Injured thumb claw?

[FluffyBunny]

For those of you who didn’t see my last thread, my rabbit Mr. Bunny injured his paw while running to get treats about a week and a half ago. He was holding it up a lot, and he continued doing that for a few days.

Shortly after that, while examining his paw, I noticed that his thumbnail was bent at an odd angle and seemed to be longer than normal. I checked it out, and it seems that he broke his nail when he got it caught on the rug, but it didn’t fall off. Instead, it looked like the base of the nail and some of the inner quick had scabbed over. I decided to just leave it alone and let it heal.

Well, it’s been a few days, and he just keeps reinjuring the claw every time it starts feeling better. I examined the claw again a few minutes ago, and it’s much longer and more bent – it’s almost in an L shape now. The nail doesn’t look healthy at all, and it looks like most of the quick has either disappeared or scabbed over inside of the nail. It looks like the nail has started just bending under his paw (OUCH) when he tries walking on it.

Is there anything I can do about the claw? It’s very, very sensitive, but it looks like I could clip part of it off, since most of the quick is gone. Is there any way I can remove the claw? If not, how can I keep him from reinjuring it over and over again?

[Michelle&Lolli]

Since it looks like the quick is gone (make sure with bright light), I would try to clip the nail some. If he absolutely won’t let you, it might be time for a vet visit – even if it’s just to clip his nails. Just clipping nails is cheaper than actually scheduling an appointment. I suggest a nail clip at the vet’s cause our little buns are usually better behaved for strangers than us.

In terms of preventing nail injuries in the future, I think the only thing we can do as caregivers is make sure their nails are as short as possible.

I have no idea what she did, but one of Lolli’s dew claw nails is like pointy sharp. I could see if it was one of her normal nails – it getting caught on the carpet and ripping. But the dewclaw? huh? lol

[Isabelle]

I would also suggest a nail trim visit, and see if perhaps a vet is warranted. You don’t want an infection to set in.

[Lintini]

If he’s showing that it hurts him I would just take him to the vet and have them check it out. It sounds like he just tore the nail off, which of course hurts bad but it would be best to have the vets look at it for you encase that isn’t what happened.

[Sarita]

Oh no! Poor Mr. Bunny – if there’s any infection then the pen-g will help with that I would think.

[Dee]

Wow- I was just reading another post about a hurt bunny nail and commented that nail injuries are probably common in buns before I saw this- I guess they are REALLY common. I’m a big wimp about anything like this, so I would take him to the vet. Then again, if he gets really stressed in the car like mine do, it’s kind of a hard call. It sounds like you are pretty skillful at caring for your bunny, since you can actually examine his hurt nail (my buns would never allow that)… but a vet’s opinion is always reassuring. No matter what you decide, I hope Mr. Bunny heals up quickly!

[FluffyBunny]

Yes, as Sarita said, Mr. Bunny is currently on a strong Penicillin-based antibiotic for another problem. I’m really not concerned about infection at the moment.

I tried clipping the nail yesterday when I gave him his injection.

It’s obviously extremely painful – the poor rabbit was breathing heavily the whole time. The claw was entirely bent under the paw – no wonder it’s been so painful! I also got a good look at it. It looks like it was broken and partially torn out at the base of the nail. Also, the claw was cracked down the middle, which explains the scabbed-over quick and how the nail got so bent. I managed to clip about half of the claw off. I checked on him this morning, and although the claw still seems very sore, he seems to be hopping around a lot better now that it’s not bent under his paw. He even jumped over my body when I was playing with Ms. Rabbit!

I’m hoping that the claw will heal normally now that it’s shorter.

EDIT: Dee, yes, bunny claw injuries are extremely common. He’s actually hurt his claws (the pinky nail and another “fingernail”) twice before. Thumbnail injuries aren’t quite as common, though. I have no idea how he caught it on the rug!

And yeah, Mr. Bunny is like your bunnies – vet visits are a huge ordeal for him. The poor bunny shakes uncontrollably the whole time he’s in the car.

[FluffyBunny]

Well, the nail fell off today. I decided to clip his claws so that this wouldn’t happen again. I noticed that in the sore claw, the last bit of healthy quick turned blue, so I checked it out. As soon as I moved the claw, the whole thing easily came right off. I would have cleaned the wound, but I didn’t think to get out the emergency bag before clipping the claws. I’ll try cleaning it out later today.

I made some other strange discoveries. First, Mr. Bunny is missing BOTH thumb claws! I have no idea how he lost the other one, but it looks like it fell off at least 1-2 months ago, so I didn’t bother it. Second, Ms. Rabbit is also missing both thumb claws! On one foot, it looks like an old injury – probably from before we adopted her. On the other paw, it looks like she never had a claw there in the first place. I think she was either born that way or lost it at a very young age.

Forget my whole comment about how thumb claw injuries are uncommon.

Mr. Bunny seems to be doing much better now that the claw came off. He seems to be more active, and he isn’t holding up the sore paw as much. Unfortunately, his other paw seems slightly sensitive now too, since I handled his other (old) thumb claw injury. 

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