Toenails insdie rear paws?

[cml9076]

the other day I was just looking over my 1 year old boxer, Jeter, and I noticed for the first time that he has these small toenails in the middle of his rear paws. They aren't even hard nails but more like nail-shaped cartilage. Is this normal? Has anyone else noticed these? I ask because he seems to spend a long time licking at those paws and I didn't know if it was because these nail-like protusions bothered him or some sort of skin irritation. Thanks for your help.

 

[boxer]

cml9076: As advised in the rules, and again in the email you received accepting your membership application, you need to post an introduction in the introductions forum before participating elsewhere on the site. It is just basic politeness. Without an introduction, you also risk your account being deleted automatically.

As for the extra toenails... are they located on the inside of the leg above the foot? If so, they are dew claws. Many dog breeds have them. Boxers usually only have them on the forelegs, and they are also usually removed in the first couple of days following birth. The reason for removing them is that they tend to catch on things and can tear painfully. If they're not causing your dog any problems though, there is no need to do anything about them now.

 

[cml9076]

Thanks for the info on the introduction, I must of missed that. I've now put one up.

As far as the toenails go, no they are not the dew nails, these are actually right inside the paws, in between his toes.

 

[boxer]

Wow - sounds more like some sort of genetic mutation. There are actually one or two dog breeds around that have five or six toes, but I haven't ever previously heard of a boxer with them, whether fully developed or not.

Have you spoken with a vet at all? One can imagine that additional claws between the toes (just one on each foot?) could cause a bit of irritation if they rub against the 'real' toes. If they're bothering him at all, it would probably be a pretty simple matter to have them removed.

 

[Jelena2727]

CML9078, Did you ever find out what the nail growth was? I noticed my boxer has these too? Thanks!

 

[cml9076]

They started off looking like clear nails but they never really finished forming so then they started to splinter and were more cartiledge than nail (like a softer substance). Then, one day, we noticed they turned into little black nails that weren't really solidly connected and we started noticing them falling out (we'd find them on the carpet) so I actually looked closer and saw that the ones that hadn't fallen out, I could actually pull them off very easily. They were coming out of the inside of the paw. After I removed all of them I kept an eye on the inside of his paws and in a couple of days the area where they came from completely healed over and now you can't even tell anything ever happened. This all occured over a period of two months (give or take a couple of weeks) and hasn't occured since. I did notice he was licking at them quite a lot when it happened but other than that they didn't seem to bother him. Its still a mystery to me as to what they really were (just a mutated gene that caused nails to semi-grow inside his paws?) but they haven't come back.

 

[gmacleod]

Thanks for the update
LOL - incredibly curious though, isn't it? I'd love to know what exactly that was and what caused it.

 

[Clover's Mom]

Clover has something kinda like that, but it isn't that. On her front paws she get's them, they are black and at first I thought they were scratches that had scabed over. They aren't scratches and they come off very easily. So I started thinking it might be dried tar...but it's not that either. It doesn't seem to bother her.

 

[Jelena2727]

Thank you! It's so weird. I'm taking Sherman to the vet tomorrow afternoon. I'll let you know what they say. Hopefully it's nothing, but I'm worried they might affect his walking, the ones that are under his foot and in between the pad. I wonder where they came from! Wish me luck!

 

[gmacleod]

Do let us know what the vet has to say. I had a bit of a hunt around online and the only thing I could come up with that sounded remotely likely was cutaneous horns. Not a huge amount of information around on that though, let alone pictures.