Started my Molly Dog Blog a couple of years ago now. But life's stresses and strains made me forget to post particularly as Molly has had an immune system disease called Lupoid Onychodystrophy which attacked all her claws. It has been horrible.
We go up to Scotland a lot and two years ago Molly couldn't settle on her sofa for the night and was in obvious pain. It looked like her foot was causing the pain or her leg or her side. See my previous blog about Bad Vet Man.
I was on my own with her and although it was 10pm in the evening thought I'd better get hold of the local vet rather than wait until the early hours when it may be worse - and pay more. We have a small cottage up in the hills and along a track so its pretty remote. Phoned the vet and he agreed to meet me at the surgery.
He saw what the problem was. One of her nails had split, was obviously infected, and causing her pain. Up goes Molly onto his table. He holds her paw, turns around before I could blink, grabs something that looked like pliers, locks onto her nail and yanks it off, white muscle bits as well. She screamed and leaped off the table. The vet smiled and said job done. I was totally shocked.
Molly recovered well.
Six months later down the line - and I am not saying that she got such a shock from the barbaric nail pull in Scotland but that was one of the theories - she was playing in a stream (Molly heads for water wherever it is) and yelped. She refused to put her left hind leg down. I had to haul her home with a combination of help from a total stranger, and half carrying her. Off to my home vet and he thought she may have pulled a ligament. Moll's not insured. But the good news was it wasn't a pulled ligament but every single one of her claws on every single foot was infected and very painful for her.
My vet was good but didn't know what could have caused this inflammation. You do though go along with what your vet says. Poor little thing had all her nails taken off under a shot of sleeping stuff and had all her feet cleaned, dressed, and given anti-biotics. She limped for weeks. I had to help her to the loo in the garden. It was an awful time.
It didn't seem to be clearing up so we went to Dick White Referrals in Newmarket, Suffolk, near where we live luckily. Rosario was brilliant. He knew instantly what it was. He confirmed my internet diagnosis that it was Lupoid Ony.....thing. It is a disease of the immune system but something had triggered this. It could have been anything but my bet was on the nail pull in Scotland. Moll was put onto lots of different pills and was put on special vegetarian dog food and extra vitamins and fish oils.
She has now been totally recovered for a year now and only takes special oil pills to strengthen her claws and to keep them in good condition. And hopefully she has forgotten about the experience a lot.
But nah Molly hasn't really forgotten as about once every so often I do check her nails (all strong and squat but healthy) she pulls away and tail goes between her legs and she looks so downcast. Then I release her paw(s) and she is so happy I get a run around the room where she is obviously joyous - nothing is wrong.
Every single black labrador owner I meet I often mention this disease. Its not uncommon in certain other breeds of dogs BUT if your dog has black claws its very difficult to notice anything wrong in them. Its a good idea to really check to see if claws are split and brittle which may indicate something more serious.
Its worth thinking about.
She has gone white around her muzzle and the odd white hair growing where black once did BUT she is healthy and although she's now 9 years old she skips around like a puppy.
