callie’s toenail fell off…help!

[sleepy538]

 i cut callie’s toenails, and always have with no problems. i’ve been putting it off, so her nails got really long. tonight i finally cut them. all went well until the second to last nail, on her left back paw. i started to cut it and she flinched, and her entire toenail fell to the ground. it started bleeding, which i stopped. i cleaned it, she cleaned it, and now she seems fine.

when i cut her nails, the part that comes off is usually solid. the middle of the nail that fell off is hollow. what does that mean? i picked her up to check her toe just now and it appears like there’s a red/pink toenail there. is this the inside of the nail? is it a vein? she has dark nails, by the way.

she’s eating now and doesn’t appear to be in any pain. i’m just afraid of whatever’s left there. i don’t feel the need to take her to the emergency vet. i’ll call my vet in the morning. 

i saved two toenails, a normal one and the hollow one that fell off. here is a pic. she wouldn’t let me get a pic of what it looks like now

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left side, hollow nail. right side, normal nail. 

thoughts, suggestions, and positive vibes are appreciated. 

[manic_muncher]

When the blade cut into the nail, enough of it had been severed around it that when she flinched it just pulled the rest of the way off. The pink part you see is equivalent to the pink under our nailbeds, in animals we’d call this the ‘quick’. As long as it isn’t still bleeding and she’s eating and acting normally otherwise, I wouldn’t worry about it. It may be a little sore for a bit and she might not run around as hard because it would be pretty tender. The nail will grow back over it, in the meantime the end of the quick will toughen a bit so it won’t be as tender as when it was first done. Keep an eye out for bleeding, you may have to stop it again if she rubs it hard against something when running around, like getting traction on the carpet.

She should be fine, though she might express her displeasure about the nail trims in the future!

[sleepy538]

thank you for your reply. callie is doing just fine today. she was not happy with me inspecting her toe this morning, but i gave her a piece of cantaloupe afterward which got me back on her good side!!

[jerseygirl]

Toe (((vibes))) for Callie. This happened once with Jelly’s dewclaw. It did eventually grow back.

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