We have a pup who had it's dew claws removed but something went wrong with one of them and the pup now has one clean leg and one with a malformed dew claw. Has anyone ever had this happen and what steps did you take? Did you have the malformed dew claw removed or did you just leave it?

From a buyers standpoint would you expect breeder to reimburse for the cost of removal or just chalk it up to bad luck?

Yes this has happened to me on several occasions with different litters. I actually have kept two for myself and I have just left them. Just grind them when I do the rest of the nails. Looks wierd but does not hurt them. The ones that I sold off as pets get them removed when they are spayed/neutered. No complications just keep wrapped for a day or so. It does cost the owners more than the reg. surgery but not that much since they are already under Gas. If they take them back to the same vet that did the De-Claws he does that procedure for free since he is the one that did it and it was not done right. Good Luck

You say your pup now has one clean "leg" and one with a malformed dew claw. I take "leg" to mean rear and Labs are not born with rear dews. If you meant the front then to answer the other part of the question - just leave it. Dews should be removed by 2 or 3 days old or don't do it. What exactly do you mean by "malformed"? Usually if a dew is not correctly removed it grows back - I wouldn't consider that malformed.

How long ago was it done. If it has been less that 24 hours you can take the pup back as long as they are not older than 4-5 days.JMO

It is the front. As for malformed, it is only half of a dew claw. It doesn't look like a normal dew claw it is much smaller. The dog is now 5 months old.

I have one right now. He is 2 years and you can't see it. Like you said it is only part of one. I just use the dremel when I do the nails. Would be the one I kept. But so much hair on his leg hard to see. No health issue at all. One out of many, no big deal.

My girl has this same thing. The dew claw grew back in, but grew in kind of funny. In humans, when the nail bed is damaged it can affect formation of the nail. I'm assuming it's something similar in dogs and that's probably why they look the way they do. I wondered in the beginning if I should have hers completely removed, but honestly it does not bother her, and I just grind it when I do the rest of the nails, so I decided to leave it. Not a big deal really...

We had one of those. She had it her whole life. Funniest looking dew claw ever, growing upside down and crooked. You wouldn't notice it if you didn't look. You could cut it real short. We made fun of my vet for a long time.

If the rear limb is called a leg and the front limb is not called a leg, what is the front limb called?

One of mine, you can feel a little nub of bone under the tuft of hair but no nail. I would never even consider telling the breeder about this.

to me the front is the "paw". I've never called the front a leg.

This is completely avoidable if you leave the dews on.

I had this happen with a pup I got as a show prospect. The regrown dew claw bothered him a lot, so the original vet who did the dewclaws sent him to a specialist to have it removed and paid for the surgery himself! If it bothers him, remove it, if not leave it be!

I too had a puppy with a partial dew claw.....they had been removed but one of them grew back deformed ( was curled back into her leg).....the pet owners had it surgically removed at the same time as her spay. I don't do dew claws anymore !!

I have one right now that had a dew claw partially grow back, can feel a bit of a claw but not obvious when looking at her and she's winning in the show ring.
I am no longer having them removed when I have a litter.

I know, I was thinking front paws, back legs. Funny to me. Think my dogs have two front legs and two back legs with paws on all four. Sorry, just funny. We all see them differently.

Happened to one of my guys. Had it removed during his OFAs. Vet didn't charge any extra. Didn't seem to affect him in the least. If they get the pup neutered by the same vet who did the dews, probably shouldn't be an extra charge, but as the breeder I would pay for whatever extra it costs to have it done when he's neutered.