Corn Issue

[jamngrey]

Cassie who is 8 has been dealing with a corn on her right rear toe (weight bearing toe). This is also a the toe that she had dislocatd when she was retired at 21 months. We have tryed everything (hulling and all the other advice posted here) She is now to the point she will not walk on the foot when she does not have the Therapaw on and sometimes still will limp with it. I am 99% sure the amp is the best idea but I keep seconguessing my choice. Any one with a back weight bearing toe that has been amputated? How did it go, are you glad you did it, do you feel it cured the problem?

[Guest Smiley]

We have experience with corns and toe amputation (not r/t corns). Peanut had severe corn that we tried everything with. We finally had our vet surgically remove it while sparing the toe. He did a great job and we've had no other issues and it healed really well. Smiley had his toe amputated following a severe infection (initially thought to be a tumor) and while he did very well following the surgery, the healing process took longer than expected. Initially the incision re-opened after the stitches were out, so I highly recommend leaving those suckers in as long as possible. Then the staple popped. All in all it was about 6+ weeks of leash only walks and keeping his foot dry. I ended up making a nylon boot that cinches to cover his foot to go outside because it was so wet when he had his surgery. In the end, it healed very well and the fur was even growing back in about 2 months. I can see with so much trauma to that toe why you are considering surgery. Good luck! I hope everything goes well and hugs to Cassie.

[Finnsliz]

I did the corn removal surgery with Finn. Long healing process and the corn did come back after about 8 months. NOT worth it. We have a dog at the adoption kennel (bounce) who had a weight bearing rear toe removed (not corn related). His toes are kind of twisted, but aside from that he is fine. I would go with the amputation. I know how awful it is to watch your dog chronically suffer from the pain of corns. Good luck with your decision.

[Guest Fasave]

I personally wouldn't do it. One of my guys has had corns for over 5 years. Managing them is just part of our life. Out of habit he will sometimes limp on the foot with the corn but it's not hurting him so I leave well enough alone. Lots of duct tape, dremelling and booties in our future but I'd rather do that than put him through surgery that may or may not have good results.

[capitalhounds]

That is a tough one. If she is doing ok with the TheraPaw and will bear weight on it, part of me thinks that I would just continue with that protocol. I can think of one person whose dog needs to wear the TheraPaw on her back paw when she is walking on hard surfaces. She is fine on grass and carpet. They don't consider it a big deal and just use the bootie for her and she does fine with it. My ex racer had a back toe amputated while he was still racing because it kept dislocating but it was non-weight bearing and that was before I adopted him.

[Guest Energy11]

I, personally would not amputate the toe either. Might cause even MORE problems down the road.

 

Staggerlee has horrible corns on his rear paws, which we hull as we can, but, of course, they come back. He likes his walks, but needs his Voyagers canine booties, in order to walk painlessly. They have a newer product, with heavier padding on the soles. You might want to try these. They work well for us! Good Luck! http://k9apparel.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=132_138&products_id=2570

[Guest arlosmom]

We are frustrated with exactly the same issue and in addition on the same foot we now have a callous (from treatment of racing injury on that leg)that has been cut and has an antibiotic resistant infection. The therapaw bootie also irritated this callous before he cut it because it has a seam that lays directly on the callus. He is totally wrapped up now because of the infection which makes it hard to work on the nails and corns. I could also use some advice.

[Guest MnMDogs]

We just had a right, rear weight bearing toe removed on Mork (Nov 19), and my whole long post about it was deleted! So - please PM me if you want details. In short, we would do it again, and wish we had done it a year ago when this toe started to really give him problems. I think I have a lot of posts about my frustrations with Mork's feet if you want even more details I've been dealing with his corns for as long as I've had him, and this is one that we could just not manage any other way. He couldn't even walk with a TheraPaw on that foot, and we have used them for years on his front feet with much relief.

 

Within 7 - 10 days, he was actually RUNNING (with the wrap on). Prior to that, he couldn't even put weight on that foot. He's a new dog, and at 10+ years is like a puppy again.

