Dislocated Or Broken Toe?

[dex95lucy]

Tonight I found Bessie licking her right back foot. To make a long story short, her outer toe nail is on top of the next toe and the pad of that toe is pushed inward, not at all like her other foot. She did some whining, stood up and held that foot up, hopped a few steps, then did bear some weight on it. She is walking carefully but no crying. I am restricting her walking, not that she is doing much. I cannot afford the emergency vet, but will call her doc at seven tomorrow. She does not seem to be in extreme distress and I did give her Deramaxx she had from another injury.

 

Does this sound familiar to anybody? For all the critters I have had in my lifetime I have not had a broken or dislocated bone. Many other problems, but not this. No idea how she did this. All ideas appreciated.

 

 

Sue and Bessie

[Fiona3]

We've had two greys with dislocated toes. Tasha has a dislocation that sounded similar to Bessie. Our vet did an x-ray to be sure that there was no fracture or break before resetting the toe. They placed a soft, well padded bandage over the toe (with one bandage change so they could check the toe) for 10 days. It was important to keep the foot & bandage dry (they gave us a waterproof boot to cover the foot). Both greys have healed nicely.

 

Keep us posted on Bessie's results.

Edited May 22, 2009 by Fiona3

[Guest KennelMom]

Probably dislocated, but really hard for any of us to say for sure. Not "e-vet worthy" for sure though.

[dex95lucy]

Bessie had a quiet night, no outbursts of pain. My preferred greyhound vet does not do orthopedics, so my second vet who is wonderful, but much more expensive, will see her at 4:15 today. The first vet I talked to said that it does sound dislocated and an x ray should be done. Nothing like a problem at the beginning of a holiday weekend, huh???

[Guest Energy11]

Me? If it were one of mine, I'd keep a toddler sock and bootie on the foot, keep giving the Deramaxx, and restrict the activity. We can't "fix" toes with humans, for sure. They just take time to heal.

 

Just be sure you don't see signs of infection, ... redness, puffiness, hot to the touch, puss, etc.

 

Good luck and keep us posted.

[NancyB]

Ramm dislocated his toe and the vet had to put him under, yank it back in place, and then wrap it so it stayed on place. We had to be careful with how much activity he had.

 

Here his his twisted toe, it was twisted up around the next toe

 

Here he is all bandaged up

 

Good luck at the appointment this afternoon.

[dex95lucy]

Yup, Nancy, it looks almost exactly like that. Just had her out and she is careful with it. Keeping her crated otherwise, which does not bother her thank goodness. I will just be glad when this is over. Thanks ever so much.

 

Sue and Bessie

[calif_chaz]

I used a therapaw boot on Maggie with her dislocated toe because she would not tolerate the splint or wrap. Worked fine.

Also restricted her activity for a couple of weeks.

[crazygang]

Sending well wishes for Bessie poor sweetheart.....

[Jackandgrey]

Poor girl. I hope it's dealt with and on it's way to healing now. Dislocations always look so much more dramatically painful than they are.

[Guest sheila]

when one of my dogs dislocated a toe at the dog park I took the toe between my thumb and forefinger and just gently manipulated it and it popped right back into place. He didn't even yelp when I did this.

[dex95lucy]

Sheila, I did not feel comfortable doing that as the whole area was swollen. Had I been there or known when it happened I just might have done that.

 

So we got back from the vet about thirty minutes ago. x ray showed a nasty dislocation and vet was afraid it was going to pop out of the skin, as there was already an open area there. Office is closed until Tuesday and she did not want to wait, so she sedated Bessie with hydrocodone and manipulated it. She did not wrap it and is concerned that the ligaments may have been stretched. The surgeon will be in Tuesday. Though she is a good vet, of the three in the office she is the youngest. The other two were off today. Wouldn't you know it. I warned her about the GSOD and she is very familiar with it as she had worked with greys doing what she called rescue work prior to completing vet school.

 

Bessie is still showing the effects of the med. She is rather loopy, stands and whines, looks confused, refused supper, I had to pick her up and put her on the sofa. She finally is laying, head over the edge with ETS. She would not even take her pill with peanut butter. I wish she would fall asleep like people do, and just sleep it off. She has antibiotics and Deramaxx, limited activity, and return Tuesday if anything does not seem right.

 

I got some ice cream today for the two of us, but I do not think she would be interested in it at the moment. Any more advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Sue and Bessie

[Guest GreysAndMoreGreys]

My suggestions would be to keep her as calm as possible, leash walks. No yard zoomies or anything like that.

The longer she rests the toe the better chances you will have with not needing surgery.

 

Dislocated toes is not unusual for racers. If trainers can safely pop them back in they do. Some never pop out again some do. Just all depends.

 

My girl Weenie, dislocated a toe and it was turned 180 degrees. I tried to pop it back in and just couldn't. Took her to the vet, sedated and it took quite a bit of effort but the toe was popped back in. Only dislocated again once and that was in 4 years after the first dislocation.

[dex95lucy]

Thanks Heather, and everybody else. I have more hope now that it will be a fast recovery, no big deal, use common sense and we will not have a repeat of this. I really appreciate the well wishes and the feedback. You know how we worry about our babies. She is so loopy right now. I will feel better tomorrow when she has recovered from the meds. She really was not this fussy before the vet. She was pretty stoic then. Guess it hurt like the dickens as it was really out of alignment. The area is still swollen. She still looks and acts drunk. MY POOR BABY. She just won't give in to sleep.

 

Sue

[Jackandgrey]

Give your little stoner a hug and kiss for us. She'll feel better tomorrow. So will you