Dogs are by far the most commonly kept pets in North America and Europe where the vast majority of our readers live.
With dogs being so popular in the areas where our readers live, it is not surprising that we constantly see large numbers of questions from the dog-owning community about how they are able to take care of their pets and treat some common problems that can occur with dogs.
One of the more common problems that we see people asking about their dogs that can sometimes end up being a serious problem is when their dog’s nail bends sideways.
Your dog’s nails can end up bending sideways for a number of different reasons with many dogs accidentally bending their nails due to running on uneven terrain but we still see a number of dog owners thinking that the problem is due to something they have done.
With so many people reaching out for advice on what to do if their dog’s nail is bent sideways as well as many people failing to realize just how serious of an issue this can end up being, we have decided to publish our dedicated article on the topic.
Our hope is that we will be able to help as many of our readers as possible as well as their dogs that have a bent nail and we have broken our article into three specific sections to try and do this with our table of contents below being able to help you navigate the article easily.
What To Do If Your Dogs Nail Bent Sideways!
If you notice that your dog’s nail has bent sideways then you should look to get a veterinarian to check your dog over as soon as possible as this can quickly develop into a serious issue due to high pain levels and possible infection.
Do your best to initially clean the bent toenail if it has ruptured the skin but this can be painful for your dog making the task hard but we would not recommend that you try to bandage the wound.
Depending on the flooring in your home, bandaging the paw of your dog with the broken nail may make it surprisingly difficult for your dog to walk around.
One of the best things that you are able to do is to book a video call with a veterinarian to have them quickly check over your dog’s bent nail as these video calls tend to work out to be much cheaper than the majority of trips to your local veterinarians.
Depending on the exact situation, the vet may recommend that you bring your dog in to have the bent nail cut right down to try and promote healthy growth but in some situations, they may recommend that the nail be re-sat to try and grow straight again.
Both options have a high success rate but there are a number of variables involved in deciding what option you should take to give your dog the best chance of its nail healing so the advice of a vet is highly recommended.
Can a Dog’s Bent Nail Heal On Its Own?
It is very unlikely that a dog nail that is bent sideways will be able to heal on its own and there is a high chance that if it is just left as it is, the injury may end up infected or result in long-term damage to your dog’s paw.
This can then end up causing problems with your dog’s ability to walk normally with any possible infections potentially resulting in even worse problems over time.
We fully understand that it may take weeks before you realize that your dog’s nail is bent sideways as some dogs don’t show signs of having problems with the injury right away.
Although it can be tempting to just clip the nail that is bent sideways on your dog right down, we would never recommend that you do this yourself as it can end up making the situation worse.
Many people who try to cut their dog’s nail that is bent sideways will end up accidentally cutting the quick of the nail that not only contains blood vessels causing the nail to bleed but also nerves.
If you accidentally hit one of those nerves then the situation becomes considerably worse and we would always recommend that you let a veterinarian so any type of nail cutting to fix the nail that is bent sideways to avoid this.
In some very rare situations, a quick and easy operation may actually be required too but this really is rare and the majority of our readers will not need this treatment.
What Are The Risks of Leaving A Dogs Nail Bent Sideways?
Leaving a dog’s nail bent sideways presents a number of risks ranging from the initial injury becoming infected to the nail bending the toe causing damage in the paw, to the nail that is bent sideways growing long enough to penetrate part of the paw and presenting another infection risk.
All of these can end up developing into a serious problem that can potentially result in your dog not being able to walk easily so we would highly recommend that you have the sideways nail treat as soon as possible.
These are commonly overlooked by people who notice that their dog’s nail is bent sideways resulting in many people just leaving their dog with a bent nail and putting your dog at risk.
We really would recommend that you book a short video call with a veterinarian to have them check your dog over via the camera on your smartphone and offer their professional opinion on how to move forward with the injury.
In some situations, the vet may recommend that you just clip the nail down a little bit to allow it to reseat itself to see if it will grow normally but in most situations, you will often need a specific treatment to fix the nail.
The most important thing to remember is to avoid just leaving the injury in your dog though as it really should be checked out by a professional for them to work out how it should be treat to prevent any further problems.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over what to do if your dog’s nail is bent sideways to an end. This is a relatively common injury in dogs so we see a large number of people reaching out for advice on what to do and we really would recommend that you seek advice from a vet as a sideways nail in dogs can end up causing a number of problems in dogs. For the most part though, your dog should be fine provided it gets the correct treatment for its nail injury with the majority of dogs making a full recovary.
