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| This overzealous reenactment shows how a dewclaw can be snagged in tall weeds during play. |
My dog has snagged both her dewclaws (the oddly placed claw
that sits rather high up on a dog’s front legs and is probably evolving into a
thumb so she can more easily grasp a beer for me out of the fridge). A dog rarely has these claws on her hind
legs, and if he does he may get teased and bullied at the dog park because he
has polydactyly. The whole 5 clawed
arrangement on the back legs is called hind-limb-specific preaxial polydactyly. Rolls off the tongue.
I took my dog (we shall refer to her as “her own poop
breath” to protect her identity. OK no, her name is Molly. Molly the doodie snacker) to the vet because she snagged her dewclaw. It bled and she cried. I do not want to hear that crying again as it
made my mommy instincts curl up into a ball of horror. I asked if it would be best to just have them
removed. My vet, Dr. Jennifer Kistler,
said she sees these injuries very frequently, but the removal of the front
dewclaws is essentially major surgery. Since
my vet is awesomeness in a lab coat, that was enough for me, but for you guys I
will throw in another expert.
According to Dr. M. Christine Zinc, a consultant on canine
sports medicine, designer of
rehabilitation and conditioning programs for
canine athletes and an award winning author, in her article “Do the Dew (claws),”
this accident prone little digit is attached by five tendons. The muscles attached to these tendons atrophy
if they are not used, causing trouble for the dog like carpal arthritis and
joint injuries, which are much more trouble than a dewclaw injury.
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| Yin and yang: A sister to rest with always makes the healing process more enjoyable. |
When a dog runs, this little claw does in fact hit the
ground and helps with turning.
If your dog happens to have dewclaws on his hind-legs are
your troubles doubled? No indeed. Your freaky little dog’s back dewclaws are
not made the same way as the front and basically are held on with skin
only. Some dogs even have more than one
little claw back there, all huddled together like a bunch of tiny bananas
hanging from a hairy banana tree.
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| Damaged dewclaw. |
At the end of the day the reason her nails snagged was
because I allowed them to grow too long.
The dewclaw is relatively easy to overlook, but when it grows into a
macaroni shaped C or worse: a tight curl snagging at rug fibers, tall grass,
blankets and dog bed threads, you are asking for trouble and the dog’s the one
who feels it. It’s going to take some
work but I think she’ll forgive me. I
learned this lesson about dewclaws the hard way.
-Kiki Nusbaumer
-Kiki Nusbaumer
