Is her nail okay?

[Ali925]

I know I can always call the vet on this, but I thought I would check here first for anyone who has experienced this…

Exactly a month ago, Oreo got her nail caught in our cable box…those tiny holes on top…don’t even ask!  She cleared the grids we had blocking it and got herself caught, hanging by her nail..It was pretty awful, and I only looked away for a second right as it happened…  Anyhow, it was pretty scary, I safely got her free, but her nail came completely off and she was bleeding all over our carpet (new beige carpet btw…) and luckily we got her back safely to her pen and by then the bleeding seemed to have stopped before we needed to do anything for her.  She was obsessively grooming it and licking it, and was able to stop the bleeding on her own. 

I called the vet as soon as it happened and we were told as long as the bleeding could be stopped it would be no big deal.  I think it made me more upset than Oreo, because as I was speaking on the phone with the vet office, Oreo was flopped out in her pen and shortly after was pushing on her pen to come back out to play!  I’m relieved she was fine, and didn’t hurt her arm or anything (she was hanging in the air when it happened…it still freaks me out thinking about it again) ..  So now it’s been a month and I just took a look at it last night, and I was just wondering how it would look if there was an infection or anything?  That has been the one thing I’ve been worrying about since it happened.  She has been completely normal since that night, no limping, no signs of pain, no change in eating or behavior, etc…but I just want to be sure if it was problematic that I didn’t overlook it.

It seemed like it was black on the end, and that’s all I could see.  It didn’t seem red or anything, no oozing, etc..and if it were infected it would have manifested itself by now I hope?  I think the black is probably just dried blood ? or it’s just a tiny part of the injured nail remaining that will likely fall off completely?  I didn’t want to fuss with it too much, just wanted to get a good look at it..

 

Thanks in advance. 

[Elrohwen]

It sounds like she’s fine to me. Infections are usually quite painful and feel hot to the touch – if it was going to be infection I think it would be by now. I’d just keep an eye on it and take her in if she starts bothering it or favoring that foot.

[Stickerbunny]

Infection after a month would have manifested – you would notice the area to be quite hot, red, inflamed and after so long likely a smell to it from pus. It would also be tender for her. If you can’t tell anything is wrong other than the missing nail and she isn’t showing any signs of pain, I would say she is OK!

[Ali925]

Thanks Elrohwen, I just needed some reassuring on this one!

[Ali925]

Thanks for your input too Stickerbunny, I agree completely!

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