PrairieProf

We saw the vet this morning (another vet in the practice, but I think I like her). She said Beth's injury looks better overall, thought the swelling wasn't bad at all (it does look a little better this morning). Beth used her foot more when we did a potty walk before the appointment, though she still three-legged to pick up speed in order to poop, which is how she always does it. But seeing her use the foot some helped reassure me that she will eventually heal and walk normally again. However, the abrasion between Beth's toes is much more raw and angry than it was a day ago -- Beth licked it some yesterday before I realized she was doing it and put a toddler sock on. So now Beth is on oral antibiotics (Simplicef, apparently targeted to skin infections) and topical -- it's not infected yet but it easily could be. The problem is that it hurts too much to pull her toes apart to get the antibiotic in very readily, even though the vet gave me thin sterile swabs (she could sort of do it with me holding Beth, but I'm alone at home, and very nervous). I might have to just squeeze some as close as I can get in the toe opening before a walk and hope for the best.

She's three-legging it about 90% of the time now. So hard to see, though the vet said it was OK if she did that (and I guess it spares her foot). Wow, she wants to go fast when she's hopping -- I guess it's easier to get the motion! I feel like I'm walking a kangaroo. She finally pooped -- first time since last night. A relief to know she can when she wants to. Her foot is SO swollen, and the abrasion between the toes looks really raw -- she licked it some, or else the swelling makes it look more prominent and redder than it did before. I have an appointment at 9:00 tomorrow with the vet -- but it's the other vet in the practice, my regular vet is not coming in. I don't expect her to say much enlightening, but I can't survive the weekend without someone looking at the foot in its present state.

Yes, the vet said I could try icing it if she'll tolerate it. I'll try later -- she's in her crate right now, as I had to go out to the supermarket earlier. Added: after writing the above I went downstairs to check on her -- she's roaching in her crate! First encouraging sign I've seen. She must feel OK at the moment, at least. And her foot is elevated, just like the doctor would order if she weren't a dog.

Argh, she seems in more discomfort again, and her toe has swollen now that the wrap is off. I took her out to pee and she's three-legging about 70% of the time. Just called the vet and he said it's all normal, just have to get through the first 48-72 hours, that the pain gets worse before it gets better.....

Never heard of those but I'll check it out -- I'd love some quiet activity. Beth is not very toy oriented, unfortunately. Maybe I can figure out some clicker training she can do from a reclining position....

Morning update: Beth had a peaceful night after I gave her the Tramadol -- we're going to keep her on that plus the higher dose of Deramaxx at least through the weekend. We went back to the vet this morning because I wanted her checked, and he took off the wrap and decided to leave it off -- apparently she got some abrasions between her toes during/after the injury, and he wants them exposed to air (he also said she has old abrasion scars between her toes, something I've never noticed -- I'm not sure if he means on that foot only). It's kind of scary knowing she has no protection now, but he said the most important thing was to keep ahead on the pain control, and that I should expect her to hold the foot up sometimes or yelp if she tweaks it (mostly I'm to keep her quiet, of course, and the Tramadol does seem to knock her out a bit, though that's hard to tell on a greyhound). Her appetite seems fine, BTW! Though she didn't poop this morning -- but I understand Tramadol can be constipating. The vet also said that she tore the ligament on one side of her toe, the other side is intact, so with that and the fact it's not an outside toe it shouldn't get out of position too much. I am kind of a wreck -- this is just at the beginning of summer for me (I'm a professor and submitted my grades a couple of days ago), and it's like all the joy has gone out my life, since most of my joy revolves around doing things with Beth.

Very rough evening -- Beth started whining in pain. It utterly tore me up, I've never heard her do that. The vet hadn't prepared me for this at all and had her on quite a low dose of Deramaxx to protect her sensitive GI system. Got emergency phone consult with another vet in the practice and then my own vet, and on their recommendation I gave her another dose of Deramaxx and then Tramadol which I happened to have prescribed to me (out of date, but oh well!). So far she seems much better now, the combo seems to be controlling her pain -- I've been worried as I recall reading here about hounds having panting/pacing type reactions to Tramadol, but she's OK so far. NOW he tells me that she may be quite uncomfortable for the first 48 hours or so. I'll be bringing her in first thing tomorrow morning for a recheck, not that there's much they can do except, I guess, check that the bandage isn't causing problems. Meanwhile it's helpful to know I can dose the Tramadol once every eight hours.

The vet needed to sedate her to get her into position for xrays -- he tried first without but was having difficulty. They were using the reversible injectable anesthetic, not full anesthesia.

According to the web, there's nothing rigid in it: http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/projects/orthopod/csfr/terms/robertjonesbandagecipage.htm Batmom, I'm not sure how well I can follow your diagram but this is not an outside toe, so I think it would be harder to do anyway. Beth has been sleeping on my bed but is breathing fast/heavily (not panting) -- am I correct in thinking that's probably a reaction to the anesthesia still?

Here's Beth at the vet's office with her wrap -- it's called a Robert Jones bandage and looking it up I see that it does supposedly have a soft splint component. But I said "no splint" and the vet agreed, so maybe not? Anyway, we're going to recheck it Monday morning, so I'd assume problems couldn't get too bad before then. He said it would help the toe heal straighter and get her through the severe pain part (he wants to keep it on a week). She's got a rubber Pawz boot over the end. She really hobbles with it on, poor thing. He didn't forbid me going to GEM, but I'm not going -- it's painful to watch her move, and I can keep her quieter at home.

