NeylasMom

She barely ate a cup of food last night. No hint of firm poop. Got up at 5:22 this morning to go out and squirted twice. She turned her nose up at food this morning. We can't give her anything else to eat besides her herring. She's got a lot of medicine for an empty tummy. She's acting fine though. Wish I didn't have to work today but will come home at lunch. We just want her better. So glad to hear she was able to come home. I'm wondering, have you guys tried plain boiled chicken? Chicken is a really digestible protein for dogs and while it's possible she's allergic to chicken, it's unlikely (more likely if it's an allergy issue that the issue is somehow related to the processed foods in the kibble, or that she's got IBD or something else going on). I wouldn't want to suggest something that could make her worse, but it seems like even the herring isn't sitting well with her right now so it might be worth a try. Of course I'd run it by your vet first as well. Fingers crossed over hear that her recovery picks up today!

Seems like a good way to go, but I'd order a muzzle and poop guard now in case it stops working, or in case you need something in the future. We sell both if you're not sure where to get them.

So sorry to hear about the setback, but glad he pulled through the surgery. We'll be thinking of you, keep us updated!

Definitely. Although I just realized that I am supposed to be auctioned off in a date auction that night. Our appt is at 5 so hopefully I will be able to get out of there in time to drop the dogs off somewhere and get ready if I still need to see him.

Pretty sure it splays properly. That pic is misleading I think since she's laying down. I have some at home. I've been meaning to start putting it on her pad anyway since we originally thought it was just cracked from her odd gait, so I'll start doing it now and see what happens. Dr. Kellogg does have a Saturday appt free so I think I'll probably just take Neyla in. It's only $40 a a few hours out of my day to have someone who really knows corns look at it.

The saga continues... Last night, while picking Meredith's brain on what to do, I looked at Neyla's paw again and noticed that the suspected corn area is much more well defined than just a few days ago. So I took new photos. Here's the best one: So do we think it's a corn? Yes, no, maybe?

Neyla did this once after spending some time in the dog park. I figured she'd pulled a muscle but wanted to be sure it wasn't something neurologic so I took her into the vet. She got a steroid injection and some pain meds and was fine in a day or two. I would go that route before you start to worry too much. If it happens repeatedly, you might want to look into a ramp for the car and maybe limiting furniture privileges as he could be doing it jumping down.

It's not quite that well defined. It looks more like a big callous but has some edges that are defined like a corn would be. The link to my original thread, that has pictures, is in my first post in this thread, if that makes sense.

Well I FINALLY talked to Lisa at Dr. Canapp's office last night and shockingly they agreed to squeeze her in as soon as they could, which is the Thursday we come back from Maine (the 30th). I was hoping to get her in before we left, but she seems to be doing pretty well this week. I took her off the Rimadyl/Tramadol on Sunday per my vet's instructions and she's had daily walks for the first time in a while this week. I gave her today off b/c she seemed painful after last night's walk, but that was her third day in a row of walking. I'm going to shoot for 3-4 30 minute walks a week right now (alternating days off) and see how that goes. And Dr. Gardsbane did restock our supply of Rimadyl and Tramadol so I can use them in Maine if necessary. Driving out to see Dr. R this weekend would be really crazy so I think seeing Dr. C on the 30th is a reasonable plan. I hope he can help us. Meredith, any chance you think Dr. R would be a better choice over Dr. Canapp? It definitely would suck to drop $125 to see him and then still end up seeing Dr. Radcliffe! So my only real concern now is whether she'll injure herself running in the meantime since she still holds her leg out, but I've noticed she's doing that less this week. On walks, she's at least keeping the leg in line.

Here's a good article to read before deciding whether to vaccinate or not: http://www.caberfeidh.com/Lepto.htm FYI, treatment for lepto, at least a couple of years ago when we started to treat Neyla for it until test results came back negative, was with doxycycline, which many of you probably know is not particularly expensive or dangerous at the dosages recommended. The test for lepto costs about $100 and takes at least a week to come back. I do not vaccinate my dogs for it.

I know dogs aren't people, but I would imagine there is likely some discomfort with really soft or near runny stools. I know how I feel when things aren't coming out properly...

Bumping as I have much sympathy these days for toe injuries. I seem to remember seeing some posts about this recently so hopefully someone can chime in. Does he tend to only snag it when running? The only thing I can think to do is to wrap that foot (pad with cotton b/w the toes then wrap with vet wrap before letting him run), but I'm sure he'd find that awkward. I do know you can do just a toenail amputation, but it depends on how serious the problem is becoming whether you'd want to consider that. Do you have a track vet in your area? You might have better success with one. Good luck!

