Toe Amputation

[Guest lmackenzie]

Izzi - has a lame paw - left front. She has had a corn removal procedure twice now. The first time did wonders, but then she started holding her paw up. So we did the procedure again but the 2nd time the doc said he didn't see much to remove. She is holding her paw up again - the 2nd procedure wasn't the trick. There is no visible corn. We took x-rays but the are inconclusive. We are waiting 3 weeks for a follow-up x-ray to see if there are any bone changes.

 

One of the options that was suggested was amputation in the case that 1. it is a bone tumor 2. the corn has grown inward.

 

Can you tell me about your experience with Toe Amputation?

 

The toe in question - if you hold up your left hand and your thumb is the dew claw- the toe is the middle finger. 3rd distal I believe.

 

Will she be able to run in the dog park without worry of tearing tendons? (I just imagine without the middle two the first toe might be weaker)

What concerns should I have?

Will corns develop on the other toes?

What should I expect from this toe amputation if we have to go this route?

 

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

Thanks much

 

Laura

[HJsM]

Howie has the 3rd toe amputated on his right front and it has never slowed him down.

 

The toe was COMPLETELY amputated, but not the pad. He raced with it like this, too. No problems at all.

[Guest lmackenzie]

Howie has the 3rd toe amputated on his right front and it has never slowed him down.

 

The toe was COMPLETELY amputated, but not the pad. He raced with it like this, too. No problems at all.

 

okay. i am a lugnut - how do you amputate the toe and not the pad?

 

and thanks for responding.

Edited January 1, 2009 by lmackenzie

[greytpups]

Bailey had her toe amputated at the end of October...after it healed the only thing I notice is it is a bit more sensitive to the cold...boots help with that in the winter. But she can run and play and do everything just like pre-amputation.

[Scooby172]

Two of my dogs had their toe amputated. Kansas (now deceased) had the same toe taken off as they thought it may be cancerous--no difficulties after the amputation. Bella had a deformed toe(outermost toe) with a toenail that grew into her pad, had it amputated when she was spayed at 6 mos. old, again, no difficulties. Both had/have no trouble running playing and getting around like a normal dog. Healing time was minimal. Good luck

Linda, Valor, Keeva and Bella

Edited January 2, 2009 by Scooby172

[Guest lmackenzie]

Thank you so much for your feedback. I really appreciate it. I will let you know what happens.

 

Sincerely,

 

Laura

[kjw]

I believe that's a weight bearing toe, however from what everyone's saying, it sounds like no biggie. My Romi had his inner-most toe off on his back leg a few months ago, and it was just a big relief, as he had a lot of pain from it. Turned out is was squamous cell carcinoma, but unlikely to metastasize. It originally presented as if it was a corn, so I didn't pay much attention, then I thought it was a nail bed infection, then osteomyelitis, and by then I told them to take the damn thing off lol.

 

Romi gets corns too, but they've not gotten worse since the amputation.

 

Don't think twice about it if it's causing your dog pain, she'll be fine without the toe. Just make sure they take the whole toe to the very top, not just the first joint or 2, otherwise they can have problems.

 

I too would like to hear how they can take off a toe but leave a toe pad?

 

[Guest greytloves]

My bridge girl had a front toe amputated. It gave her lots of pain with the toe, after the amputation I don't think she ever felt that much pain again. I did put her on Glucosamine/Chrondotin from then on out. I forgot to order some one time, she was not on it for about 2 weeks and did limp. Put her back on it, limp gone.

 

The only advice I can give, and I was a medical person, is don't look at the toe post op! I almost passed out. It was horrible seeing that and knowing I just paid to have that done to her!

 

She was my three toe raptor after that!

[HJsM]

Howie has the 3rd toe amputated on his right front and it has never slowed him down.

 

The toe was COMPLETELY amputated, but not the pad. He raced with it like this, too. No problems at all.

 

okay. i am a lugnut - how do you amputate the toe and not the pad?

 

and thanks for responding.

 

I have no idea. It was like that when I adopted him.

 

I'll take a picture of it tomorrow and add to the post so that you can see what it looks like.

[Guest lmackenzie]

Howie has the 3rd toe amputated on his right front and it has never slowed him down.

 

The toe was COMPLETELY amputated, but not the pad. He raced with it like this, too. No problems at all.

 

okay. i am a lugnut - how do you amputate the toe and not the pad?

 

and thanks for responding.

 

I have no idea. It was like that when I adopted him.

 

I'll take a picture of it tomorrow and add to the post so that you can see what it looks like.

 

Again Thanks I am interested in seeing it.

 

Don't think twice about it if it's causing your dog pain, she'll be fine without the toe. Just make sure they take the whole toe to the very top, not just the first joint or 2, otherwise they can have problems.

It is causing her pain and it causes me pain knowing she loves being out on walks but she makes the decision to cut it short...

 

The only advice I can give, and I was a medical person, is don't look at the toe post op! I almost passed out. It was horrible seeing that and knowing I just paid to have that done to her!

 

She was my three toe raptor after that!

 

thanks for the heads up ...my palms are getting sweaty just thinking about it... Another concern i have is infection. Izzi has a great spirit - she will rebound I am sure. From the sounds of it we will be back to the dog park this spring...

 

Thank you so much for the support.

 

Laura

[Guest Shermanator]

Patton had his toe removed on his right right leg for corns. We did corn removal surgery once, and when that failed, we amputated. It was the best thing we ever did. Once he healed, his gait completely changed, he walked and stood straight, instead of crooked, compensating from the pain. He is completely healthy, and pain free, and no problems 2 years after the removal.

