kathleenmaeve

Thanks, DocsDoctor - I will start the Epsom salts soaks today so maybe it will soften up. I'm still confused about the very quick onset of symptoms (literally walking fine to 3 legged lame over night) but who knows how fast these things can come back.

Here is a pic of the pad (bottom left of the photo with the little hole-looking thing) - I'm wondering if the corn might still be there and that's the issue (i.e., not an infection after all)?

Thanks, EXTRAWLD! I've heard of Abreva being used for corns on the thought that it's an anti-viral agent and one theory is that corns are caused by a virus. Either way, that could definitely cause irritation but unlikely to cause an infection (it does not contain bacterial agents that would infect something) and this has now unfortunately persisted for 2 weeks beyond when Abreva was applied. So, I'm thinking at this point that it's something else (either an infection caused by the mud/junk in the yard as suspected by the vet or a latent corn/something else we've not thought of). The betadine soaks have begun to irritate his paw a little so I will try your epsom salt suggestion moving forward as that may provide some relief and soften up the pads a bit. I've not tried it before!

Just as another update - he's still on and off - the Carpaquin has helped a lot but he is favoring that leg more than he should. I asked for antibiotics because he also managed to scrape is leg on something in the yard so I figured kill two bird with one stone!

Hi, Fudge! Sorry for the delayed reply - it's finals time around here so I've been up to my ears grading. Castle's pad seems much better - the Carpaquin has really helped as have the betadine soaks. The surface of the pad is still very smooth so I'll be curious to see if another corn crops up (given his history, I'm anticipating that it will eventually). I'll be curious to see if he's back to putting weight on his foot once he's off the meds/soaking routine.

Hm, yes it could be a reaction to the Abreva. Allergies/reactions can sometimes take a few days to crop up. I agree that the divets that are usually left have healthy tissue underneath and generally seem non-porous but maybe some of the healthy tissue came away with the duct tape?

Hi, all! I was wondering if any of you with "corn dogs" have run into paw pad infections after hulling a corn? I recently used the duct-tape method on a very persistent corn and my dog (Castle) was finally able to walk pain-free for a few days. The duct tape raised the corn to the point where I was able to pick it out with my fingers and it left a little divet where the corn had been - I put Abreva on this divet for a few days. This morning Castle got up and was three-legged lame with a lot of pain/sensitivity in the paw pad that gets the corns. There is no evidence of a new corn forming on the surface of his pad and this is WAY more lame than he's ever been in the early (non-visible) stages of a new corn. I took him into the vet and she agreed that the surface of the pad appears corn-free though there is discoloration throughout (the pad is normally a dark grey and today there are some spots with light grey/whitish pigmentation- I'll try to get a picture later). Given how painful it is and how quickly it cropped up (overnight) the vet suspects an infection possibly from when the corn was hulled. We've been getting a lot of rain and the backyard has tons of mud spots so it would be easy for gunk to get up in there and cause a problem. We're doing a week of anti-inflammatory meds and a betadine soak every day. We'll move to anti-biotics next week if it hasn't resolved (the vet didn't want to prescribe them right away since she's suspecting an infection but there are no outward signs of one besides the lameness and discoloration). Anyone else experience this? Any suggestions?

I recently went through this with our 2 year old galga. She has tons more energy than our greyhound and is so smart it's scary (we joke and say it's like having a velociraptor in the house given how good she is at figuring things out). She was found on the streets in Spain before coming to the US so we have no idea of her background. She has some trust issues with new people and can be a little nervous/shy but there was no destructive behavior until we moved into our new house (it was a cross-country move so quite a change). It wasn't long before she started chewing everything in sight when we were away from the house. I also thought it was energy-related and made a point to walk both her and our greyhound immediately before leaving for an extended period of time. However, when she started going to the bathroom in the house in addition to the destructive behavior, I began to wonder. She received a clean bill of health from the vet which lead me to think it was anxiety-related, specifically separation anxiety when left alone. Even though she has our greyhound to keep her company, she has become very attached to me. So, upon the advice of our adoption coordinator, Petra, I tried the Adaptil collar (or DAP- dog appeasing pheremones). It was like a miracle. Turns out, her destructive behavior wasn't energy-related at all and as soon as she had the collar, all of the destruction stopped. I was very skeptical that it would work but it is great for her. Of course the effects of DAP collars will be dog-dependent and I am continuing twice a day walks plus obedience training with her. However, it might be worth looking into whether that could help ease some of your dog's destructive behavior, especially since she came from a high-stress/less than ideal situation. They're $20 on Amazon so I thought 'what the heck- it's less than replacing another rug!' Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Adaptil-Appeasing-Pheromone-Collar-Medium/dp/B000HPVH78

