Toe Question

[Guest BillF]

Hi

 

My girl was running about two weeks ago and came up limping. The next day I noticed some swelling on the outside toe of her right-front foot. It is the joint at the front of the foot where the toe makes a downturn toward the floor. She would yelp and pull it back if you touched the toe. I dropped her off at the vet that morning. When I picked her up he said the pain got a little worse during the day. He gave her some pain meds and took two x-rays - one from the side, one from the top. He said there was no indication of a fracture on the joint. He gave us Meloxicam for the pain. She was on that for about a week and is not in pain anymore. Now she will let me move the toe and doesn't have a pain reaction.

 

There is some swelling at the joint, and it's hard, not soft. The joint has less range of motion than the same tow on the other foot. We went by the vet again for a followup. He said he was pleased with the way it looked and the bump should go down over time. But it might always be a little larger than normal.

 

She's back to doing zoomies around the tree in the back yard. It doesn't seem to bother her any more. I do see a little change in her gait. As her right foot comes back it looks like she picks it up a little early and you see a little dip in her shoulders.

 

Does anyone have have any experience with this type injury? I searched the forum but all the toe posts I could find were about broken toes. Would it do any good to soak it in warm (or cold) water?

 

Thanks

Bill

 

[Guest hvacman250]

Thats normal. The bone is calcifying, the bodys way of protecting it for the future. It will always be bigger than the other joints. I dont think Ive met many greys that DIDNT have a swollen joint.

 

When it happens here, I just leash walk them for 3 weeks, let it heal, then go on with life. Anything that runs like a maniac as fast as they do is bound to sprain/dislocate/break a toe. They heal fast.

[Guest RocketDog]

Both of mine have a knobby toe (the same toe on each of them, actually - outside right front). NASTY bruising/swelling for a few days (during which the injured hound milked us for all we were worth), but keeping them quiet for a few weeks put them back almost as good as new. Just a head's up on healed dislocations - they are prone to re-injuring the toe, and after a few dislocations I've heard that the toe tends to 'pop' out easier. I'm dealing with this problem with Rocket right now, he came in lame on the same foot he's hurt before and he's already bruising up.

Edited March 19, 2009 by RocketDog

[Guest BillF]

Thanks for the help. The bump seems to be a little smaller, but maybe that's just me. There's no evidence it hurts her.

 

Thanks again,

Bill

[racindog]

I have found that to be normal for hounds. Most all of mine have eventually, sooner or later, done that to at least 1 toe. I reckon "its a greyhound thing." There will always be a bump or lump there.

Edited March 20, 2009 by racindog

[Guest KennelMom]

Sounds normal. Some of our toe-injury prone dogs have some lumpy, bumpy, gnarly feet.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Does it look like this?:

 

It sounds exactly like what my boy has in this photo. Although my boy never limped or whined when we touched the lump. He would just lick your hand if you touched it, and slowly pull his leg back from you. My boy is very stoic with pain. Now if he steps on a shoe, look out, he yells like you just ripped his leg off. Thats my short-bus boy! I took him to the vet and xrays show nothing as well. The swelling went down a week later. Well, it would seem that the lump comes and goes depending on how much running he does around the yard and at the dog park.

Edited March 20, 2009 by Greyt_dog_lover

[Guest BillF]

Does it look like this?:

 

It sounds exactly like what my boy has in this photo. Although my boy never limped or whined when we touched the lump. He would just lick your hand if you touched it, and slowly pull his leg back from you. My boy is very stoic with pain. Now if he steps on a shoe, look out, he yells like you just ripped his leg off. Thats my short-bus boy! I took him to the vet and xrays show nothing as well. The swelling went down a week later. Well, it would seem that the lump comes and goes depending on how much running he does around the yard and at the dog park.

 

 

That's it. Olive's isn't that big. And I think it's getting better and better every day.

 

Thanks

Bill