Some careless owners may not know that dogs have pendulous toes at all, so some owners still think that dogs have only four toes in their front paws. It is true that some dogs have only four toes. This may be because the owner of the kennel has previously done surgery for the dog to remove the hanging toes. With the continuous evolution of dogs, toe-hanging is almost useless and may bring some potential threats to dogs, so it is up to the owner to decide whether to remove toe-hanging for dogs.
Their own dog's ancestors had 20 toes and five claws. Only with the continuous evolution, some useless toes are slowly degenerating. Nowadays, dogs have four toes on each paw, and a total of 16 toes walk on the ground. Except for the four toes that touch the ground, most dogs have 1 toes on their forelimbs that don't touch the ground, so one forelimb has five toes. Just because they are small, and most of the time they are covered by the thick fur of dogs, some owners may not be aware of their existence.
Most dogs have only four toes in one hind paw, but a few dogs have 1 toe hanging in the air, and even some dogs have two such toes. Toes with forelimbs and hind limbs hanging in the air and not touching the ground are called "hanging toes", and some people call them "wolf toes" or "flying toes".
Hanging toes without touching the ground are non-functional residual toes. Hanging toe is usually underdeveloped, and its 1 and two knuckles are degenerated, and the other three knuckles (claws) are only connected with skin and fibrous tissue (which is another explanation for the origin of the name of hanging toe), so it is easy to be torn and broken. At the same time, hanging nails may also bring some painful problems to dogs. Because the hanging toe does not touch the ground, the nails on the hanging toe will not wear. Over time, long nails will bend and grow, and eventually plunge into the meat of the toe pad, causing pain and even infection and suppuration.
You can see if the dog itself has a drooping toe first.
The problem caused by toe-hanging is that dogs forget the toe-hanging hidden under their fur, so they can't trim their nails in time or find out the problems caused by long nails in time. Because of the risk of threatening the dog's health, some people will suggest cutting off the hanging toe. If you choose not to remove it, the owner should always trim the dog's toenail.
The amputation of the hanging toe needs the execution of the veterinarian, and can be completed within 3 ~ 5 days after the puppy is born. At this time, the amputation is less traumatic and can be completed without anesthesia. It is not so simple for dogs to amputate their hanging toes when they grow up, because the skin wound is large and there is a lot of bleeding after resection, which needs to be carried out under general anesthesia.
Just like some of us humans have wisdom teeth, others don't, so the dog's personal experience is different, so the owner can check it first. If he doesn't, then he doesn't have to worry about it to see if it hangs his toes. If so, remember to trim your nails in time, or consider whether to have a minor operation and amputate your toes.
Suspension toe amputation is just a minor operation. As long as there is no problem with the operation, there will generally be no adverse reactions, and the owner need not worry too much.