How do I deal with dog's split nail that's really bothering her?

[SquirrelsAreGo]

I'm sure you'll have a solution!

Milly occasionally has a split nail because she has very interesting places to walk in the bush here in Oz. Usually I notice a bit has come off, but she doesn't.

This time it's split right down to near the quick and it's obviously really bothering her because she's going through bouts of licking it obsessively.

Would it help if I filed it a bit? There no bleeding, she's not limping, and I'm sure it's not hurting especially, because she's taking pain meds at the moment for her back. But clearly it's causing her some kind of grief.

Her claws grow very quickly, so I suspect it will be fine at the nail bed within a few days, but meanwhile...

Thank you!

PS I can take her to the vet on Monday, but we've got about 48 hours intil then.

Cutting it shorter (but not to the quick) will reduce the pressure when it touches things. It's the physics of a lever - the longer it is the greater the pressure exerted from contact. It's the same when my nail extensions get too long - I get a sort of 'bruised' feeling, and taking off length really relieves it.

I wondered about Bitter Aloes but Google says it’s toxic to dogs, but maybe there is something else you can paint on that DDog would hate the taste of.

Genius, thank you so much! This is why I needed to ask someone who wasn't in the middle of fretting!

I would rather do this because clipping her nails is very difficult (they're black so impossible to see where the blood vessels start), but she's dealing with so much at the moment, and finding eating difficult, so don't want to put her off any more than she is already..

But something to stop dogs chewing their paws is a good product idea!

One of my dogs did this a few weeks ago
She snapped the nail right at the base so the quick was exposed and unfortunately part of the nail was still attached at the side so it was very uncomfortable

I trimmed the wost off at home and then the vet took some more off and gave us a cone of shame to wear
She was walking normally again the next day
We were told she needed the cone for 4 weeks as my girl likes to worry at things lso would have made her toe worse
Luckily by 2 1/2 weeks the nail had grown enough to take it off

I was advised to salt water wash it regularly and not walk on hard surfaces too much

Hope your dog is feeling better soon

Trim and superglue

Thanks everyone, great ideas. It seems she's ignoring it if she's tired, so will keep her well exercised, and keep the paw clean

Can you try putting a baby sock over the foot and sealing it with adhesive bandage tape to stop the licking, we’ve also got some boots for when we go out to keep foot dry, anything to do with paws seems to heal quicker if covered up.