Guest ImAKoala Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Pete came into our bedroom limping at 4 am last night. We couldn't find anything wrong except that one of his toes on his right front paw was swollen and it felt like he might have cracked the base of his toenail. So off to the vet this morning, and she also thought he cracked his toenail and that it was getting infected and would have to come off. She took him in the back and washed off his foot, and then realized the toenail is not cracked but Pete has a very serious, inflamed and oozing nailbed infection. She gave me 2 different antibiotics and something for pain/inflammation. But she says we have to watch it really closely. If the infection does not begin to heal and become less painful very soon, the bone could be involved, which could lead to amputation of the tip or entire toe. So we started on those meds right away, and I will be watching his foot very closely. For now he is limping very badly and is even less active than normal. The good news is that I got him to take all of his pills (4 pills twice a day) by putting them into little slices of hotdog. The pills are huge so I thought I would have trouble getting him to eat them, but they went down just fine. Anyone else ever had this type of infection? Amputation seems a huge extreme step, so we are working hard to avoid it. Anyone's dog ever have a toe amputated? How did they do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest p51crazyhorse Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 My Fiona has had a toe amputated, before we got her... now she limps on that foot and one of the remaining toes looks swollen too.... I need to take her in......we just adopted her recently and I thought that she limped all the time, according to her foster mom that isnt the case.... now I am worried that she may lose another! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gracegirl Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Fenway had an infected toenail as a pup. He was on antibiotics and had it wrapped up for a week, maybe two. Other than acting like his life was over...because he had to wear a bandage....(it was not that bad of an infection) he came out of it just fine! I hope that Pete's infection clears right up. OTOH, I hear that toe amps are no big deal! I have some dog booties from REI that were hugely helpful during this ordeal. Feel better soon Pete! Quote Poppy the lurcher 11/24/23 Gabby the Airedale 7/1/18 Forever missing Grace (RT's Grace), Fenway (not registered, def a greyhound), Jackson (airedale terrier, honorary greyhound), and Tessie (PK's Cat Island) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MZH Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 We have a cat with a "thickened" toe and nail that won't retract. The vets are thinking infection or cancer. They wanted to amputate it to see what the cause of it is; that's how they biopsy these things. We declined that as she's at least 16. Instead they gave her 2 rounds of Zeniquin, which helped it look normal again. When it recurred a third time we had started giving Metacam for other aches and pains. Oddly, the toe gets well after she's been on steady doses Metacam. So, if all else fails you could try that before doing anything drastic. It's hard to know what to do sometimes. Sometimes a little luck is the best treatment. Marcia in SC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msjpk Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Plummer my foster, (soon to be Lou's brudder) also came to us with 2 feet with infected toe nails. He is also on 28 days of Zeniquin. Seems to be working. I also soaked them in Epson Salt and then dried the toes. Keeping dogs nails clipped helps also. Good luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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