Pain not going away

[rottielover2004]

Ok, on sat Harley ripped his claw badly. The vet put him on Metacam. Which I accepted thinking he was correct to do so. Well after doing alot of research on this drug ( being working in the pharma field) I can. I refuse to continue with this drug for what I call minor pain. He conciders it not so minor.
I started today with buffered aspirin. Now I know it will not work remotely as well. How can I help him with the pain. The pain really does not seem to be subsiding or getting weaker.

Thank you in advance
Harley's worried mommy

[debbiej]

after your last post, I did a search on dog's broken or torn nails. not on this site, but on the internet. there is a lot of info out there, but it does sound like a fairly common problem, and the removal of the nail a common fix. I usually don't give my dogs pain meds for things that need to heal. nature uses pain to encourage animals to stay quiet when something needs resting. can you give Harley a nice raw knuckle bone to take his mind off of his toe? If there is no infection, and the vet has checked it recently, how about just keeping him on strict crate rest with a bone and trying not to worry about it.

[hmeadq]

Rotties are typically VERY stoic. So much so it often hurts the dog because serious problems with hips, elbows, shoulders, even cancer are not diagnoised as timely as we'd like. So if he is behaving like he's in a lot of pain. Trust him that he's in A LOT of pain...

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

Aspirin is commonly used for dogs but can cause stomach bleeds. There is a risk with all drugs. Just something to keep in mind.

[LunaBell]

Originally Posted by Diane Heller-Vaccaro

Aspirin is commonly used for dogs but can cause stomach bleeds. There is a risk with all drugs. Just something to keep in mind.

This is very true. If you are still concerned with pain talk with your vet and discontinue the aspirin.

As far as pain management keep him strickly confined and keep him from licking the paw at all. Sometimes a warm compress helps with the throbbing associated with this injury, but him continually walking on that foot will definately cause additional pain.

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

These injuries can be a particular pain because they require the dog to be crated. That is the best way to keep the dog from moving about and help the healing process. If he is licking the injury you may need to use an e-collar.

[rottielover2004]

he is pretty good about licking it, or should I say not licking it. I say the aspirin will have alot less neg effects than the metacam. Hopefully it will only be a couple more days. From what ppl have told me, he should have been fine by now. Well he is not. We do not go for walks, just outside do buisness, and back inside. No infection. But why won't the pain subdue ???

[jazzie23]

Maybe he's in too much pain or it might be deeper than you think. Did you take x-rays? How about removing the nail (is that an option)?

[spidey]

Aspirin slows blood clotting, so it is not a good idea to use aspirin for a dog with an injury like this. Short-term use of Metacam shouldn't be a problem, or ask about Deramaxx or something similar for pain relief - I think you may be underestimating how painful this injury can be, there is a lot of nerve supply involved.

[hmeadq]

Could he have done something else to his foot? Dislocated or broken something? Maybe thats why he hurts so bad and is not improving as fast as expected...

[rottielover2004]

It is an option, but the vet said honestly not to do it, not worth putting him under. It will just take some time to heal unquote. No xrays were taken, found found the exact source with the great coop from my Harley. He tried to sqirm away alittle, but he held out his paw as we cleaned it. We saw the break

[rottielover2004]

I am not underestimating how painful it can be. The vet showed me in detail, and explained in detail. So you are saying that Metacam is actually safer to use than aspirin.
At least short term

[Bruce Lanthier]

My Buster did this about 4 yrs ago. He broke his nail in half and the quick was just hanging out. He really didn't show any pain from it at the outset. We were playing pretty hard and I didn't notice anything until we went inside and he left a bloody paw print where ever his fore paw landed. I looked at it, saw that it was busted off. We went back outside for a leisurely stroll as it was very cold and I figured that the cold ground would help stop the bleeding. That worked and we came back in, he licked it a bit and that was that. He limped a little the next couple of days but not much after he got up and walking. It healed up just fine.

[Bruce Lanthier]

I would use ascriptin if I was going to use aspirin but I agree with spidey, it is not a good idea with a bleeding injury.

[spidey]

Originally Posted by rottielover2004

I am not underestimating how painful it can be. The vet showed me in detail, and explained in detail. So you are saying that Metacam is actually safer to use than aspirin.
At least short term

Personally, I would ask for Deramaxx, I think it's safer than Metacam. If the bleeding has stopped, aspirin is probably okay, but injuries like this often open up again pretty easily and aspirin can mean that it clots more slowly than it would otherwise. For short-term use, I think that Metacam is probably fine as long as your dog is healthy.