Dislocated Toe

[Guest MnMDogs]

He's clearly uncomfortable, so I think the vet visit is warranted. And if the soft wrap will make him less aware of the bandaging, so he makes less of a deal about the whole thing, then the visit is certainly warranted.

 

And since you're not going to be able to deal with all this next week, it'd be well to get problems ironed out sooner (tomorrow) rather than later.

 

Good luck.

 

Thank you! I read your friend's blog post and that's really worried me about what may be going on under there. I think I'm more paranoid since he's a foster, and I feel less confident about my decisions, and we've never had an issue like this with our own dogs.

 

[Guest simile]

Tip dislocated a rear inner toe last summer. We tried a soft splint, but the toe popped out again, so we went with a rigid splint. The vet ended up making a a custom fitting splint for him because grey feet and legs don't always fit well in the premade plastic splints. He still ended up with splint sores, but we were diligent about changing the splint weekly, and cleaning any sores that appeared, so he did fine. The hardest part was keeping the dang thing dry because he'd frequently use the bad back foot when outside and end up putting holes in whatever I used to cover the splint. IV bags worked best, but they'd still take a beating.

 

Anyway, after about 8 weeks, the splint came off and the toe stayed in place. It's taken a few months for total rehab, but he running and playing fine now.

 

Hope that boy's feeling better soon!

[Guest MnMDogs]

Alec in a much reduced splint:

 

 

He is such a good boy!

[BauersMom]

Is he doing better with it now?

[Guest MnMDogs]

He's so much better! Still not happy when I put the bag over his foot to go outside, but he's about back to his old self

[BauersMom]

He's so much better! Still not happy when I put the bag over his foot to go outside, but he's about back to his old self

 

Great!!

 

 

[KF_in_Georgia]

Yay, Alec!

 

I'm glad he's feeling better.

[Guest mlegan4888]

It's very difficult to find info on dislocated toes, so the suggestions and comments on this site are greatly helpful and appreciated. My Whippet disclocated his front inside pinky toe and tore his ligament. They put him in a "spoon" splint with LOTS of padding and wrapped the whole thing in sticky tape (like Bauer's Mom's). It took him about 5 days to get used to it. It slid right off his skinny little leg within a few days and has since had to be rewrapped 3 times...it's been only 2 1/2 weeks.

 

He's developed sores between his toes, so the vet put an antibtioic cream on the spots, but I'm very concerned about a full blown infection. To keep the area dry, I recommend putting a sock around the whole thing, then securing a plastic bag (or IV bag) on top of that, but I wouldn't keep the plastic bag on for long. I agree that frequent wrap changes are worth it. You also have to be careful about the tape sticking to their thin skin. It's unavoidable to a point, but the same area should not be continually retaped.

 

It's been very sad and stressful, but I can't imagine proper healing without some sort of splint (not a cast) to keep it immobile and promote proper healing. Thanks, again, for all the great comments, and I hope you don't mind a Whippet owner who's also a huge Greyhound fan posting on the site on this topic!