 

I just wanted to add we also agonized over this decision. I was at the vet about every 8 weeks trying to figure something else out for almost a full year. When it got to the point that he actually fell in the kitchen, we knew that he would get hurt if we didn't do something. My vet (who I love, and did an absolutely amazing job) fully xrayed his foot and leg to make sure that it was only the toe giving pain. She also did a chest xray to make sure there was no CA that we didn't know about. At his age, I didn't take this lightly at all, and neither did she. But honestly, I could kick myself for not doing this much sooner.

Edited January 23, 2010 by MnMDogs

[Guest 2greygirls]

Stretch broke his toe pretty badly and had it amputated, a rear weight bearing toe, he was still racing, and, in fact, raced for a while at AA after that, of course the doc who did it saved the pad of the toe so he has some cushion on his stump..all of my greys except Bonnie have had toe amps for various injuries...I seriously get worried that people think I go around pruning my dogs' feet, but in all cases the results were good. Every dog is different, but in all cases of toe amps I've seen, the dog is better for it.

[Guest shelbud]

We just had a right, rear weight bearing toe removed on Mork (Nov 19), and my whole long post about it was deleted! So - please PM me if you want details. In short, we would do it again, and wish we had done it a year ago when this toe started to really give him problems. I think I have a lot of posts about my frustrations with Mork's feet if you want even more details I've been dealing with his corns for as long as I've had him, and this is one that we could just not manage any other way. He couldn't even walk with a TheraPaw on that foot, and we have used them for years on his front feet with much relief.

 

Within 7 - 10 days, he was actually RUNNING (with the wrap on). Prior to that, he couldn't even put weight on that foot. He's a new dog, and at 10+ years is like a puppy again.

 

I just wanted to add we also agonized over this decision. I was at the vet about every 8 weeks trying to figure something else out for almost a full year. When it got to the point that he actually fell in the kitchen, we knew that he would get hurt if we didn't do something. My vet (who I love, and did an absolutely amazing job) fully xrayed his foot and leg to make sure that it was only the toe giving pain. She also did a chest xray to make sure there was no CA that we didn't know about. At his age, I didn't take this lightly at all, and neither did she. But honestly, I could kick myself for not doing this much sooner.

 

I would love to learn more about the experience. My guy is now 11+ years old and has had corns for 5-6 years. I've tried all the treatments: hulling, surgery, Kerasolv, the new greyhound cream, paw wax, etc. Nothing has worked and now I am considering amputating the worst toe-#3, left rear. Yes, it is one of two weight bearing toes. So I wonder if amputation will put undue weight on the other left rear toes or even the right foot. He is so lame now and I do want to make him comfortable in his old age.

[tbhounds]

There is one other option -you can have the nerve in the toe cut-- the toe will have no feeling. Not saying this is the way to go but, I thought I would just throw this out to you. Personally, my pup had corn surgery--no problems at all. The recovery didn't seem to hurt any more than having the corn itself.

[Guest Shermanator]

Within 7 - 10 days, he was actually RUNNING (with the wrap on). Prior to that, he couldn't even put weight on that foot. He's a new dog, and at 10+ years is like a puppy again.

 

I agree with you. Patton had a corn that we simply could not manage for him. We tried everything we could, and nothing worked. He had surgery to remove the corn, and keep the pad intact, and the corn came back. Hindsight is 20/20, but I will never, ever do that again. That surgery had a long, painful recovery process. He had to cut almost half the pad out, so, it was a larger wound, requiring many bandage changes, and it took @ 1-2 months for him to get back to normal.

 

As I mentioned, the corn came back, and our greyhound-savvy vet recommended amputation. We agonized over this, we didn't want to start removing toes with corns, what if another unmanageable corn appears on another toe? We cannot start just removing toes.

We spoke to friends, our family, and even our adoption agency about this. Everyone agreed that the best move for Patton was the amputation.