 

The corn removal surgery was a nightmare. The pain, and getting such a sensitive area to heal was very difficult. The amputation surgery was a breeze. Less stitches, and he had a faster, easy recovery.

Good luck!

[Guest KennelMom]

Dogs can live just fine with any of their toes amputated. Melody's having one of her front outter toes amputated this month (due to injury, not corns). If you see no evidence of corns, I would worry that there is something else going on. I'm not sure I'd want to amputate a toe on a 'it must be that because we can't find anything else' diagnosis. Our Casino's limp, that was attributed to corns and arthritis ended up being osteo. She was a much older dog than your girl, so I'm not saying that might be your girl's case just pointing out that one condition sometimes distracts from another.

 

We've had great luck with corn hulling. A painless way to remove corns that can be done by your vet (or they can teach you how to do it at home). It resolved Grandpa's corn and he never had a recurrance. Of course, you have to be able to see the corn in order to hull it out.

Edited January 2, 2009 by KennelMom

[scullysmum]

It is very good to hear that so many dogs have had various toes amputated without any ill effect, but I just wanted to give a word of warning that a friend had a Grey that had one of the two weight bearing toes on his right hind removed (it had a tumour so had to be removed) and he was severly lame on it for the rest of his life....he really did not get around on that leg well at all. It was for this reason that my vet opted not to go straight for amputation of the toe when my girl broke the same toe 3 weeks ago, my friend used the same vet as me and the vet cited her dogs case as the reason for not amputating unless she got an incurable bone infection.

 

I do know of another Greyhound who also lost the same toe and does just fine.....what I am trying to say is that it seems that they frequently cope perfectly well, but there are some exceptions.

[Peppersdad]

Pepper had the exact same toe amputated you are talking about 3rd front left, some 9 months ago,it took about 3 months for pep to get back to "normal" .he is a very active dog and is back to his old self doing just fine minus a toe, pep lost his toe due to a reacurring interdigital cyst,and has made a full recovery,so it seems they can cope perfectly well , but there are probably some that find it difficult, hope this is of some help.

[HJsM]

Here are the pictures. I'm sorry they are fuzzy, but I don't have a high tech camera.

 

Here you can see the toe was amputated down to the ?knuckle? I guess you'd call it?

 

All 4 pads accounted for:

 

More in next post....

 

P.S. Sorry about the awful state of my pet's nails. Time to break out the Peticure that we got for Christmas

 

Mas de.

 

A view from the top with the pad sort of sticking up.

 

Yes, the pad got left. I have no idea why this was done this way but the word is that it has never bothered him in the least. He raced with the toe amputated (AA as a matter of fact) and it's never once impeded him from running and playing. So, I guess we've had a "good experience" if you can call it that.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[cowpantslady]

i know of 3 greys who had toe amputations

all are doing fabulously no problems and you would never know they had it done

[Scooby172]

When Bella had her toe removed, the vet told me he pulled her pad over the amputation site and stitched to provide her with some extra, well, padding. Her toe looks the same as the picture.

Linda, VAlor, Keeva and Bella

[scullysmum]

Here are the pictures. I'm sorry they are fuzzy, but I don't have a high tech camera.

 

Here you can see the toe was amputated down to the ?knuckle? I guess you'd call it?

 

All 4 pads accounted for:

 

More in next post....

 

P.S. Sorry about the awful state of my pet's nails. Time to break out the Peticure that we got for Christmas

 

Mas de.

 

A view from the top with the pad sort of sticking up.

 

Yes, the pad got left. I have no idea why this was done this way but the word is that it has never bothered him in the least. He raced with the toe amputated (AA as a matter of fact) and it's never once impeded him from running and playing. So, I guess we've had a "good experience" if you can call it that.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

 

When Bella had her toe removed, the vet told me he pulled her pad over the amputation site and stitched to provide her with some extra, well, padding. Her toe looks the same as the picture.

Linda, VAlor, Keeva and Bella

 

 

The reason that the pad was preserved was because it contains important blood vessels and nerve endings....apparently (according to my vet) it is the loss of the pad that can cause problems for some dogs (as stated in my earlier reply)....which is why it is preserved if possible.

[Beautybabe]

Nothing to add. This thread is fascinating.

[Guest lmackenzie]

Wow everyone. Thank you so much. I understand now about the pad needing to be perserved. The possibility of a bone tumor is there - but they couldn't get a definite yes from the radiologist. We will get more x-rays in a couple of weeks to see if there is any change in the bone. He also said it could be a bone infection. She has been on antibiotics for two weeks with no changes. I am soaking her foot in epsom salts and it seems to help sometimes.

 

Shermanator - Izzi is a little crooked from not using that leg/paw as much. Her left shoulder is a little smaller than her right now.

 

When she first was diagnosed with a corn - i tried topical treatments then finally went to the hulling. It was such a simple procedure I wish I had it done earlier. I just didn't know and am kicking myself if the corn has now interferred with her toe. I guess I would say to anyone who is on the fence about getting a corn hulled - it was really no big deal.

 

 

HJsM - thank you so much for the pictures. I appreciate your time in taking them and posting. That toe does look healthy and in good shape - you would hardly know it wasn't there - it just looks a little shorter And Howie made AA - well that is something - so I won't worry about Izzi running in the park

 

Again everyone Thank you so much for your help and responses. It has really made me feel better and reassured about the possibility of amputation.

 

Very Sincerely,

 

Laura

[lovinggreysslp]

Larry had a toe removed due to a severe dislocation. Once we lived through very limited activity for the first couple weeks, Larry was good as new! I on the other hand keep looking for the fourth nail to dremmel on that foot!