Claw

Question
Hello Dawn.
I have a 6 year old male Germand Sheperd/Lab.  A couple of days ago we trimmed his paw furs to reduce the slipping as we have hard wood floors.  Ever since we trimmed the paw furs, he has been bitting one of his claws on his back left paw and is pulling out the claw.  He is licking all the floors and carpets...even people!  He has been whining constantly and acting very weird around my other dog(when he walks by him he perks up his ears and gets the weird look on his face).  He is also shaking.  He is epileptic but is not have seizures at the time.  His claw is coming out and it is facing upswards and I think it really hurts him.  Is there anything at home we can do or does he need a vets attention? We are trying to stop him from pulling it out as much as we can.  Thank you for your help.  Nicole

Answer
Hi Nicole,  It sounds like he has gotten an infection in his toe.  If the claw is coming out, then you need to take him to the vet as the claw may need to be removed.  It sounds like it got infected, he just aggravated it and made it worse.  If it wasn't for the claw actually coming out, you could have treated it with triple antibiotic ointment and gotten an E collar to keep him from aggravating it more.  I would get him into a vet as soon as possible.  In the meantime, go to one of the bigger pet stores and get an E collar for him so he can't do anymore damage.  Hope this helps,

Dawn