toe nail injury

Question
my 7 year old rott mix recently had a nasty tear with one of her toe nails.  after it happened, i cut off the part that was hanging, washed it, put some powder to stop the bleeding and then covered it...it has been a few days and it seems to be healing okay.  this was her "pinky" toe on her right paw.  today, i noticed she was licking her paw again and when i went to check it out, there is a bump on her "ring" toe next to the nail that was injured..i wanted to see what this could possibly be...an infection? broken knuckle? or merely just an irration that occured when the broken nail was turned into that part of her paw?  it is about the size of flattened pea on the knuckle of her "ring" toe...it's not red and doesn't feel like it's filled with liquid...more like a hard bump....please let me know what you think.  thanks.

Answer
It is definitely possible that she broke her toe at the same time she tore off the nail.  The only way to know for sure is to have it x-rayed.  If it is broken, then they will typically only bandage it, but they can also prescribe some anti-inflammatory medication for her so to ease her discomfort.  It is also possible that it could be an infection (in which case she will need antibiotics so will still need to see the vet), or she could have even caused the irritation herself from licking too much.  At the very least you need to keep her from licking her foot.  You should be able to pick up an Elizabethan collar from your local pet store and/or some bitter apple spray to deter her from licking and causing any more damage.  You can also bandage it, but if you do make sure that she doesn't eat the bandage or you will have even bigger problems.  I hope she gets better.

Amanda