# Infected nail? What should I do? Please help! Picture!



## EnaEna (Aug 23, 2012)

So I made a post recently about Earl Toby Grey's possibly infected nail. The general story is that I clipped his nails, no bleeding, suddenly this nail was turning black, a few days later there was a good amount of blood on his wheel. I tried to set up an appointment with the vet, but the exotics vet is out for two weeks, and the regular vets are afraid of getting sued if they give me the wrong advice. So I'm basically on my own now.

It looks like the black nail is being pushed off. While it looked like a regular nail before, just black, it looks like a black clump being pushed off, with a bit of red between where the nail begins and the edge of the black mass. He favors the foot a little when still, but has no trouble walking or running around. He has no problem with me touching the area. There's no pus or inflaming. He's been eating and pooping normally. I've been applying regular Neosporin every day, from another user's suggestion. When I give him a foot bath, it bleeds a little. I took out the wheel so it can't get irritated.

Here's the picture. It looks a bit shiny in the picture because I had just put Neosporin on it. Sorry for the mediocre quality, I only have my cell phone camera.










Please give me any advice you can! Can I treat this on my own? Do I need to broaden my search to find help for him?


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## MurE (Aug 29, 2011)

I'm no vet, but from the picture, it looks pretty good. Like you said, there is no swelling, no redness, no pus, etc. I'd say keep up what you're doing for now until you locate that new vet. The black bit will probably fall off eventually. 

If the area starts to swell and go red, then there would be more of a concern because there would be an infection. From the picture, it looks like his body is handling the injury pretty well. Other than the edge of the black part, the rest is normal coloured and not swollen.

I think that snipped-too-short nails are pretty common on here with pretty good outcomes in general. 

Good luck!


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