Few questions around a torn toe nail

[Depereo]

Probably more for reassurance but want to make sure we’re not missing something.

We were trimming our boy’s nails tonight, and were finishing up with his back one that’s always grown crooked and looks like a very thick ribbed nail as if there was previous damage (possibly previously broken? as he was adopted as a senior) – I did the one, two, clip, but on the clip, he yanked his foot away and the nail came away and he started bleeding. We grabbed the stypitic pen and it almost instantly stopped bleeding, but it’s winter here in the southern hemisphere, and his feet are fully furred out so its impossible to see the damage.

We’ve given him some metacam, and doesn’t appear to be limping or in pain (he’s amazing at hiding any pain tho), but we were wondering if we would know if he broke his toe?

We’re reluctant to clean the area as we don’t want to hurt him further and we don’t have an antibiotic ointment I’d feel comfortable putting on the toe. He’s in the middle of a recovery from a UTI from last week, so we’re a bit watching him as overprotecting parents already and worried that his immune system’s already working some things out.

Would it be obvious if his toe gets inflamed or starts to swell? Do bunnies get hotter in areas that are infected? Just not sure what to look out for with those furry feet and something we haven’t seen before with him.

And any advice to keep him from yanking his feet away when trimming in future (he’s good at letting me know if I’m cutting too close but likes to flick his feet if miffed)?

Thank you!

[Wick & Fable]

Firstly, a torn toenail isn’t an uncommon occurrence and from what I’ve been exposed to on the forums, generally the best course of action is “monitor for abnormalities”. It would it most cases be obvious if it was not healing productively, such as your rabbit not putting weight on the foot, noticing him licking it a lot more often, or if there was a funky smell coming off of it (if it progressed very badly).

Continue to monitor his health-related behaviors, so appetite, energy, posture, and poop.  It would be good to just get a good sense of what the injury looks like so you can have a “baseline” to compare it to if you have future concerns.

Regarding nail clipping, it is very much a learning experience and I know every owner needs to go through their best to figure out what is safest for their rabbit and themselves. How are you managing to do the clipping currently?

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[DanaNM]

I agree with Wick, since it isn’t bleeding anymore and he isn’t limping, I would just keep an eye on it. These things happen sometimes and usually heal without incident.

As for how to know whether you are cutting too close, this video has a good technique, called the “press press clip” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9KemnaTGIs&t=86s

Basically you position the clippers and depress them twice without actually cutting. If you are too close the bun will flinch and pull away, so you know you got too close. When it doubt, it’s better (although more annoying) to do more frequent trims of a tiny bit, than trying to cut a larger amount all at once.

Some people also like to use a flashlight to illuminate the back of the nail so you can see the quick more easily, but that doesn’t work as well if you bun has very dark nails.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[LBJ10]

Sometimes bunnies don’t really reacted to the “press press clip” method, particularly if the nail is already deformed from a previous injury. You do the best you can and sometimes accidents happen. You just stop the bleeding and monitor the nail to make sure it doesn’t become infected. Infection in these cases are pretty rare since the blood typically washes any bacteria away.

[Bam]

I too have had a bun with a crooked nail. He too came to me as an adult, so I dont know what had happened. Vet thought it had been broken at some point. It grew out in an upwards curl and it was both thicker and more brittle than the other nails, so sometimes it would break between clippings. It never seemed to cause him any trouble.

I’d just keep an eye on his behavior, like the others have said. I doubt he will have any inflammation, but because you ask, inflammation in buns manifests like it does in humans, with localized redness, swelling and increase in warmth. Its just more difficult to see because of so much fluff

[Author]

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