The Cost Of Walking My Dogs

[Guest SaddleWags]

Any active dog walkers out there have this problem with their greys. Or am I just the lucky one.

 

So these pups have thin skin. Got it. But are their pads that delicate as well. I've heard some have only been on sand and need to build up calluses. But Edie never raced, she broke her leg in greyhound school so we got her early, so that wasn't the case.

 

We walk our dogs twice daily around our neighborhood. Last summer, Edie cut her pad. The vet checked her out, and to prevent surgery she suggested Epson salt soaks. But her pad was obviously still hurting her. So she went back in, had several x-rays in attempts to find what was buried deep in her pad. The result was a $1,100 surgery, plus cast that didn't allow her to put any pressure on her foot for over a month.

 

Two months after getting the cast removed, she cut the same pad again. Even though the pad had healed beautifully, it was pink and therefore cut right open. Another $300.

 

My vet and I were very frustrated.

 

My vet recommended using a boot. But my fear was she would never build up a callous on her pad if she always wore a boot.

 

She did some research and found some liquid that's applied topically called "Tuff Pad". So we've been using it somewhat regularly.

 

But yesterday, she cut another pad on another foot.

 

Seriously, what's the deal?

 

Any suggestions.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Personally I would invest in some antiseptic and super-glue. Clean the wound, and glue the thing together. Yes super-glue is safe to use, in fact it is common practice in both vets offices and ER for humans as the preferred method of wound repair. As far as why she keeps tearing the pads, not sure, is there a lot of broken glass or jagged ice that she is walking on? Has she been allowed to run in an enclosed outside area to build up the toughness of her pads? My female was 2 months off the track and her pads bled for the first few months of running in my back yard. I never had a tear of the pad, she just had small lacerations that bled. I could apply pressure to stop the bleeding and then glued the wound shut.

 

Chad

[NeylasMom]

What surface are you walking her on? Any chance she's stepping on broken glass or other sharp garbage at times? Do you also have a yard that could have something in a corner you're not aware of or something? I've been walking dogs for many years, including many dogs fresh off of the track, and have never had a single cut like the ones you are describing. We walk through my neighborhood and in local parks so the surfaces vary from regular concrete sidewalks to asphalt to gravel, etc. Seems odd to me, or just that you have the worst luck.

 

BTW, if you don't want to use superglue, there's something called EMT gel. Probably won't work quite as well, but I'm not sure, I've never had to use superglue on a wound.

[greysmom]

If her feet are that tender then they likely won't toughen up enough to walk on concrete/asphalt. Is it an actual cut or are the pads cracking? Have you been using the Tuff Pad on all her feet?

 

Many greyhounds use boots for walking an hiking and I'm sure they have suggestions of which ones are best. Seems like the best thing at this point.

[Guest wdlndgreasil]

EMT gel should work just fine - I prefer it over superglue. If you're walking her around the neighborhood, on the streets I'm suprised her pads aren't tough yet. She's not a puppy is she? Takes awhile for puppies to toughen up their feet. Boot can be good to let the EMT gel work & get the wound healed faster so she isn't tearing open a scab that's trying to heal.

 

Just make sure you CLEAN the would really well before the EMT gel is applied & make sure the foot is totally dry.

[Guest LindsaySF]

I haven't had this problem either. I'm wondering if your sidewalks have unusually sharp stones, or your pup's feet are unusually tender?

 

One of my friends has a grey with a split pad that won't heal. She wears a little rubber bootie on walks and is much better.

[silverfish]

What surface are you walking her on? Any chance she's stepping on broken glass or other sharp garbage at times? Do you also have a yard that could have something in a corner you're not aware of or something?

 

 

That's what I was wondering, too, and I'd certainly check the yard. I've had perhaps three cases of cut pads since 1993, and I know for a fact that two were picked up in a park where there was broken glass. I just didn't see it in time.

 

Other possibilities are crusted snow/ice, which can slice through our dogs' thin skin, or possibly they're not even cuts but cracks from salt on the pavements?

