HARTDOG9

Thanks for the info re/ the spring water vs. tap water. Since you're a chemist, I'm sure you know what you're talking about here so I'll definitely try it out. Thanks again!

Thanks for this idea. It sounds just wild enough to work! I will check out the link you included in your post and talk to the vet about it. Thanks again! Celia and George

I've tried every kind of boot, sock, plastic bag, IV bag, etc. that you can imagine. George is a smart dog and manages to get everything off. Either that or he hobbles around and whines as if I'm torturing him! I just bought some "Musher's Secret" salve that I'm going to try when he goes out. Thanks for responding!

Next time the abscess comes back, I'm going to talk to the vet about an MRI. A couple of people have suggested that and it makes sense. No MRSA has ever shown up on the cultures, just the usual run-of-the-mill germs. Thanks for responding! [

I have a 4-year-old male greyhound named George who is having trouble with a recurring abscess on his left front paw. It all started over a year ago with a puncture wound from an unknown cause, although we are pretty sure that it was a large splinter. About 8 months ago, the vet decided to do surgery because the area was continually abscessing. She searched the wound but could not find any foreign object although there was evidence of a draining track and it appeared that a splinter might have been there but had been absorbed by the body. George was put on a month of an antibiotic and we thought we were done. But since then, abscesses have reappeared more times than I can count. The main area is between his middle toes with the draining track at the underside of the paw. He has had the wound cultured two different times and the vet has tried every antibiotic she can think of, including Baytril. Everything clears up nicely while on the antibiotic (always put on for a month at a time) and for a few weeks afterward. The abscesses seem to pop up of nowhere, even when he has been doing nothing but sunning himself in the grassy backyard or sleeping on his bed. He is a young dog and I would love to take him walking but can't because he is either healing or just starting another abscess. The vet and I are completely frustrated at this point! If anybody can offer any advice, George and I would very much appreciate it.