"Dew Claw" biting

[Phillip]

Has anyone noticed their puppies biting off their Dew Claws (the tiny toe on the front paws) ??? Paisley did this the other day and now I fear she will start chewing on the bigger ones! If she did bite them off I don't know if it would hurt her or if the chewed claws she ate would hurt her tummy... anyone else experience this?

[chrissysb]

Cody has his dew claws removed before I got him so I can't help you in that regard. He does do a sort of lick/chew on his paws when he's about to go to bed. The vet told me it's like a pacifier.

You might want to have her checked out. I would be nervous about infection or if they got snagged on something and got ripped off.

Good luck. Wish I could have helped more...

[kjwarnold]

Packy licks his feet when he goes to bed, too! I always thought it was like a pacifier, and now I hear your vet thinks so, too. Too funny!

[Cairnmania]

In Cairns most breeders have their vets remove dew claws when puppies are only a few days old. If your puppy came from a pet store or a "backyard" breeder then they either don't know or don't want to spend the money/trouble to have them removed.

The reason dew claws are removed from most breeds is that they 1) are of no use to the dog and 2) are very prone to injury. It's not unusual for a puppy or dog to have the dew claw catch on a bush or something. When that happens it is easily torn or even ripped off and it is a very bloody accident and very prone to infection.

If your puppy is really chewing on the dew claw and it looks red or sore I would take him to the vet. He or she might suggest removing it.

By the way - dew claws are not located immediately next to a dog's regular claws, they are a bit higher up. If you puppy only has four claws then there are no dew claws - more than four and the dew claws were retained.

[TheWolf]

The puppy might have broken the nail and chewed off the part that was hanging. I would just keep an eye on it and keep it clean. I have never had a problem with a Cairn with dewclaws and I have hunted my Cairns over some very rough terrain. The ones with dewclaws seem to use them for holding things that they are chewing on. The Cairn is one breed that can be shown with dewclaws and it is entirely optional if they are to be removed or not. It may be a bit of unnecessary stress on a new puppy versis preventing a possible injury later on. I don't think anyone who owns a puppy with dewclaws should be overly concerned unless that individual seems prone to injuries there.

[Phillip]

Welll - the update is conclusive; she chewed them off entirely. I've found no blood and no nail 'stumps'... so i don't know how that happened. They were definitely there before - my wife and I commented how much longer they were than her other nails. I know where the claw is; my other cairn still has both of his and he uses them when he is trying to hold on to something - typically to scratch my legs up!

Thanks for the advice - I'll watch for it but it seems like she took care of the potential problem herself!