[cleptogrey]

we do tons of street, sidewalk walking and the only cut pads i have dealt w/ are caused by glass or running over a rock and catching it- we have a small stone step that stop pads get scraped on. i was the cut well w/ saline solution(organic french gray sea salt is fantastic) and then apply gauze and bandage, that's it. it take around 2 weeks to fully heal, the same amount of time as stitches, so why bother.i must be the only person out there who does not like emt gel.

 

emily had tender pads when she first came off the track. we could make it down the block and she started to limp. it took almost 2 months to tuffen up her pads. check the medical section of greyhound-data.org and see what info you might be able to gather, it's a good cross refference.

 

oh, in my travels, when i was dealing w/ sand burns on the pads of my younger grey(a result of running at the beaches on block island) an english greyhound who i met, owner suggested water and white vinegar- a soak, to help heal and get those pads tough. i never did it, go know......

[Guest carolxi]

Anubis had a bad cut on his foot one summer. I soaked it in epsom salts, dried it and applied antibiotic cream to keep the pad soft. We live in the city, so he had short walks on the sidewalk. Every time we got back from a walk, I re-soaked in epsom salts and re-applied the greasy antibiotic cream. The problem is that the dogs can't tell you wants wrong and the vets can only guess. One time they x-rayed Anubis on his spine and found nothing. This was because he kept crying and lifting up his leg. Sometimes he would stop during a walk, hold up his foot and scream. The vets never found out what was wrong. A few months later, when he was ok, I discovered one toe on that foot sticking up. I finally figured out that anubis had broken a toe somehow when dashing around and neither the vet nor me had thought of that at the time. It was a frustrating, expensive lesson for me too.

[cleptogrey]

keeping the pad soft and applying antibiotic cream will retard the healing and development of a good thick pad. the epsom's salts or gray sea salt will clean it out and help dry up the cut. eventually the pad heals from the inside out and joins back together and fills out. when i soak a pup's paw i usually soak it 3xs a day. it keeps it clean and really speeds up the healing process.

[Brindles]

For what it's worth, my girl Echo has always had tender feet/pads no matter how much we walk and what surface we walk on. She's never cut a pad, though.

[Guest SaddleWags]

So it sounds like I'm the unlucky one.

 

I would've thought she'd toughened up her pads by now with the hour long walks a day. The cuts definitely happen on the walks. We clean their feet (with baby wipes) every time they come in from a walk and that's when we catch the cuts. It doesn't happen from being in the back yard.

 

There really aren't any side walks in the neighborhood, just asphalt. We constantly check for glass, but my opinion is that it's simply little bits of gravely sand that cut her. When the vet gets out the foreign objects, they aren't glass, so much as big pieces of sand, like gravel. They are clear, but not shiny like glass.

 

Poor girl, she's just my delicate (expensive) angel.

[BootsyCollins]

Are they cuts, or is the pad cracked (which can look like a cut)? Try putting bag balm or vaseline on the paws and a sock every night for a while, see if it helps. Hope she feels better!

 

What on earth kind of surgery did she have on a cut pad that cost $1000 and required a cast???

[Guest SaddleWags]

No cracks, definitely cuts.

 

The surgery was so expensive because they had to put her under, and do several x-rays. The foreign objects were at a very difficult angle, and proper healing of the pad was a real issue. She had to do some real maneuvering in the little pad.

[GreytNut]

It sounds like your street is made of some very sharp composite materials. It might not be a matter of her having tender feet so much as that the road is made of wicked stuff.

 

I would suggest having her wear booties whenever you walk her, or maybe taking her for a ride to someplace with more forgiving surfaces to walk on.

[NeylasMom]

It sounds like your street is made of some very sharp composite materials. It might not be a matter of her having tender feet so much as that the road is made of wicked stuff.

 

I would suggest having her wear booties whenever you walk her, or maybe taking her for a ride to someplace with more forgiving surfaces to walk on.

What you're describing just does not sound normal to me so I have to presume too that it's the surface you're walking her on.