Sad puppies...-Dewclaw day

[Billie]

Ugh---
dont know who hates dewclaw day more, the babies or me!
I dread it- I hate holding them and hearing them cry. Granted, at 3 days,they do feel the pain but its usually over pretty quickly,but I hate it!
I dont have mom anywhere nearby when the vet comes to do it- I put her in the cab of the truck-turn up the radio and move it out by the kennel! She didnt know a thing-
I would not "not do it" but I dont like it much. Could take them in and drop them off at the vet I guess,but dont like to take them in at all, dont like people's mitts all over them!

[windycanyon]

Karen,
A couple litters ago (Mata & littermates) I asked the vet (actually the boss of my normal vet who no longer does the dew claw procedure) to consider doing them at 1 day old as I had them there w/ mom for a check over for her... I wasn't liking the feel of her mammary glands so had taken her in for a clean out and check up. The vet and everyone laughed at the "mutant babies" as they were already WALKING, but the vet said no, he never did dews before 3 days. At 3 days, those pups were a handful... strong! The vet told me it was really unusual in his experience to have such vigor in young pups, but in the future, he'd listen to me. When I decided to breed Fuji to the same dog a year later, and saw the same precocious activity, the vet agreed to do them at 2 days. They were still very strong, but it was so MUCH easier on all of us and he agreed he'd not wanted to wait another day either. With my last litter, I was too tired to even know what day it was, and scheduled the dews for day 2... and it was a cake walk once again. I'm going to try to stick w/ day 2 from here on out. Anne

[Hidden Valley]

Going to do my litter thursday.

[Billie]

Anne
I've done it at two days too. It is about as easy and maybe easier-
But they still DO SCREAM! ugh....
I could never have a breed that needed tails done too...

[Howard N]

Anne
I've done it at two days too. It is about as easy and maybe easier-
But they still DO SCREAM! ugh....
I could never have a breed that needed tails done too...

I've been lucky. In two litters I've never had one scream. They fuss and cry a little while it's being done but as soon as they're back in the crate with the others it's done and they're quiet.

Both litters were done at 2 days.

[Larkin]

We do them (CBRs and Foxhounds) between 1 and 2 days. Some whimpering and fussing, but no screaming. I like having the vet check them over asap, and our vet is excellent about keeping a "sterile" area -- we come in the back, he does it in an operating suite and hands the puppies back out to us, and back to the truck.

I had a rescued adult coonhound with a torn dewclaw once-- what a mess, and the poor boy was lame and sore for quite awhile. It is sad though, the poor little mites.

[1st retriever]

I seen this done for the first time when I worked at the kennel. We had some min poodle pups born during their stay and the owner wanted nothing to do with them so we "leased" the mother until they were old enough. They screamed with the dew claws but they really screamed when they did the tails! Course I about passed out but that's beside the point!

[windycanyon]

Anne
I've done it at two days too. It is about as easy and maybe easier-
But they still DO SCREAM! ugh....
I could never have a breed that needed tails done too...

I must have a vet w/ good technique. Mine just squeak a quick one and that's it. Do you hold them for the vet? Are they being held upright or on their backs? Mine have gotten way more cantankerous (sp?) if held on their backs...

Oh the reason my regular vet doesn't do dew claws is because she absolutely refuses to do ears and tails. At least she's not "opposed" to removing dews, but it was just confusing so she opted to let the other 2 vets at the clinic do all of that.

[cshive]

Explain again why the dewclaws are removed?
Is it just for test or something elsse?

[cgoeson]

On field dogs dewclaws can get caught or torn. They serve no purpose, so it's an easy way to prevent injury in the future.

I took mine to the vet and it just took a couple seconds. There was some whining & crying, but it would stop almost immediately when we set them down.