Nails Way To Long And Problems

[Ragsysmum]

Those feet look very sore and must be hurting. I wouldn't be walking him on any hard or rough surfaces any more than absolutely necessary until you get some answers and some relief for him.

[Guest Gideon]

Took him along with Duke to NGAP today.

 

Duke has arthritis and there's evidence of an old track injury. No signs of osteo or any other cancer present (thank goodness). Dukes brother was put last year after a grim battle against osteosarcoma. It was a terrible ordeal and painful just read the emails. We have the pain meds and vet says he can be on those for life.

 

Tankala, on the other hand, vet says it seems congenital (spelling) and that we can actually peel the corns off as they get softer. He said I can dremel them down to or file off. Whichever.

 

We have 3 weeks worth of antibiotics to deal with the infected toe and we'll take it from there.

 

We are in a city so pavement is unavoidable. However, I can stay on top of the corns, file them down and do his nails with the same frequency I do Dukes and that will go a long way. Vet said that the length of the nails def had a hand in irritating his paws further.

 

Thanks so much for all the advice - as always, you guys are the best.

Edited July 18, 2008 by Gideon

[Guest celticfairiemom]

He also has these calouses on his pads that are so thick I can dremel them without a flinch. His paws have got to be pretty sensitive due to al of this.

 

He walks by placing his paws down sort of flat - it is sad to see. I wonder if he'll ever get to walking normal again.

 

Tigerlilly walked like that when we first got her. After getting her nails down a lot and letting the pads and toes heal up, she slowly started walking normally again. She came here in March and by the end of May she was doing greyt.

[Guest ChasesMum]

I can almost hear him saying "Oh thank doG... a pedicure!"

 

 

[PatricksMom]

Good news about Duke--not about the arthritis but that it's not cancer. Patrick would like to tell him to be a good boy and take his meds and his joints won't hurt anymore. Out of curiousity, what did NGAP recommend for pain relief?

[Guest LadyChester]

Oh the whole, good news. Hopefully both boys will be feeling greyt very soon!

[GeorgeofNE]

Take him to your vet and have a tech cut them. Even at my ridiculously expensive vet, that would be $10-$15.

[Guest BlackandBrindle]

I admittedly don't have first hand experience, but the pictures remind me of fungal infections in human toes. Has that been discussed or explored?

 

Personally, I think you have more than one problem going on with the pads/toes, so it's best to try a mult-pronged approach, imo.

 

His nails look much better than I thought they would (I've seen worse unfortunately). If his quicks are at the edge now, just dremel a bit every day. I find that to work better at getting the quicks to recede than clipping.

 

You might want to get some boots for him in the meantime for the worst paws. I know you live in the city and walking on hard surfaces is a given so that might give him some temporary relief.

Edited July 18, 2008 by BlackandBrindle

[Guest celticfairiemom]

Tigerlilly's nails looked a lot like his. She was is on Dr. Stack's treatment for SLO or pemphigus even though it may not be that. At this point she is on the low dose maintenance portion and her nails look totally better

[Guest MAXNAV]

We're going to take him with us to NGAP this morning.

 

Here are some pics of his paws - just keep in mind that this is already after a lot of dremeling:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All thos clear and yellow areas on the pads are hard enough that I can dremel them without him flinching.

 

I picked up a cream to help soften them.

 

I spoke with his former owner last night asking about all of this. He said that Tankalas always had these problems and that he, the vet and the breeder all think it is a defect of some sort or hereditary.

 

I don't know, I'm confused about all of this. He's coming with us to NGAP.

Wow! Great job you are doing on the nails. He's going to feel so much better.

[Guest BlackandBrindle]

Thanks for the update

 

 

Glad Duke's leg isn't Osteo.

 

 

Really, the boots can make a huge difference when walking on pavement.

Edited July 19, 2008 by BlackandBrindle

[Guest LindsaySF]

Glad to hear that Duke's leg isn't osteo!

 

About Tank's nails, I agree with the poster that said it almost looks like fungus. Maybe the vet could do a scraping, just to rule it out?

 

The nails definitely look a lot better. Just keep with the dremeling, they will get better in time. Some of the callouses on his pads are probably from walking funny (either from corns or long nails). If the foot puts pressure at a weird angle, the pad will callous to compensate. They should go down in a few months as he begins to walk normally.

