Has Anyone Had A Pup Who Got A Corn Removed Surgically?

[Guest mtnbluebird]

Folsom's been limping due to a corn for 11 months now. Once I got him to a vet that recognized it was a corn she hulled it. That had NO effect and 2 weeks later she hulled it again... also with not much effect. He's gotten used to his therapaw boot and wears that for walks, but he's starting to limp with the boot on. Without the boot it's pitiful to watch him walk inside :-( . His corn extends past the pad surface and he gets very wide eyed if I go near it. Previous to the hulling I was rubbing it with a moisturizer to try to soften it and I could shave the protruding part. Now he gets upset if I try to clip the nails on that foot.

 

I was recently at a vet who also happens to be a vet for the racing kennels at the track- so she knows greyhounds. She said the only way to get rid of a corn was to surgically remove it, that she's done many of those procedures, and that "hulling" the corn was painful and not very useful. Poor Folsom used to love the vet (he loved the vet techs, the cookies, the vets, the cookies... ) but since he got the corn hulled he panics when we walk into a vets office... I've brought him along for the ride for procedures with our other hound, but I think it's safe to say that the hulling experience was not pleasant.

 

I know hulling works for a lot of hounds, but for my particular dog it dosen't seem to be working. It's not about money, it's about long term comfort for Folsom, but the other vet was charging $35 to hull each time, and the track vet says she can do the pad surgery for $90. Has anyone had a dog go through this surgery? What was the recovery period like? Did the corn come back?

 

Thanks!

[Guest redreed]

Tiger Shark had this surgury but it was sooooo many years ago, probably 1998 or 1999. It didn't work, not only was he limping for a while from the pain from the surgury but the d**m thing grew back!!!!!! He was in a lot of pain and "tripod-ed" for almost 3 months while the pad healed.

 

NOW like I said this was 10 years ago and it may be done differently now with more success.

 

Good luck!

 

[Hubcitypam]

Tiger Shark had this surgury but it was sooooo many years ago, probably 1998 or 1999. It didn't work, not only was he limping for a while from the pain from the surgury but the d**m thing grew back!!!!!! He was in a lot of pain and "tripod-ed" for almost 3 months while the pad healed.

 

NOW like I said this was 10 years ago and it may be done differently now with more success.

 

Good luck!

Rex had it done on three feet in 2003 with the same results. I would never put a dog through that again. He really was in a lot of pain and I had to spray the stuff on his paws to toughen them up and it stung like hell. Plus it was a toss up if his feet would heal first or my back would go out from lifting his 90 # down off the porch stoop for 3+ weeks as he was not allowed to jump down at all. Then they came back on two paws and I just used duct tape.

[Burpdog]

The best result I've seen/heard of is laser removal. Lasts longer than just hulling. Some corns are deep.

 

Can you do a peanut butter muzzle while you trim it?

[Batmom]

Zema had hers hulled one last time, and then vet ran *very* lightly over the hulled surface (cavity) with the surgical laser. Zero recovery time, no regrowth of corn.

 

If your pup has had corn for a long time, chances are there is some callus built up around the corn. That can be as painful as the corn itself and should be trimmed back.

 

Hugs and best luck.

[DonnaBehr]

My friend's grey just had a corn removed from her paw and it was a good 6 to 8-week recovery - keeping the dog off the paw, except for potty breaks and keeping a boot on when the dog went outside.

[Guest amour]

Mine just had one removed surgically a week ago because he couln't bear any weight on the leg. Stitches are coming out Monday. Right now he is 3 legging it. Don't know if it will come back or not. It cost me $550.00. It was as big around as the tip of my little finger all the way thru and had calcified. No wonder he was in such pain!!

[calif_chaz]

After many corn problems and finally a sore paw with no corn showing we changed vets. Of course we had x-rays done of his leg twice and finally all the vet could say was the only thing left was to amputate part of the toe. By now Sam was only walking on 3 legs even in the house on carpet and would not put that sore paw down. Hard decision for us but we opted to take the chance on the amputation. Vet removed first knuckle, no stitches, just post op care and now a few months later he is great! No limps, no refusal to put weight on the paw, just prancing around on it. Turns out the corn type growth had grown inward and reached from the paw to the bone which must have been so painful for him. I am so glad we opted for this!

[Guest mtnbluebird]

Thanks for the replies, not sure what to do now though :-( I seriously doubt either of the greyhound savvy vets (out of the 4 vets I've taken him to) has a laser, but I'll ask. The vet that hulled the corn just grabbed the protruding surface and yanked with forceps. He's had two x-rays of the problem leg prior to the corn protruding.

