[jassy]

Some friends recently adopted an adorable 10 week old beagle pup from the local humane society. Our humane society does spay/neuter at 8 weeks so he was already neutered. The first thing I noticed was that he still had dew claws. Shouldn't those have been removed at the same time he was neutered? The family has an appointment with their own vet for shots in about two weeks so I told them to ask. I am just curious how this is usually done. When I got Maggie hers had already been removed.

 

[PFR]

I know all of mine had the dew claws taken off at the spay or neuter, since they were already under. But I had to request it. From my understanding the only reason they take them off is because the get caught on things and might tear off. Maybe they could wait until they are older and if the dog needs a teeth cleaning or something like that?

 

[Mollys Mom]

Hmm. I would never think of that for a beagle but I guess it is necessary for some. My first beagle always had his dews and Molly came wit her when she came from the shelter and was spayed there. I have two greyhounds and they are prone to dew injuries, so they are often removed at the track. Andy doesn't have them but Jake does since he never raced.

 

[Artimus Beaglesworth]

Arty has his dew claws still and aside from scratching me with them every so often they dont seem to bother him at all. However, I think they are kind of creepy looking.

My friend said that it is too late to get them removed, that it only works when they are puppies.. not sure how true this is..

 

[Zookeeper]

Duke still has his. I need to see about getting them removed, but only if he has to go under for something else, otherwise they'll stay on. Weird thing is, he has them on his hind legs, too!

When the labs had pups, we had them removed when they were a few days old. Cassie's were gone when we got her, but Roscoe always had his front dews and they really never caused grief. Just that clipping them was a pain.

 

[oneshutter]

Molly still has hers. In fact, all my dogs do. The only dog I'v had without them is my saint bernard. The breeder removed them before we got him.

 

[beaglina]

My Beag still has hers too, I've never even heard of them being removed unless there was some kind of medical problem.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Chloe's were removed soon after she was born.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Jersey has front ones but not back ones. I don't know whether she was born with back ones. She came from the Beagle Rescue here and I never bothered to inquire about them. I wish she didn't have her front ones though. The nails are hard to clip and Jersey is always scratching me with them. Amber had one on her back leg that the vet took off when she was a puppy.

 

[beaglesmom]

We have a LITTLE experience here with dew claws. Some of the pups born here have had them on front and back (rare), most just on front - a few neither. Princess, Romeo and Chloe all had their dew claws - (I bought Romeo and Princess from breeders and Chloe was given to me when a lady here bought her and couldn't keep her) and we've never had problems with them - however, as a precautionary measure, when we have a litter here, they go to the vet when they're 2-3 days old and have them removed. It's just a little SNIP then, but if you wait too long it becomes major surgery. My vet charges $8.00 per pup - and it's well worth it - they get a vet check at the same time. They can get them caught (especially if they're hunting dogs) and ripped off - which can cause problems - so it's just a little thing I do to make sure that my puppies get a good start in life. Some breeders do it themselves - but I'm not that brave, and besides, I want them to meet Dr. Randy and get checked out at the same time. Yes, Jen, they ARE hard to clip - Chloe hates it! The hardest part for me was removing the adhesive tape that Dr. Randy used on the first couple of litters - I finally talked him into trying the liquid bandage - and it worked so well, that's what he does now. Taking that adhesive tape off was terrible! There's usually very little, if any bleeding anyway and the liquid bandage comes off on its own in a day or two.

 

[BookerMoose]

Booker just has them on her front and they were not removed when she was spayed (before we got her). She did get one caught once when jumping over a log on a walk and had to have it taped up for a while, but it healed fine and it has never been recommended that we have them removed.

Moosie has them on the front and the back. The ones on the back curl around and grow into the pads if they are not trimmed enough. They didn't remove any of them when he was neutered (before we got him again) - our vet has always said that we could have the rear ones removed if he ever has to have surgery for something else, but the one time he did have surgery (to remove his anal glands) we forgot to do it!

Popcorn also had them on the front and back. The ones on the back were removed when she was spayed (yet again before we got her).

And I guess since all of our hounds are city dogs, removing the front ones isn't a big issue...

 

[Pack Leader]

Henry's got his on the front. He was neutered as a puppy by the same shelter that I adopted him from when he was a year old last September (his original adoptive owners surrendered him after 10 months) but they didn't remove them. I don't have any problems with them, as I started training him to accept nail clipping, grooming, bathing, and more invasive handling right away. My previous dogs were English Cockers needing lots of grooming, so I made it easier on myself by desensitizing him. I keep them clipped and filed so they don't snag, and the rest of his nails he wears down pretty well on all his walkies.

 

[cobismom]

Cobi has his dew claws and they are a pain. If you have a pup or are getting one, I strongly recommend that you have them taken off. I was not aware of this, until we waited too long to have them clipped, like a month with his regular nails, and his dew claws had curled around. Bad mommy! Now we clip those once every two weeks, and he is way too old to have them taken off.

Our first beagle/basset didn't have them at all...it's just much safer without them.

 

[beaglesmom]

He's not really too OLD to have them removed, but it would be way more expensive, and much more difficult for HIM to have them removed. It becomes a major surgical procedure when they're older - when they're just a few days old, it's just like snipping out a nail - the nails are soft - it doesn't hurt them (oh they yelp when it's done - but think that's because someone is holding them - and then when they're put back in with the others, they stop crying). I have it done on my pups as a a precautionary measure - it's not expensive, not painful for the pups and prevents future problems when they're older. Dr. Randy charges a regular office visit - an extra $8/per pup - and gives them each a little check up when they're tiny. Depending on the size of the litter, it costs perhaps $60 for all of them - sometimes less - when the litter is small. I agree they are a pain when you have to clip them - Chloe still has hers (she wasn't born here), and they seem to grow much faster than her regular nails.

 

[Lucy's Mom]

Lucy and Flora still have their dew claws, and they haven't been a problem. Unless the dog is going to be running through lots of brush, or involved in other activities that might allow the dew claw to get caught on something, I wouldn't worry about them. The surgery to remove them (from older puppies or adults) seems so invasive for so little benefit. Just my opinion.

Sylvia

 

[Mom of 2 Beagles]

Sadie has dew claws and Pooh Bear does not. For some reason Sadie's breeder didn't have hers removed when she was a baby. I wish they had because they get so sharp!! I asked our vet about having them removed when was was a few years old. The vet said that it would be like a human getting their thumbs surgically removed. We just left them and trim them often.

 

[Smeagle]

As Glenda said, the best time to remove dew claws is when pups are new borns - much quicker and a hell of a lot less painful than doing it when they are a few weeks older. The same principal is used for docking.