I didn't read through all of the comments so this may have been mentioned already but for future reference, you don't necessarily need to bring a dog into the vet to induce vomiting. Over Thanksgiving, our greyhound ate some string that tied the turkey legs together and when I called the E-vet, they said to induce vomiting by feeding him a tablespoon of 3% hydrogen peroxide. It makes dogs throw up within minutes and believe me, it worked. The poor guy threw everything up (including the string) within a few minutes of ingesting the stuff and had zero other side effects. I think the dosing is one teaspoon for every 10 lbs of body weight but obviously we had successful results with less. I was glad that we didn't end up spending $100+ for the E-vet to do this!

Our boy is like this too! He will only stand on the left leg, lifting the right. He had corns on his right paw pad so I wonder if that's why he got used to putting all his weight on the left. It also takes him 3-5 times of sidling up to the tree/bush/plant and then backing up and starting over before he he'll let loose. Maybe he has pee-OCD!

When my Mom did agility, etc. with her dogs she used cooked hotdogs - nuked them for a minute and cut them up into pieces. They fit into a plastic bag easily. Also, cheese cubes- the stinkier the better. If mozzerella string cheese isn't strong enough, try bits of cheddar. But, cheese and meat can be harsh on houndies' sensitive digestive systems. Not sure if galgos have as many stomach issues as some of the greys do, though. Jennifer's blog has a great entry on high value treats for training hounds: http://neversaynevergreyhounds.blogspot.com/search/label/High%20Value%20Treats

April, where did you order the second muzzle from? I'd like to have one for Berna for car rides down the road though I'm not sure of her size. I also wasn't sure if the galgos needed slightly smaller ones than the greys' racing muzzles.

LOL, shall we form a virtual calming circle?

Haha, thanks guys- we new adopters sound more anxious than the hounds are! Petra, I'll give you a call sometime in the next week or so. I'm not super worried about it; was mostly just curious if others had experience with a confident reisdent dog helping a newbie to adjust quicker. We've been lucky that Castle's been so unflappable (aren't the first ones always easy?!) Plus, Berna could be confident as well; all I know is that she gets along with everyone and doesn't eat kitties, lol! Very exciting times

Haha, oh boy, maybe I should prepare myself for practicing alone-training with Berna (this is Katie; Hi, Denise, Petra, and April!) Granted, I fully expect Berna to need a while to fully settle in so this kind of thing wouldn't surprise me too much. But, we never went through it with our grey, Castle, so I'm pretty unfamiliar with practicing alone training, though I get the basic idea. I know I have to teach on campus for a few hours a couple days after she comes home from JFK but I could ask my DH to stay with her during that time if that's too soon to leave her and Castle on their own. Just curious: for those of you with confident dogs in the house, do you find that it helps prevent SA or stress in a new, less secure dog? I practiced leaving Castle alone on the first day and while he'd look out the window for 10 seconds, he'd lay back down and go to sleep almost immediately. He's a pretty comfortable dude so I'm hoping that he will help Berna to adjust when we get her.

I tried using this http://www.petco.com/product/112645/Natures-Miracle-House-Breaking-Go-Here-Spray.aspx with our male greyhound who also has a tank bladder. I sprayed it on some bushes around our house to try and get him to go a bit quicker; he loves to mark over other dogs' scents. It worked once or twice but I found the smell of the stuff to be so overpowering that I couldn't even keep the bottle in the house. It seriously smells like the elephant enclosures at a zoo! Our boy also learned quickly that the longer he held his business, the longer his walk. So, after a few weeks of those 45 minute walks, I started shortening them to around 20 minutes each and he figured out that if he hasn't pooped or peed by the time we turn around to head home, he'd better get it over with. He's never had an accident in the house. I think your "pee party" strategy combined with a shorter walk time will work out fine. As for the Nature's Miracle spray...jury is still out on that one.

