Okay everyone, somehow my puppy got overlooked at the vet when the breeder took his litter in. They all got their dewclaws removed except him. He is now 9 weeks old and the vet says only surgery can remove them. I don't know what to do. Should I get them removed or do they really not cause that much harm?
Dewclaws...what should i do?
- Thread starter cowgurl6254
- Start date
Buster runs around in the scrub a lot. but he has his dew claws and hasnt had a problem yet. but we do worry when he disapears and comes back with a deep cut on his face that almost hit his eye... ahh..
sophie doesnt have hers. they were removed before we got her. loks like they were done with a pocket knife or soemthing. must have caused her a lot of pain poor girl...
sophie doesnt have hers. they were removed before we got her. loks like they were done with a pocket knife or soemthing. must have caused her a lot of pain poor girl...
I have two labs and a shepherd. They are all working dogs. Only my yellow female had hers removed. She has large scars where they were located.
The other two dogs have theirs intact. They are strong and not "hanging".
I have never had any problems with any of them.
I would take a real look at the dews......... Are they Loose and hanging? Do you think they will get caught on something? If your instinct is "this could be a problem" then by all means look into getting them removed.
If they are strong and "close" not hanging.......Then in my opinion, they really don't cause much problem. If they don't look "like a problem waiting to happen" then I think it is better to leave them alone.
Hubby always jokingly calls them "ice grabbers" cause Charlie (with dews)can usually make it back over the ice in a half frozen river with a goose in his mouth, but Shiloh (dews removed) sometimes can't get back over the same ice with a goose from the water.
It is only your decision neither is right or wrong. Whatever will cause less pain in the long run.
The other two dogs have theirs intact. They are strong and not "hanging".
I have never had any problems with any of them.
I would take a real look at the dews......... Are they Loose and hanging? Do you think they will get caught on something? If your instinct is "this could be a problem" then by all means look into getting them removed.
If they are strong and "close" not hanging.......Then in my opinion, they really don't cause much problem. If they don't look "like a problem waiting to happen" then I think it is better to leave them alone.
Hubby always jokingly calls them "ice grabbers" cause Charlie (with dews)can usually make it back over the ice in a half frozen river with a goose in his mouth, but Shiloh (dews removed) sometimes can't get back over the same ice with a goose from the water.
It is only your decision neither is right or wrong. Whatever will cause less pain in the long run.
If you keep them and then find that they often get caught or torn on things, you can wrap them with bandage or tape before your dog goes out running or hunting or whatever it is your dog does. That will keep them from getting caught on something and injuring the dog.
My dogs have theirs, and they run through heavy brush, and have not yet managed to injure themselves. I don't think it's a big deal unless you have a working dog.
My dogs have theirs, and they run through heavy brush, and have not yet managed to injure themselves. I don't think it's a big deal unless you have a working dog.
Cowgurl, my dog Harley had dew claws on both his front and hind legs. They were supposed to remove his hind dew claws when he was being desexed as a puppy but the vet must have forgotten. Anyway, last year (when he was 9 years old) I think he had about two incidences where he got them caught on something, so when he had an operation last year we got the vet to remove them (he couldn't get rid of the front ones though, as they were attached to bone). If your puppy's dew claws aren't hanging then it's probably less likely that he'll catch them on anything and I wouldn't worry too much about removing them.
I think it's the front dew claws that are more likely to be attached to the bone, and therefore they are much harder to remove (and also less likely to catch on anything), the dew claws on the back feet will most likely be attached by skin and they are the ones that need removing. Usually dogs only have dew claws on their front feet.