Possible Toe Amputation

[kjw]

One of my boys may need to have his toe amputated. We're not sure at this point whether the problem is a bone infection or a tumor, but so far, after 4 days, he does not appear to be responding very well to treatment with Baytril and colloidal silver.

 

The affected toe is on his right rear leg, the innermost toe pad, and exrays show 2 bones are involved. I have not yet contacted OSU. The only good news is that since it's crossed the joint, we can be fairly certain it's not OS, but there are several other bone cancers that fit very well.

 

If it's an infection, it appears that a bone infection like this can be really difficult to treat, the vet is saying at least 8 weeks on heavy duty antibiotics, maybe longer, which will demo his digestive tract. , and for severe bone infections, they may well end up amputating.

 

If it's cancer, the treatment would be amputation in any case, after doing a core biopsy. So I'm thinking that maybe I should go ahead with an amputation so we can get on with healing, rather than doing months of meds and at least one prior procedure and possibly having to amputate anyway.

 

He is being a very difficult patient, which is not usual for him. He simply will not leave the toe alone, so it's all torn up now on top of the initial problem, which is my fault for not muzzling him sooner *sighs*.

 

In any case, I am wanting to hear from anyone here who has had to do a toe amp on this rear innermost toe, especially on a senior - Romi will be 11 in a few months. Yup, it's Romi. I'm wondering how extensive the recovery time is, how much pain they were in, and if the amputation affected mobility after healing, and anything else you think is relevent.

 

Here's a summer picture of my boy.

 

And here's one of the all time favorite Romi pics:

 

[Jiffer]

Oh no K!

 

I hope it's not "C" but certainly, going with amp. might be the best course of treatment... just to be sure.

[Bevd]

Wallace's was a totally different toe (a front one) but we went ahead with the amputation and it turned out to be a bone infection rather than the other thing but we were still glad we'd done it because it was proving difficult to get rid of the infection and was therefore impossible for us to get rid of Wallace's pain. He suffered no bad effects after his amputation.

 

Wishing Romi lots of luck

[DustysMom]

Dusty had an inside front toe amputated. We used someone who was an old track vet here because I figured he had more experience with greyhound toes than my regular vet. He took the toe up high so there was no stub (he says better result). Dusty walked out the next day so much better than he walked in. His recovery was uneventful and he was never bothered by the missing toe. I MUST tell you, however, nail trimming on 15 toes rather than 16 is NOT cheaper Good luck.

[Guest whatahound]

Nikki had a toe amputated before I adopted her due to an injury. Two years ago she was having issues with another toe on a different foot. They xrayed and the bone looked strange. They first treated her with metacam thinking it may be arthritis. She stayed on it for 10 days and the problem never returned.

 

Positive thoughts for Romi. He's one of my favorite GT hounds.

[Guest RocketDog]

I had a foster who lost an outside toe on a rear foot. Didn't bother her at all, and I didn't even notice until the third day!

 

I have a pup who's going to get a toe amputated too, but for a different reason. Good thoughts for your handsome boy.

[kjw]

Thanks for the good wishes and the information; I've also done a search of this forum and it's kind of odd, some toe amputations seem to go very smoothly, and the grey walks fine out of the vet's office right afterwards, other people are reporting a month or more of soreness and lameness. I wonder what the difference is?

[lovinggreysslp]

Larry, age 8 1/2, had his rear, outside toe removed about a month ago (it was severely dislocated). We had to keep it bandaged, change the wrap several times, leash walk etc but he recovered quickly. He now thinks he is ready to chase the bunnies. He was clearly in much less discomfort right after the toe was removed than when he still had the injured toe.

 

[Ruth]

Tess had 2 toes removed due to tumors on the knuckles. One on right front foot and one on left rear foot. The rear toe was the second from the outside. She did great and no they weren't C but to be sure we took them off as the tumors surrounded the bones. Both were taken up high so they wouldn"t splay. She is fine and you wouldn't even know it to watch her walk or run.

