# Brittle Nail



## keroppi78 (Jun 2, 2009)

Hello! I am new to the forum!

We have a 10 year old golden, Dusty... my first love.

He lives with my parents. My mom called me today and told me that Dusty's nails are really brittle and breaking off and causing them to bleed. Dusty has terrible allergies and hot spots and now that it's summer, his hot spots are starting again.  We tried the shots that the vet recommended but b/c Dusty is so sensitive, he got really sick, so my mom cleans the hot spots at least 2 times a day to help him relieve some of the pain.

Do you all know what we can give him to help with the brittle nails? Any suggestions would help us. Thank you!


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

Welcome to the forum. Sorry I have no ideas on the brittle nails. Sounds very painful so I hope you find a solution soon.


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

Welcome to the forum,
I am sorry about your golden having these issues. I will leave a pm for one of our members Emma&Tilly, her dog Tilly has problems with her nails. And she might have information for you.


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## keroppi78 (Jun 2, 2009)

oh thank you so much!


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## Emma&Tilly (May 15, 2005)

Hi there, welcome to the forum. I'm sorry to hear Dusty's nail problems...we know all about nail problems in my house..! Tilly has a autoimmune disorder called symmetrical lupoid onychodystrophy which causes her nails to separate away from the nailbed.

here is a little information about it (from a greyhound website as it is more common in that breed)

http://www.grassmere-animal-hospital.com/SLO.htm

Because you mention the hotspots and scratching I wonder if if could be to do with allergies and he is biting at his nails which is making them brittle? 

Does your dogs nails look like the pictures on that website? I have no idea if it could be the same thing as Tilly but it wouldn't harm mentioning it to your vet...who might look at you blankly until they've had a chance to read up about it as it is quite rare!

As for what to do with brittle nails....we give Tilly a vitimin B called biotin which is good for nail health and she also takes Nicotinamide which I think helps to increase circulation to her nails (there are so many different tablets I forget which each one does!) Omega 3 oils are also beneficial for the nails.

Because the nails are breaking you need to be careful that he doesn't get infections, which can be a bugger to get rid of...we regularly bathed Tillys nails in a solution from the vets to keep them as clean as possible. Luckily Tilly is now on Atopica which has worked wonders for her nails and we have very few problems now, fingers crossed!

Hope any of that helps! Let me know how you and Dusty get on...


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