Guest LCsMom Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 My 8 year old female Elsie started limping a few days ago with a swollen front left foot after she had been playing in the snow. After 2 days she was limping a lot less, and the swelling went down a lot, but there was still some swelling so I took her into the vet. Vet took an x-ray and found she had a broken toe (on her front foot, the innermost toe). Now, I know these side toe injuries can heal themselves, though not perfectly, because when he took the x-ray he saw that she must've broken another toe on the other side of her foot a few months ago (before I adopted her), which healed on its own and didn't cause her visible pain, but looked a little off in the x-ray. He decided to put her leg in a splint, because as he said, greys can be stoic and act like it's not hurting when it really is. Well, the splint is as long as her leg! Since then, she's been so uncomfortable. She cried in the car ride home (she NEVER cries in the car), she cries every time she tries to lay down, she woke up many, many times in the middle of the night yelping. I feel just terrible. The splint is so long that she can't even keep that leg picked up and hop with the other three, so the splinted leg just drags along after her. I'm terrified she's gonna fall and hurt herself even more. In the first 60 hours that she was walking around with a broken toe, I never once heard her cry. But with all the crying she's doing now, I can tell the splint is really hurting her. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of a break? If the toe will heal on it's own, does it make more sense to leave the splint on for 2 months (yes, 2 months) and have her upset, or take off the splint and try to keep her off her feet? Thank you for your patience, and any thoughts are much appreciated. FYI, I'm a first-time grey owner so I could really use the insights of seasoned veterans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KennelMom Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 (edited) I've never dealt with an actual broken toe, only variations of dislocations and sprung toes, so medically I don't know if it's absolutely necessary or if it can heal like human toes - on it's own, with you limiting her activity and leash walking. I do know that greyhounds can get pressure sores from splints quite easily and they can become even more problematic and painful than the original injury. I would only have them put on a splint if it was 100% medically necessary. Edited February 16, 2010 by KennelMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest multigrey Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 After all these years of "fixing" broken legs and broken toes, I have concluded that most toes should not be splinted. No greyhound should be splinted for two months unless it's a broken leg and the bandage and splint are changed weekly. I have found more harm done to the leg and foot from improper wrapping and splinting without enough padding. Our little 13 year old girl, broke a toe a few weeks ago. We did films to be sure there was nothing else going on in her foot and she came home with no bandage, no wrap and no splint. I leash walked her for a few days and at her age since she is not the most active girl in the yard, that was it. She is fine.....no more limping and the toe is looking good. This is certainly just my opinion but I think what your vet is doing may cause more harm than good. She will heal....just restrict her activities for a while and she will be much happier without all that stuff on her leg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest trevdog Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 No splint! They don't heal right anyway, and splints can cause pressure sores and those take even longer to heal and the pup will be very uncomfortable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Energy11 Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 I also vote for no splint, especially one that long. Yes, with breaks, splints need to be placed above the nearest joint to the injury, but gez! I would get that thing off, and you can always "buddy tape" the toes together, using vet wrap. That is what I did when Curfew sprained his toe, and it worked well. I did put some very thin cotton inbetween his toes, to keep them from chaffing. I would also LEASH WALK for a good while. Good Luck, and sorry you guys are going through this. The recent snow is nice, but I have been hearing about a lot of injuries due to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dobiegrey Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 My Betty had a broken toe on her left REAR foot this time last year and knowing nothing as I did, I didn't even question the fact that they splinted it, than after about a week (and a lousy splinting job by one of the vet techs )she got one he77 of a sore on the side of her foot,we than left it unsplinted because I had to clean and treat the sore each night for several weeks! Her foot was wrapped to protect the sore and stablize the broken toe against the next toe, but not splinted from that point on, I think I would forgo the splint if at all possible because in Betty's case the "cure" was worse than the injury!! Lou Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LCsMom Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Thank you so much for all the replies. I opted to take it off. Her foot was more swollen when I took it off than when the vet put it on yesterday! No wonder she didn't like it. Definitely for the best, and she's hopping around much happier now. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remolacha Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Molly broke her toe (outside front), and the vet put a splint on it, but basically just covered the foot. I left it on about five days, then took it off. I don't think I'd use one again at all, but, it did take a long time for the toe to completely heal. Didn't seem to bother Molly, tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bigorangedog Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 3 broken toes here (2 on adoptables). 3 clamshell splints. We left the 1st dog's on for 2 days then gave up. The 2nd two dogs had theirs' off within minutes of walking back in my door. They are way more trouble than they are worth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubcitypam Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 (edited) When Buck broke his my vet refused to splint it. He says besides rubbing, etc. they can transfer pressure up the leg and cause worse damage. Buck healed up fine without one, it just took a few weeks. Edited February 17, 2010 by Hubcitypam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TBSFlame Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 After all these years of "fixing" broken legs and broken toes, I have concluded that most toes should not be splinted. No greyhound should be splinted for two months unless it's a broken leg and the bandage and splint are changed weekly. I have found more harm done to the leg and foot from improper wrapping and splinting without enough padding. Our little 13 year old girl, broke a toe a few weeks ago. We did films to be sure there was nothing else going on in her foot and she came home with no bandage, no wrap and no splint. I leash walked her for a few days and at her age since she is not the most active girl in the yard, that was it. She is fine.....no more limping and the toe is looking good. This is certainly just my opinion but I think what your vet is doing may cause more harm than good. She will heal....just restrict her activities for a while and she will be much happier without all that stuff on her leg. I agree. Be careful of bandage and splints. I wish I had not taken Jeremy to the vet for his broken toe. I believe it would have saved him a lot of pain. Poor Jeremy has been fighting infection in his foot because the vet did not change the bandage and allowed sores to develop. He has been on strong AB for 8 weeks. He is doing a lot better but If I had a do over I would leave it alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kahjul Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Being a horsey person, when Derby broke her toe I just got the horsey stuff. She ate right through vetwrap but apparently elasticon is yucky. I just used a lot of rolled cotton at the bottom so she had a soft spot when she put the foot down and elasticoned over the vetwrap. I changed it every 2 or 3 days and she wore it for about a month. Every time I changed it I would let it air out completely for a few hours and I took away her 'pool' while she was healing. She might be pretty wussy because she cried and never put her leg on the ground without the wrap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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