Ezie adventure...

Ezie, my 5 pound Chihuahua, decided to make my weekend a little more interesting. I had gone to use the computer in our apartment complex “business center” Saturday evening, so while I was gone, the pups were in their kennels. I wasn’t gone very long, maybe two hours at most. At some point in that time, Ezie managed to hurt herself. I’m not sure how she managed to do it, but I noticed the dewclaw on her left front paw was sticking out sideways.


The only thing I can think of is she got it snagged on her bedding, as she is in DESPERATE need of a nail trim. She had a slight limp and was shaking and loving me up and didn’t want to move around much. She shakes more than usual and gets extra lick-y when she’s in pain, and I’m not sure why. Anyway, that’s when I noticed the nail sticking out. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do about it, though she obviously she needed a vet. It was bent right at the toe, so I wasn’t going to mess with it. If there was going to be blood and pain, it wasn’t going to be my doing. As it is, Ezie wouldn’t let me near her foot. She’d fuss with her leg, licking at it and sniffing at her toe, and then she’d cuddle up against me again. (Or follow me around. I have an old pillow randomly lying on my bathroom floor at the moment, and during a bathroom break, she followed me in and cuddled on the pillow. I don’t get much privacy with my dogs.)


After a while, Ezie seemed to be doing ok. Still cuddly, but she started acting as usual. I was paranoid about her injuring herself further, though, so when she started getting extra feisty and tried to jump attack Brodie, I decided it was time for rest and put them both in their kennels to eat. The rest of the night was pretty mellow.

With my weird sleep habits, the pups spent Sunday morning in their kennels while I slept. I wasn’t willing to risk more injury to Ezie’s toe. When it was time to wake up, she was jumping and running and altogether making me nervous about her stupid nail. I had plans for a few hours in the afternoon, but once I got home, it was time to go to the emergency vet, regardless of her peppy behavior.

We’d been in the car for maybe 5 minutes, having gone maybe a mile or so, when I noticed the nail was missing. Where the heck did it go and when did it fall off? Mom pulled the car over and we inspected Ezie’s toe. The nub of nail remaining on the toe looked painful, and she still wouldn’t let me touch her foot, but there was no blood. This is positive, right? It means it wasn’t as bad as it looked. I’m still a little worried about her toe possibly being broken, but with the nail being gone, I don’t feel it’s such a risk of more injury. So, we turn around and go back home. After dropping Ezie off at home we went to Dollar Tree for some junk. I found the wayward nail on the floor of the car.


We’ll get her into the vet within the next few days for her nail trim, and if she’s still acting bothered by her toe I’ll have it looked at. She seems to at least feel better without the nail hanging off sideways, and I didn’t freak out when she attacked Brodie to play, so that’s good.