 

Keeping him off his feet will NOT be a problem. He moves as little as possible as it is now. I'll ask for more details about the surgical procedure though.

 

I could muzzle him to trim the corn, but I don't think I have the right tools. His corn is big and deep, and you can see the swollen pad tissue around the edges of the corn.

Edited September 25, 2009 by mtnbluebird

[Guest MnMDogs]

Do not have surgery. 4 years ago, I had Mork's 2 surgically removed (he now has 4 ). Not only did they grow back in less then a year - and multiply - I never saw any discernible decrease in his limping before they grew back. Just recently my vet here printed out a vet journal article on corns that were studied in 24 dogs. I think 17 were greyhounds, the others were labs, shepherds and some other breeds. It was a small group of dogs, but the thing that I found interesting was that the greyhounds corns were very different from the others', and the other dogs seemed to have success with surgery - not the greys though.

 

Mork's are now worse than ever, and the best way for us to manage them is to keep them dremeled down as low as possible (he will not tolerate hulling).

 

Also, if you don't have a TheraPaw, maybe consider them for walks. They make it possible for Morky to walk outside on the pavement. In the house, we just bought a lot of area rugs for him to navigate around the house since the tile really bothers him. We've also considered the amp route with the worst corn of the 4 (that we can't see, but xrays have ruled out everything else), but with his 3 other corn toes and one missing weight bearing toe as well, we're worried that it will cause even more of a problem.

 

Good luck.

 

 

[Burpdog]

that hulled the corn just grabbed the protruding surface and yanked with forceps.

 

That is not hulling. See below for pictures and instructions:

 

Grassmere - Corns

[Guest littlesyd85]

Surgery is not an option for my girl because she only has three legs and the recovery would be pretty much impossible for her to function. My vet says that he prefers not to do it anyways. He taught me how to hull the corn so I don't have to bring her in every three to four weeks with a $30 charge. He said that if the problem gets worse he can actually snip the vein that goes to that pad. So basically the pad would no longer have feeling in it. But that is worst case scenario! Right now we seem to be doing ok with the regular hulling, TheraPaw, Kerasolv in the morning, and Abreva in the evening. I don't know what the future holds though. Good luck!

[Finnsliz]

Did it once with my Finn who suffered from corns the entire time I had him. I took him to a vet who worked on racers. Long recovery, and it grew back in about 8 months. The hulling proceedure worked best for us, but there was no permanent cure. I have seen dogs recover quicker and with less pain from a toe amputation than it took for Finn to recover from his corn removal surgery.

[Guest onegreydog]

Laci has a corn too, for months now. The vet wanted me to soak it twice a day and use corn remover on lt for two weeks. He said this would remove it. So far nothing.........

[Guest Scouts_mom]

Grabbing with forceps and pulling

is not hulling--that is torturing the dog. No wonder your dog is scared to go to the vet--I would be too. Hulling involves cutting the corn tissue out. My Tia has had it done several times to one paw and it doesn't hurt her--believe me she would let me know if it was painful. Between hullings, I just dremmel the corn when it gets higher than the surrounding tissue.

 

My first grey, Scout, had a weird kind of corn/wart that didn't show much on the surface, but had hard tissue going to the bone. I had it surgically removed a couple times but it kept growing back so we amputated the toe. She never seemed to miss it and was much more comfortable.

[Guest littlesyd85]

Laci has a corn too, for months now. The vet wanted me to soak it twice a day and use corn remover on lt for two weeks. He said this would remove it. So far nothing.........

I've never heard of that before... I wasn't even aware there was corn remover for greyhounds. Do you know why the vet chose not to hull it?

[Guest Spencers_Greyt]

Buzz has a corn that I have hulled once a month and the hulling does not hurt him whatsoever. I wouldn't put him through the surgery as I think it's more painful than having the corn and not always successful.

 

[Guest Becki]

Momma has corns on five toes, spread out over three feet. Her worst are on her front two feet. I hull them every three to four weeks. Axel has one corn on one of his back feet. It can be a nasty bugger and I hull it out when I notice it needs it. It isn't as often because it doesn't cause him to limp so I will, frankly, forget he has it from time to time. He probably needs something done with it again now, as a matter of fact. For either of them, I don't think it would be worth it to have the procedure. Momma definitely can't have it because she won't be able to walk with her arthritis issues.