 

The amputation was so much easier for him to recover. The wound was much smaller than the removal surgery. Also, it was easier to manage - several stitches to close the skin at the amputation site, rather than the multiple stitches trying to close a large wound on the bottom of his foot. It took Patton @ 2 weeks to get back to normal.

 

Immediately we noticed a change. He straightened out his gait - to compensate for the pain, he had started walking crooked. We also noted that the was quickly re-gaining the strength back in his rear muscle- he had lost some muscle mass from simply not using the leg with the corn. He was back to my running, goofy, happy boy. Of, the toe was one of the middle toes on his rear right paw.

 

If we have another corn problem as tricky as Patton's, (where all other treatments were failing) I'd amputate again. Absolutely.

 

Nothing has worked and now I am considering amputating the worst toe-#3, left rear. Yes, it is one of two weight bearing toes. So I wonder if amputation will put undue weight on the other left rear toes or even the right foot. He is so lame now and I do want to make him comfortable in his old age.

 

Patton's corn was one of the middle toes (I cannot remember now, which one) and after amputation, we noticed a change in his gait- he stopped walking crooked, and started to re-gain muscle mass in the leg. We have had no problems, he runs, plays, jumps as normal. (Our surgery was @ 4 years ago.)

[Guest shelbud]

We just had a right, rear weight bearing toe removed on Mork (Nov 19), and my whole long post about it was deleted! So - please PM me if you want details. In short, we would do it again, and wish we had done it a year ago when this toe started to really give him problems. I think I have a lot of posts about my frustrations with Mork's feet if you want even more details I've been dealing with his corns for as long as I've had him, and this is one that we could just not manage any other way. He couldn't even walk with a TheraPaw on that foot, and we have used them for years on his front feet with much relief.

 

Within 7 - 10 days, he was actually RUNNING (with the wrap on). Prior to that, he couldn't even put weight on that foot. He's a new dog, and at 10+ years is like a puppy again.

 

I just wanted to add we also agonized over this decision. I was at the vet about every 8 weeks trying to figure something else out for almost a full year. When it got to the point that he actually fell in the kitchen, we knew that he would get hurt if we didn't do something. My vet (who I love, and did an absolutely amazing job) fully xrayed his foot and leg to make sure that it was only the toe giving pain. She also did a chest xray to make sure there was no CA that we didn't know about. At his age, I didn't take this lightly at all, and neither did she. But honestly, I could kick myself for not doing this much sooner.

 

Thanks Greyaholic. I see you are in N. Calif. Me too. I'm curious, what vet did you use for the amputation and where does the vet have his/her practice.

 

Thanks.

[Guest shelbud]

I should have also asked of those whose hound had a toe amputated, how far back did the amputation go? Was it just the pad part or further back?

[Guest littlesyd85]

There was a thread posted a while back about this miracle corn cream that a place in Pittsburgh, PA came out with. So far it has had an amazing success rate. My vet, Bill Feeman has put a number of his patients on it and so far he has had good results. Before this cam about (and before Monarch passed) she had a HORRIBLE corn! I spoke to Bill about toe amputation but he also suggested the cutting of the nerve. But he said even that was a worse case scenario (partly because it was on her only front leg). But now that she has crossed the rainbow bridge I don't have to make that decision. I think this corn cream is worth a shot though...

 

Link to buy the cream

http://www.murrayavenuerx.com/animals.html

 

Link to greyhound owner feedback

http://www.murrayavenuerx.com/greyhound-owners.html

 

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Guest Shermanator]

I should have also asked of those whose hound had a toe amputated, how far back did the amputation go? Was it just the pad part or further back?

 

Patton's toe was amputated high up, right at the top of the toe, no part of it was left.

[Guest MnMDogs]

I should have also asked of those whose hound had a toe amputated, how far back did the amputation go? Was it just the pad part or further back?

I'm on a mobile device so can't type too much. We're in Roseville, and use Loomis Basin vet. Dr Sanchez. I cannot say enough about her, she's been through so

much with us and our dogs. It looks like you can't PM. But i'll try to answer any more questions you may have when I'm on a real computer!