I do dews --always on day # 3. However, now I have a litter of seven who are small by my experience. Largest on day #2 is 1.5 lbs, smallest is 8,5 oz. Seems so undeveloped.
Is there any harm in waiting until Mon, day #5 to do the dew claws?
I think it might be a brain development thing. It's not supposed to hurt before #3 because their pain receptors aren't fully developed. I have a pup here with dews and mine don't have them. Honestly, I don't like them at all.
I use to do dews but only with local lidocaine for pain. They nurse much better right after dew removal when lidocaine is given. They don't screech and squirm and defecate with lidocaine. It really reduces the stress the pup experiences and would be especially great for a low wt litter.
Years ago I did an in depth research paper for Michigan State University College of Nursing on circumcision. Baby boys who are given lidocaine for circumcision nurse better and heart rates return to normal much sooner than those not given lidocaine. I suspect there are similar implications with dew removal.
I had to call several vets before I found one willing to use lidocaine for removal. I had to educate them to give the lidocaine at least 5 minutes prior to starting the dew removal. They hadn't used it before but after using it, he said he'd never do another removal without lidocaine as the pups were so obviously more comfortable with it.
Personally I'll never remove dews again as I read research awhile ago (can't remember source) which shows they use the dew claw a lot. If I ever get a back dew though, it will be removed but only with lidocaine.
If you ever saw a 3 yr old whose dew was caught on something, rippled the whole paw-- you would pay ahead to avoid any of your own pups ever having to go through that
If you ever saw a 3 yr old whose dew was caught on something, rippled the whole paw-- you would pay ahead to avoid any of your own pups ever having to go through that
If you preemptively removed all the parts of the dog that *may* get ripped, torn, caught or broke in a freak accident, you'd end up with a stump.
I had a little mixed breed named Frisky that I got as a young adult. She weighed between 10 and 12 pounds. She had dew claws that would have fit better on a 20 - 30 pound dog. Darn things stuck out and she caught them on several different occasions. She'd let out a loud yelp and bleed like crazy. But it was over in no time. I am sure it hurt, but I was not remotely tempted to have them removed. She used those dew claws with toys and bones very effectively. In my mind, removing dew claws is merely a cosmetic procedure.