 

Ruth

[Guest TheDoggfather]

Have it taken off. It'll improve his quality of life loads.

[Guest GreysAndMoreGreys]

On most toe amputations I have seen the recovery is amazingly fast.

Of course the main thing you have to worry about is infection and also making sure Romi doesn't lick it a lot while it's healing. Muzzle and Poop cup should take care of that while you can't keep a close eye on him.

[Guest sheila]

If this were my dog I would have the toe amputated and be done with it. Kiowa had an outside rear toe amputated and he was back to normal in a cpl of weeks.

[dmdsmoxie]

Have the toe taken off. The recovery is less than the eight weeks they are talking about and the problem will be solved forever.

 

Dick

[greysmom]

Definitely do not hesitate to have the toe amputated for his quality of life issues. Dude had a middle-back-foot-toe amp'ed in May (broken during zoomies) and the surgery healed completely in two weeks. We had long-term complications due to pressure sores from the splint and a skin infection, but that was MY fault in not taking the splint off when I knew I should have (lesson learned there!). It added an additional 4 weeks of bandage/splint changes to what was an uneventful surgery.

 

He quickly learned the three-legged hop and even did it after all the bandages were off for about a month. He's back to using the foot normally (even scratching his ears with it) 3 months post-surgery and running just like he used to. The vet said he may have some arthritis issues in the future (he just turned 6 BTW) that we'll have to watch for, otherwise, I'm not anticipating any further problems.

 

Make sure they take enough of the toe that there's no "stump" to impact the ground and/or poke through the skin.

 

greysmom

[kjw]

Thanks so much for all the greyt feedback. I know now that my gut instinct was the right instinct. When the vet is back in town next week we'll be going for a follow up, I'll see if we can go ahead and book the surgery right away, he's just had a senior panel last month which is good timing.

 

I'll be sure to post pre and post pics for all the Romi fans; if I know my boy he'll be back to himself pretty quickly.

 

I thank you, and Romi thanks you!

 

Edited September 22, 2008 by kjw

[Ruth]

When Tess came home after her surgery we put a sock over the bandage to keep her from chewing and to protect the bandages for the grass and dirt from outside and since it was the first part of Dec. it was really wet so that helped with that also. She was back to running in the yard even before the bandages were completely off. She still hasn't slowed down and that was over a year ago and you would never know they were missing if you don't look at her feet. Good luck and hope you have as good a recovery as we did.

 

Ruth

[Batmom]

No advice to add, just lots of hugs for handsome Romi.

[Chicocat]

Thanks for the good wishes and the information; I've also done a search of this forum and it's kind of odd, some toe amputations seem to go very smoothly, and the grey walks fine out of the vet's office right afterwards, other people are reporting a month or more of soreness and lameness. I wonder what the difference is?

 

Unless there is an infection, the difference is the vet and the technique. Dusty's Mom is right, it seems to heal quickly and cause less problems when it is removed completely. The dogs I have had experience with walked better as soon as the surgery was done, had stitches for about 8-10 days and were completely healed with no further difficulties when the stitches were removed.

[Guest longdogs]

William had that toe missing and it never bothered him in the slightest.

[Guest paulamariez]

Our first grey, Chief had to have a rear middle toe removed due to an infection that we couldn't get rid of. Chief had it done when he was around 12 years old and on all kinds of medications for his cardiomyopathy, so he was a high risk patient. Chief came through it like the champ that he was!! The vet was very vigilant about his stomach and all the medications Chief was on. He had Chief getting liquid Pepto three times a day to keep his tummy coated, plus on Tagamet to keep the acid in his tummy down too. We had no problems and my beautiful boy lived on another couple of years after wards. Best of luck to you and your precious Romi. I will keep Romi's tender heart in my prayers for as greyt an outcome as Chief had! Here's a picture of our old guy Chief, he's sending his prayers to Romi from the Bridge as well!