Dr. Radcliffe is on my list if Dr. Canapp won't see her soon (which I doubt he will - Dr. Gardsbane told me she tried to get them to squeeze a broken legger in and they wouldn't!). I did talk to Dr. Kellogg on the phone and she had some good input, but that was back when we thought it was definitely the toe. My original plan was to see if Dr. Canapp could see her before I leave for Maine on the 23rd and if he can't, see Dr. Radcliffe this weekend. If I see Dr. Kellogg instead, then I'll have to wait until after Maine to see Dr. Radcliffe. Oh, who to give my money to first, that's the question?

11 mk/kg BID (or twice daily) is correct. 250 mg is a common dosage for the pill to come in, so you'd end up giving 2 pills per day for a total of 500 mg/day.

Neyla has now been on Rimadyl/Tramadol for almost 2 weeks, which seems to have helped the inflammation in her toe, but nothing else (the paw pad is still twisted and oddly calloused and she still holds her leg out and weight bears more on the left leg). So back into the vet we went on Saturday to discuss our options. FYI, I am waiting to see if the orthopedist will see us sooner as his earliest appt. currently is late October so I wanted to discuss pain management options for the interim and figure out if Neyla could go to Maine later this month as planned. Anyway, Dr. Gardsbane threw out the possibility of an oddly formed, larger corn growing on the pad (for pictures see my old thread). So my question is whether anyone has ever heard of this happening, or has seen it. I think it's unlikely, but it does make sense that something IS going on with the pad itself just because of how it's twisted around and there is some definition to that area that you would get with a corn. The other possibility we discussed is something in the toe like a small piece of glass, but unfortunately that wouldn't show up on the xrays so I guess there's no way to tell. So if anyone has heard of a corn like this, or something else that could cause problems with the toe pad itself (even something trying to work itself out) please let me know. Thanks again - I appreciate everyone's input. Jen

Sorry to hear this. Is the vet who did the original surgery willing to offer you any compensation. You would think he should be held accountable. Good wishes for Heather's surgery!

Not all dogs come with tags, but the certificate is proof enough. When you get your county license (which is required by law around here), take the certificate with you. The license tag will then serve as proof of vaccination. If you are still considering re-vaccinating, you might want to check out the articles here on vaccination first: http://www.caberfeidh.com/HHC.htm

No additional advice from me, just that I hope Cooper is okay. Keep us posted.

You would smell something. It's likely from her licking herself (or a kong, etc). I wouldn't worry unless you start to notice other symptoms of a UTI.

Sorry to hear about this, sounds like she'll be fine though. This is why I started carrying Benadryl on our hikes with us! Although Neyla did get stung once and didn't have a reaction, but I've never seen Zuri get stung. Better safe than sorry.

That was me (or at least I think you were talking about me). Luvingreys, do you have more info, or can you put me in touch with this person? I'd like to see if any of the symptoms were similar. My vet mentioned the possibility of a mass in Neyla's toe, but she didn't specifically mention cancer or seem overly concerned. Right now we're treated fairly conservatively, just trying to get rid of the inflammation. Thanks, Jen

I've seen a few fosters with this issue where it only happened a few times, I popped it back in and that was that. We currently have a foster though who's toe pops out continuously (even if he's just hanging in the crate). The vet instructed us to pad in between the toes with cotton and keep the foot wrapped. That seems to be helping. We'll do that for a while, then if the issue hasn't resolved get him in for a visit. You might try that if the toe pops out again, or as a preventative if you're going to let your pup run. For bathroom trips in the interim, you might turn Kara out separately so she's not inclined to take off to give it some time to heal.

Please keep a thermometer on hand so you can take your dog's temp if you are ever uncertain. That's the best way to know whether your dog is just recovering from a hot walk or is in actual danger. I'll be buying a new one (for myself) since my old one has now been designated a rectal thermometer after last Friday's incident.

That is what I'm worried about. I wish I hadn't waited as long as I did to get her into the vet. It just seemed better for a little while so I held off. As for the second toe, she has that one, plus one or two on her other foot like that. They could be old breaks that healed improperly, but they've never bothered her. The vet is concerned that it's exacerbating the situation though (pushing on the injured toe if nothing else). She was able to manipulate it though without issue and didn't see anything wrong with it on the x-ray. Well I guess I'll see where we are when the Rimadyl is done in 3 more days and go from there. A visit to a specialist may be in order like Meredith suggested. We'll certainly do that before we even discuss amputation. If anyone else has input, I'm all ears. Otherwise, fingers crossed that this resolves with the nsaids!

I don't mean to be overly simple, but you've stated repeatedly that he didn't have the fur problem until the thyroid meds were started. You also stated that he never had any other classic symptoms of a low thyroid, and you have a normal TSH (which it should not be if he is actually hypothyroid). There is no doubt in my mind that if this were my dog I would get him off of the thyroid meds. It's possible he's got the low T4 level b/c of the sick thyroid issue that others have alluded to, but thyroid meds aren't going to help that. You need to figure out what the underlying problem is and address that, then retest his thyroid/watch for symptoms. Obviously I'm not a vet, but that's my two cents.