# Wearing down back nails unevenly



## flashyfawn (Mar 8, 2012)

My dog is just turning 8 years old and is about 100 lbs. She has had surgery on both knees (right knee was partially torn CCL and luxating patella, left knee was completely torn CCL.) The first surgery happened when she was a year old and the second one was almost exactly 2 yrs later. I know she has a fair amount of arthritis in her right knee, the last time we did xrays her left knee looked pretty good but that was at the time of the second surgery. Both hocks are thickened and we're assuming arthritic but we have not done xrays. 

Lately she has been dragging her right back foot and the outside nail on that foot is worn down significantly, all the way to the quick but not bleeding. Her other nails on that foot are normal and don't look scuffed or anything. Not sure if she is twisting her leg when she steps down, and that is causing the wear on that specific nail, or if she steps down normally but then drags the outside of her foot. When we walk on the beach or through sand she sometimes leaves a trail with that back foot, but not all the time. She has no trouble getting up and is happy to go on long walks, jump over logs on the trails, etc. 

Someone told me dragging a back foot would be hip related, but knee or hock seems more likely given her history. About a year ago she did have some issues being hesitant to go up steps and jump on the couch. We thought it might be a back issue but gave her pain meds and rested her for 2 weeks, and everything totally went away so I never investigated further. 

Does anyone know if there is one joint or specific area that tends to cause uneven wear on the nails like this? This is definitely a new issue, I clip her nails quite often and have always had to clip all of them.


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