Lurker with a Nail question

[Hopalong]

Our dog has cracked nails (21 of 22 altogether). One dewclaw broke off and the other looks close. We've learned this could be lots of things including nailbed infections, SLO(auto immune) and pemphigus. The protocol for SLO is EFAs (lots) and tetracycline and niacinimide. Our vet is still working on this -- but our dog can't handle fats of any kind (EFA capsules gave him a colitis attack we're still dealing with) and it seems like we shouldn't mix tetra with occasional use of metronidazole (for colitis). Also, niacinimide improves circulation (anticoagulant) and seems like a bad choice for dog who could lose many nails and have bleeding.

Sorry for length -- anyone have any ideas? (No biopsy done, yeast was discovered and treated on paws.) Thanks so much.
PC and Hoppy

[Guest]

I`m hoping to hear some good advice for you. I would try grinding flax seeds for the oil addition. It would have no additives, and must be used fresh or frozen for storage. (I freeze mine after grinding) Also, I give my dogs a chunk of beet fat (from the abbatoir) each day.

[Nancy (Spuddie' s Mum)]

Hopalong, I find your post interesting, our Pom who came from rescue and was horribly neglected, is also a colitis dog with strange nails too. Her nails are skinny and twisted, some are kind of deformed. They don't break off though, they just seem to grow really fast and the quick is impossible to see to cut them. I wonder if it has to do with poor nutrition in her previous life, or other things as you mentioned.

My dog would never be able to tollerate any fats, especially beef fat, and although Flax Seed Oil is very good, with Colitis it does not take much of anything to make them ill so it is something that would have to be done under careful supervision. She is on I/D diet and is doing well on that. Sometimes she can tollerate a bit of canned Natural Choice with it for a treat, but mostly we stick to the I/D.

[Hopalong]

Thanks for the ideas. Unfortunately Hoppy is alergic to flax (and a lot of other things) so I haven't figured out a good way to give him any EFAs. He is high in O6 because of the beef he eats. Even the vegetarian eggs that have O3 in them are a problem for him. So...I guess I'll give up on EFA for now. Spinach has some.

As for the pom with misshapen nails, I am no expert, but it sounds like you could be dealing with nutritional deficiency. Dogs with SLO usually end up losing all of their nails -- but they do often grow back sort of misshapen. I'm hoping, since we haven't lost many and most are growing out fairly normally, that we won't have this with us for always. (especially since we can't seem to treat it.)

[k9Karen]

What about adding salmon or some other natural source of "good' fats to the diet? Canned salmon would be easy to use, but you could always fix it yourself in large batches and freeze it if your dog can tolerate it. (I'm not sure if the canned variety might have some preservatives or other stuff that your dog might not be able to tolerate)

[Hopalong]

Thanks K9Karen. I have tried Salmon but it's an allergan for him, but small amounts of (low salt) tuna seem to have been ok. So, once we're back to normal with this recent bout of colitis, I'm going to try to sneak some tuna into each meal. I guess a little is better than none!!