashioned a cone out of 3XXL cones screwed together - attached to two 1 1/2" dog collars...it was quite the thing to see.

I am pretty much out of ideas for tx but we are all happier and more relaxed about it than we were a year ago when this all started. We have decided we can live with the big fella wearing dog boots for the rest of his life should that be necessary...but boy would it be nice not too.

Cheryl

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Could be an allergy to grass, my friends dog had this every summer, quit when there's a frost, otherwise my Aussie had an autoimmune disease that caused her to chew her bottom end, and eventually her nose started to ulcer, pemphigus, different varieties of it, affects different parts, she takes low dose steroids for it.