A dog has been put down after suffering horrific neglect that left the bones in his paws completely destroyed by nails that had been allowed to grow out of control.
Tiko, a dog owned by Luke Larcombe, was seized by the Scottish SPCA after inspectors discovered the extent of his injuries. The nails had grown so severely that vets described the damage to his paws as obliterated, with the bones themselves beyond saving. Alongside the paw injuries, Tiko was also found to have an infected wound on his neck, believed to have been caused by a bite that had been left untreated.
The combination of injuries was so severe that vets had no choice but to put Tiko to sleep. The animal had been living in a state of neglect serious enough that even basic care, like keeping his nails trimmed, had been completely ignored for what must have been a significant period of time.
The Scottish SPCA, which is the main animal welfare charity operating across Scotland, took Tiko away from Larcombe after the inspection revealed the full scale of what the dog had been subjected to. Inspectors flagged the case as a serious welfare failure.
Animal neglect cases involving overgrown nails are not unheard of, but vets and welfare workers say it typically takes months, sometimes well over a year, of zero care for nails to reach a point where they cause this level of structural damage to a dog’s paws. When nails curl back into the paw or force the foot into an unnatural position for long enough, the pressure and deformity can cause lasting bone damage. In Tiko’s case, that damage proved fatal.
The infected neck wound added another layer of suffering to what Tiko had endured. A bite wound left untreated can develop into a serious infection relatively quickly, causing pain and potentially spreading if not dealt with by a vet. The fact that this too had been ignored painted a picture of an animal that had received no meaningful veterinary attention.
Luke Larcombe faced consequences following the seizure of the dog. Cases investigated by the Scottish SPCA can be referred to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for potential prosecution under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, which makes it a criminal offence to cause unnecessary suffering to an animal or to fail to provide for an animal’s basic welfare needs.
The Scottish SPCA regularly urges members of the public to report any concerns about animal welfare, stressing that early intervention can make the difference between an animal being saved and one suffering for months without anyone stepping in.
Tiko’s case is a grim reminder of what prolonged neglect can do. Something as routine and straightforward as clipping a dog’s nails, a task that costs very little and takes only minutes, became the reason this dog could not be saved. By the time anyone with the authority to help reached him, it was already too late.