Heather, can you explain this to me a bit more -- do you mean if the toe is looking at an odd angle just physically push it into place? Or lift her foot and put it down again with the toe straight? I assume it's not going to be well aligned for a while, yet only once or twice did it look really off before she went in to the vet, so I'm not sure I'll see anything as dramatic as a "popping out." Yes, the vet meant a brace for running to prevent toe reinjuries ... didn't think there was anything but I wanted to ask. Beth's nails are kept short (short as I can with her long quicks) and I'll keep the hard ground in mind -- though this injury happened as she cornered sharply and slipped on wet grass.

Back from the vet (without Beth until later in the morning) -- he said it's good news, bad news. The good news is she didn't break anything -- the bad news is that she tore the ligaments in the toe. And he said those don't really heal, so she'll tend to have problems reinjuring it in future, though not necessarily severe. He said she would go home with some kind of soft bandage/wrap (I didn't catch the name) that will stabilize the toe so it doesn't move side to side for a week or so, then we'll see how she does. And she'll be on Deramax for a few weeks. He told me to ask folks if anyone knows of any kind of running brace for greyhounds (I guess kind of the dog equivalent of the elastic ankle brace people might wear) -- I said I'd never heard of such a thing, but I'm asking.

I'm hoping, don't know how to tell the difference, we'll see. She can walk but tends to hold it up when standing still -- no swelling (yet, it just happened about an hour ago).

I let Beth run this morning because it will be our last chance for a few days, and she slipped turning on the wet grass and started to limp on her left rear leg -- long story short, I can see it's something with her foot and her second-from-the-inside toe (weight bearing, sigh) looks funny. No this is NOT the toe she just recovered from the cut and sutures on! We have a vet appointment in half and hour and I'll report afterwards. Worst of all -- I was supposed to go to GEM this weekend and now that's certainly off. For my friend as well presumably. And we've been free from restrictions imposed by the other toe for just a week -- now we're going to have to deal with more severe and longer restrictions, right at the beginning of summer.

Cellulose is there for fiber, not nutrition, so I'm not sure I see what the big deal is -- it's not absorbed. I don't love it, but Beth is doing great on I/D (she doesn't have diagnosed IBD though, but an evident pancreas issue -- and lots of foods have not worked for her in the past).

I noticed Beth sits spontaneously when she was on a hill facing downwards. I had terrible trouble teaching her to sit on command when we were in our first obedience class until I got her on a downward slope outside, then gave the sit command. Worked like a charm. Once she got the idea she was able to generalize to doing it on flat ground in about a day -- we looked for progressively less-steep slopes (I live in a somewhat hilly neighborhood, so the edges of people's lawns worked fine).

It so happens I remember reading this: http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2008/08/canned-beaver-as-dog-food.html

Final update to this thread ... Beth did her first post-suture zoomies this morning and her toe looked fine after!

Had our two-week check this afternoon -- the vet said Beth's toe looks "perfect" and she's cleared to run! We can also stop messing with the sock and rubber bootie, yay. I'm a little nervous about that (going to wait to Monday at least), but he swears there's no way she can reopen the fully formed scar tissue. I'd consider waiting until after we get back from next weekend's trip to GEM, but Beth is getting a little hard to handle sometimes on leash with all the pent up energy! I won't take her to the dog park next week, just a small fenced area we go sometimes where she can't pick up as much speed. I told the vet too that the first time I let her run again had to be at a time he's in the office, just in case!

It's odd because most deli ham you buy for sandwiches has a very low percentage of fat -- I've always been struck by that. An actual carved ham might well be different. Pork fat is also the main fat source in the Prescription Diet I/D Beth is doing fabulously on now (after coming near to pancreatitis herself, I speculate from trying to add the much-lauded fish oil to her 15% fat food), and other dog foods (when "animal fat" is listed I think it's generally chicken and/or pork). So there's nothing intrinsically dangerous about it. I'm actually happy about her food including pork fat; it's much more species-appropriate fat source than the plant oils that are in many foods now. High in Omega 6, but that's a separate issue. I'm not saying there might not be real problems with pork, just wondering about the contradictions. But the issue may be the added dose of fat in a ham sandwich (and didn't the original post mention cream cheese as well? don't forget about that!) on top of regular food.

I'm surprised he didn't want to run a cPL to check for pancreatitis -- it's a quick test they can do in-house. Even if it's just mild and she gets better without major intervention, if she's had it you need to know, as modifying her diet may be necessary to prevent a recurrence.

I'd wait a while and see ... one thing I've learned from experience (and vet recommendation seconding it) is that if a dog doesn't want to eat you shouldn't force him. At least not in a situation like this, where the dog clearly has a sudden-onset upset tummy. You might try offering him a small amount of food midday and see what happens -- but don't bribe him to get down more kibble than he wants.

I swear somebody else on GT had something very like this happen to their hound within the past six months -- severe nose bleeding, then it stopped, no real cause found -- does anybody remember who this was? Edited to add -- I searched, it was Kingsmom's King: http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/268066-king-is-at-the-e-vet/ Maybe you should contact her to see if she can offer any insight. Sending good thoughts to Rainman.

Glad to hear positive news! I'm surprised he doesn't like the wet I/D, Beth scarfs it down like it's dog crack. But if he's doing well on the dry that's great!

Had a one-week check on Beth's toe this morning ... the vet said it was healing excellently! Part of the scab came off on our morning walk (because it was ready) so he could see it knit together underneath. We'll check it in another week and he thinks she should be "good to go" after that (though I'll likely wait longer before letting her run -- we're going to GEM the following weekend and I don't want any chance of her messing herself up again beforehand). Meanwhile he said it's OK to step up the walks this week -- I am glad of that and I bet Beth will be too. I saw today that she's gained 1.5 pounds since this began -- she's still in her appropriate-weight range (59.7) but any more would be heading towards a little heavier than ideal.