[Howard Nye]

Hi all,

Two days ago Margo caught her toe-nail / talon on a towel on the way to the vet. It happened again at the vet and somehow Margo managed to actually tear her toe-nail / talon off! They were able to stop the bleeding (including by using a K2 injection), and I took her home on Tuesday. They did trim the rest of Margo's toe-nails / talons, we're now using bed-sheet cloth instead of terry cloth to handle her (to minimize her getting her toe-nails / talons stuck), and we're keeping Margo in a plastic dog kennel so she doesn't climb on things and re-injure her foot. Margo didn't bleed again until Wednesday evening when I had to handle her to change her bedding and give her her meds (metacam for the pain and injury). But this time it wasn't the toe with the lost toe-nail / talon that bled, it was the toe right next to it that has the toe-nail / talon still intact. Luckily it didn't bleed that much and soon stopped bleeding.

I've let our vet know, but I was wondering if anyone might here might have any input on what might be going on, and what we can do to treat the condition.

Thanks so much,
Howard

 

[kayosa]

Sounds very similar to hoof problems in horses. Healthy laminae keep a horses hoof bone attached to the hoof wall. Horses that are overweight, poor metabolic function, pituitary function, or on a high sugar diet can have hoof issues, including where the outer hoof actually starts sliding off the bone(sounds like the same thing).
Horse supplements that help such a problem have Omega 3 fatty acids, hops, antioxidants and msm.

 

[Jay3]

Nothing you can do but let it heal. She may have pulled on the other nail at the same time, just not enough to pull the nail out. I learned long ago that with pigeons, you can use terry if it is a very old and worn out towel that is very short looped. Not the nice new ones with the long loops. Claws catch easily in those. You do know that you can press flour on it if it is bleeding a lot, right? I keep a powder to stop it.

Not the same as horses. They merely get the claw caught and pull so hard to get it out that they can sometimes come out. This can happen if they get them caught in a screen or anything. Also if they get too long, and are not kept trimmed, it is more likely to happen.

 

[Jay3]

Oh Howard, I meant to ask how it went at the vet. Was he able to help her beak? Do you have pics of the new look?