 

If the vet thinks some of those are corns, regular dremeling will help. You might consider getting Tank some boots, especially if he will be walking on pavement a lot. One of the people in my group has 2 pups with corns, their Thera-Paws boots make a HUGE difference in their gait.

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

[Guest Pamela]

Just took Tankala in. He's been well taken care of except for his nails. They are sooooooo long.

 

I have been dremeling away at them and making progress on the front two. One toe is infected and the others are very iritated. The pads are almost mis-shapen due to his digits being pushed back from the length of the nails - I am amazed.

 

Within a few hours, I think I'll have them down to a reasonable length and walking on pavement will help too.

 

Other than that, anybody have advice???

I got that battery operated file and it works really well at first they are a little afraid but he works. All baby oil will help the pads

if you don't like the oil try cream its awful what this dogs go throw.

[Guest Winterwish]

For the boots you might want to try: TheraPaws

I hope he's doing much better soon,and also that Duke is feeling good too.

Edited July 26, 2008 by Winterwish

[GoinGrey]

Our group has some experience with corn-dogs. Thera-Paws are highly recommended!

Best wishes to Tank and smoochies to Duke too.

 

GoinGrey

[Guest PhillyPups]

Ah Gideon, Tankala is stunning, what a sweetie he is too. He is definitely a KEEPER

[Guest Gideon]

He's walking pretty much normally now. I still have some work to do on his paws but he'll be back to normal pretty soon. I'm really happy!

[Guest BlackandBrindle]

That's great news!!!!

 

 

I once dremelled a pup's nails that were really really bad. His toes were misshapen because he'd been walking on them like that so long

 

But within a day, after getting his nails to a decent length, he was walking more normally.

 

 

Yay for Tankala!

[Guest LindsaySF]

He's walking pretty much normally now. I still have some work to do on his paws but he'll be back to normal pretty soon. I'm really happy!

[Guest brandi007]

Great job!

 

I'm glad I read this thread...Hannah has some insanely long nails and I didn't know what to do because the quick was so long also. I guess with regular clipping (I'm scared to dremmel ) I can get them to a manageable length?

[Guest greytkidsmom]

We had a foster for six months who had toes that looked just like that. He got three rounds of antibiotics with little to no improvement. The vet suggested we soak the feet in warm water and use a soft toothbrush and dial soap to scrub the nailbeds. That seemed to help more than anything else. He never licked or chewed on his toes so I don't think they bothered him. I wish we had been able to figure out what it was.

 

ETA: We also used antifungal/antiyeast ointment but still no significant change in appearance. We added niacinimide and fish oil in doses for SLO as well.

Edited July 22, 2008 by greytkidsmom

[galgrey]

He's walking pretty much normally now. I still have some work to do on his paws but he'll be back to normal pretty soon. I'm really happy!

 

You've done a great job with him. You're definitely his angel.

 

Wonderful news about Duke!

[Mystella]

Stella has quite long nails, but no foot issues. She has long quicks. We were told to keep cutting and they will recede, that was 8 years ago and they really haven't receded much. We cut regularly as much as we can without quicking her. Our vet's only suggestion was we could put her out for a bit and purposely quick them to get them short. But that just sounds painful since she doesn't seem to have any problems with them. No infections , no corns, no calluses, just long nails that always click on the floor when she walks.

 

I always dread running into other greyhound owners because I know they are thinking 'ooh look at those neglected feet'

[Guest LindsaySF]

Hannah has some insanely long nails and I didn't know what to do because the quick was so long also. I guess with regular clipping (I'm scared to dremmel ) I can get them to a manageable length?

Yup. What color nails does she have? If they are pink and you can see the quick you can watch it slowly recede. To start you may be clipping tiny amounts every 1 to 2 weeks. A dremel would be best, if she will let you do it.

[gracegirl]

Stella has quite long nails, but no foot issues. She has long quicks. We were told to keep cutting and they will recede, that was 8 years ago and they really haven't receded much. We cut regularly as much as we can without quicking her. Our vet's only suggestion was we could put her out for a bit and purposely quick them to get them short. But that just sounds painful since she doesn't seem to have any problems with them. No infections , no corns, no calluses, just long nails that always click on the floor when she walks.

 

I always dread running into other greyhound owners because I know they are thinking 'ooh look at those neglected feet'

You too, huh? I clip Grace's nails once a week and dremel every few days. She hates all of it. HATES IT. She tolerates it, and there is nothing worse than someone making a snide comment. If they only knew....