Our greyhound recently started this, too. He always slept in his crate in our bedroom at night and then suddenly, he decided that the futon in our living/dining room was the place to be at night. It bothered us at first (was he going to be cold? was he going to wake up and wonder where we were?) but then we thought: hey, if he's not causing problems and seems to be happy there, we should just "let sleeping dogs lie". So, we did We had recently moved into a smaller, 1 story home and had our grey about 7 months when he started sleeping on the futon.

Hi all, The immediate question: Our grey just had his first (that we know of) corn removed today- hulled by the vet. He's now three-legged, refusing to put any weight on that foot. Does anyone know of any "at home" pain remedies for post-hulling? Our vet didn't give us any pain meds (I wasn't sure that we'd need them but apparently should have asked!) Some secondary corn musings: From what I gather from doing research, some think that corns are caused by a virus in greys, similar to viruses that cause warts in humans. This is why some suggest treatment with abreva, aldara, etc.- these are treatments designed to stimulate an immune response to an active virus (a person should apply abreva when they feel a cold sore coming and it should stimulate an immuno response to surpress what is, ultimately, a viral symptom- a cold sore being a form of the herpes virus). If corns are, indeed, viral then I expect there is no cure for them other than a strong immune system, similar to the case in humans. Once caught, viruses usually present symptoms which eventually go away as the human's immune system deals with it. Though the symptoms may disappear, the virus itself remain in the patient's body for life. Symptoms recur when the person's immune system is weakened and can no longer suppress the virus effectively. Thus, a virus can lay dormant for months or years only to recur at a seemingly random point when a person's immune system lapses enough for the virus to present itself. Or, the immune system can suppress it completely and there will be no further signs. Ultimately, recurrence depends upon the infected individual's immune system strength and ability to deal with the viral strain. If corns are, in fact, caused by a virus that operates in a similar manner, a dog's immune system may be able to suppress the virus. However, the virus/corns can lay dormant for months, years even, and then return seemingly out of the blue. Though, no veterinarian, I know a lot about chronic viral symptoms in people and am wondering if it would function similarly in greys. This would explain the lack of a cure-all and very mixed results from prevention treatments as it ultimately depends on the individual dog's immune system whether or not corns occur. Just some thoughts...curious if anyone else has heard a similar take on corns.

Have you read this article in Whole Dog Journal? It seems that these symptoms have occurred in dogs on the east coast around this time: http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/12_7/features/Dog_16136-1.html

Thanks, everyone. I figured that it's just something that needs time to work itself out- I just feel awful that he sleeps downstairs on the couch all alone But, I will try confining the cat to one room (as suggested) for a bit to help our boy gain some confidence.

*our cat had been declawed when we adopted him- realized the wording sounded as if we'd done the procedure ourselves, which we never would

Hi all, this is my first post so I appreciate any advice you have regarding this issue. We adopted our grey about a week ago and he's been doing great...except for the cat. No, he isn't chasing the cat- doing very well in that respect. Rather, he's scared of it! All interaction between grey and cat has to be on cat's terms, otherwise the cat puffs up and does his best "I'm going to kill you" stance until the grey backs off (which, by now, is very quickly). At this point, our new grey is so scared of the cat he won't even look at him or walk by him- he'll walk in the complete opposite direction. Our cat was declawed when we adopted him so he obviously hasn't hurt our new grey physically- just psychologically. Our grey's cat avoidance is to the point where he will no longer walk upstairs with us to come to bed because he knows our cat is also upstairs. We've tried waiting it out and seeing if he will eventually come up, prompting with high value treats (hot dogs, cheese, peanut butter kongs) yet, he still freezes like a statue at the foot of the stairs. We obviously cannot/will not drag our grey up stairs but we would prefer that he sleep in the same area as we do. Has anyone else experienced something similar? Is there anything we can do beyond what we've tried? I know it's still very early but we'd like to get him accustomed to being with us at night if we are able. Thanks in advance!