Corns - Remedies? Management?

[Guest GriffinsMom]

TheraPaws were really helping Miles walk when the corns first appeared but now that they are bigger he is having quite a lot of difficulty walking again. I have been filing the corns to try to make him more comfortable. Miles saw the vet yesterday and she did not think that the corns were ready to be hulled yet as the margins of the corns are not clear. Is there less pain once the corns are hulled or should I leave them in? From what I could find on the Internet there is a high reoccurrence of the corns returning once they are hulled.

 

From research I have done a combination of Bee Propolis and Bag Balm for his pads can be helpful. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

I bought organic Bee Propolis @ 500mg but could not find Bag Balm so I bought organic coconut oil, which has the consistence of a cream, and baby socks. I did not find anything to indicate that coconut oil is harmful to greyhounds. The container of Bee Propolis @ 500mg advises to give one capsule per day 20 minutes before a meal. Does this sound correct for an 83lb greyhound? Can I give the capsule an hour before a meal rather than 20 minutes?

 

Any advise is appreciated.

[Batmom]

There's usually less pain once the corns are hulled. With them in there, it's like walking with a pebble stuck in the foot -- OUCH! Corns do often recur, but hulling is quick, simple, painless, and usually brings relief for a couple weeks at a time.

[AndysMom]

In our experience, hulling provides immediate relief. It's quick, simple and painless. However, our "Corn Dog" is assured of having the corns return a few weeks later.

 

My understanding that surgery for removal of the corn is pretty invasive. I worry about keeping a deep toe surgery site clean and infection free for several weeks while it heals. And then, I'm told, there's about a 50 percent chance that that the corn will reappear. Amputation of the affected toe is not always effective as the corns tend to show up on different toes.

 

For us, hulling the corn and putting Therapaws on him when he has to do a lot of standing works best.

 

Look for Bag Balm in the skin care aisle at your local drug store or pharmacy. They also carry it at farm supply stores as it was originally manufactured to treat the udders of milk cows.

 

Good luck.

 

Lois

[Guest alf7199]

For my guy this is what I did...

2 capsules of Bee Propolis in his food once a day, I had to break open the capsules because he wouldn't eat them other wise...

Once a day soak paw for 5-15 mins in an warm epsom salt solution (1/2 cup epsom salt to 1 gallon of water), rinse with clean water and pat dry when done... I did this set for about the first 2-3 weeks of treatment...

At night cover the corn and pad with Bag Balm (at Wal-Mart in the pet section or you can buy it online) then put a baby sock on it...

 

2 months later and there isn't a trace of anything... I still put the Bee Propolis in his food but I don't do anything else... Good Luck and I hope you find something that works for your hound...

[Rickiesmom]

Another vote for hulling - I e-mailed my vet the article on how to do it as he'd never heard of the procedure before - he read the article and then took my whippet's corn off right there in the office - not even a drop of blood and from the size and hardness of the corn that came out, no surprise Rickie was a happy boy afterwards.

 

We know we may have to do it again if it grows back, but it's such a simple procedure we don't mind.

[Guest mcsheltie]

Pat-MyBoys shared this with me:

 

A lady that runs a kennel told me about using human corn/callus remover and believe it or not duct tape. About every 3rd day I would put a drop of the corn/callus remover on it, wait for it to dry and put a tiny piece of duct tape over the corn. I would change the duct tape everyday. The corn/callus remover would soften the corn and the duct tape would help to pull the corn to the surface. After about a month or so the corn was actually sticking out far enough that I could get my thumb nail under it, I twisted it gently and the whole corn came out. You just have to make sure that the duct tape is always on the corn, If it was wet outside I would change it more often. I actually took a picture of the corn after I got it out in case nobody believed me (LOL). I would put a piece of moleskin right over the duct tape when we went for walks to help cushion it. Like I said, it does take a month or so but if you are patient it really works. Once the corn actually started to surface a bit he stopped limping.

[MandysMom]

Using the liquid Bee Propolis (nasty, stinky, sticky stuff) directly on the corns daily plus putting Kersasolv on at night(to soften the pads) has seemed to work best for Mandy. She still has to have the nasty corns hulled every 4 - 6 weeks, but is much less painful in between. She does wear Therapaws outside too. We tried the duct tape, didn't help. The Abreva didn't do much either. I wouldn't even consider the surgery because of the pain and recovery and knowing we'd be right back where we started.

 

Just like food, each dog seems to react differently to the variety of corn management techniques.

Edited February 26, 2010 by MandysMom

[Guest Spencers_Greyt]

There's usually less pain once the corns are hulled. With them in there, it's like walking with a pebble stuck in the foot -- OUCH! Corns do often recur, but hulling is quick, simple, painless, and usually brings relief for a couple weeks at a time.

[/quoteI totally agree and this is true for Buzz.

[Xan]

I've tried almost all of these, except for surgery.

 

I've been giving Wabi about 2T of nutritional yeast every meal (which she loooooves), and her last corn, which seemed particularly large, went away on its own! Yeay! I'd been giving her NY, but I upped the amount when the corn was so bad. No return of the nasty thing yet!

 

Wabi can take walks with us again!