Possible Broken Toe

[Zoolady]

Yesterday evening I noticed Faith favoring her back right foot. There was a little scrape and it looked like the side of her foot was a little swollen and the toe turned. I thought it was broken but she was using it inside the house.

 

Today it looked the same but maybe a little more swollen. Still using it but when she started to run she picked it up and was hopping instead of running.

 

We called someone we know that's a vet and was told there's not much you can do for a broken toe. She recommended half an aspirin, one time only, soak in epsom salts and ice it. If it's not better by Monday to try some anti-inflammatory medicine.

 

Is there anything else our GT family can recommend? She's acting fine, eating and not panting.

[Guest abbysmom]

I don't have experience with broken toes, but if the toe looks like it is "turned," you may want to be sure it isn't disolcated. Perhaps you may want a vet to look at it.

[Batmom]

Ditto re the dislocation. If it's "turned," it's more likely to be that than a break, and you'd want to put it back in place as soon as you can.

[Zoolady]

It looked worse this morning and she was favoring it a little more. Our vet works Sunday but they're a little understaffed today so we had to drop her off and they will call us.

[Zoolady]

Well, $582.58 to tell us the toe is dislocated. Now she needs surgery to correct it which requires an orthopedic specialist because our vet isn't qualified to do that type of surgery. Off we go to the 24-hour clinic in West Palm Beach to drop her off for evaluation first thing in the morning by the top ortho surgeon (great credentials). We took her disk with the xrays and the tramadol and rimadyl. Faith didn't eat this morning because we thought she might need surgery today so the hospital will feed her and medicate. She already had two 10mg/ml injections of torbugesic. Her foot and leg are all bandaged and you could tell she doesn't feel good. Crying and panting and drooling.

 

The admitting doctor said they treat a lot of greyhounds from the track so that made us feel a little better.

 

Hopefully they can get it back where it needs to be without having to amputate. She said they may have to put in some plates but we're taking it one step at a time.

 

Oh, the estimate? $2,000 to $3,000. Anybody have any ideas where the money tree is for working people?

[NancyB]

Why does it need surgery if its dislocated? Ramm dislocated his toe and it was twisted over the next toe. His vet put him under, yanked it out and wrapped it up. It was wrapped for a while and he had to be leash walked for six weeks and no running after that for a while.

[Zoolady]

Why does it need surgery if its dislocated? Ramm dislocated his toe and it was twisted over the next toe. His vet put him under, yanked it out and wrapped it up. It was wrapped for a while and he had to be leash walked for six weeks and no running after that for a while.

 

 

You know, that's a great question. I think we will be asking a lot of questions tomorrow. It just sounded a little strange today that the doctor mentioned plates. My thoughts was put her out, put it back where it belongs and bandage. Scott broke his toe which was at a right angle to his foot and the doctor told him this was going to hurt and put it back where it belonged without anything which hurt worse than the break but he was fine.

 

Perhaps they call it surgery because of putting her under?

 

We had a bird that needed a toe removed that had an overnight stay at the vets...$457. Another toe went bad and we went to the vet that takes care of Parrot Jungle. She lives out in Loxahatchee which was a long drive. She gave him s little gas for sleepy sleepy, took off the toe, medicated, wrapped and sent him home for $40.

 

It's a gotcha.

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

Ouch... both for her toe and your checkbook! Surgery does sound extreme if it is just dislocated. Right now we are keeping our fingers crossed over a toe here, too. Not anywhere near so serious, just a minor sprain but Chelsa has a lure trial coming up. The only reason I even noticed hers was that I was dremeling her nails and she didn't want me to do that one; closer inspection and it's a little bit bruised and tender, no swelling or limping though.

 

I hope you get some better news when you ask questions tomorrow!

[Guest sorenkkg]

I'm starting to wonder if Haka's "infected" toe is some sort of break, but not to threadjack... Definitely ask questions, no reason not to. Maybe there's something they skipped telling you or something.

 

I feel you, a lot, on the $$$ situation. Between Haka's toe, seasonal blood tests and flea/tick meds, and the Aleeya's emergency eye situaiton this past week, I think I've racked up over 2600$ in 3 weeks

 

If you find the money tree, I only need a little bit, b/c you know, that's Canadian dollars after all

 

(oh wait, we're at par... damn...)

 

Hope all goes well with whatever they decide to do for the toe and that Faith is back home feeling well super fast!

Soren

[Burpdog]

You don't need to operate on a dislocated toe. Can't you find a track vet close?

[Batmom]

If you can't find a track *vet*, a good trainer would likely do.

 

Toes are usually easy -- no anaesthesia needed, grasp firmly, plot your trajectory, pull out and toward the right location, CLICK! you're done. Some (toes) don't want to stay put and then you have a choice of wrapping supportively for a good long time, possibly amputating if they won't stay put after that.

 

Best luck!

[Zoolady]

Thank you for all the support and ideas. Apparently the person that gave us the $2,000-$3,000 estimate was incorrect. The vet that looked at her this morning was one that treats the dogs at the track. He called Scott and said he wanted to try to put the toe back in place by giving her sleepy sleepy and then going for it. Surgery would not be needed unless there was a lot of ligament damage. He would then xray it again to make sure it was good.

 

Apparently the expensive estimate was for high end dogs that race. They either make sure the toe is stabilized and do what they can to get the dog racing again. If it doesn't work, they amputate and put the dog up for adoption.

 

They gave her the rimadyl and tramadol prescribed by the first vet and used IsoFlurane for her anesthetic. He said she had a torn ligament too. He billed for a "phalanges Closed Reduction/Splint and said it was a serious injury but he was hoping for the best.

 

They rigged an IV bag with a tie for her to wear on the splint when she goes outside. She goes back May 8 for a bandage change.

 

I'm thinking of staying home with her tomorrow to make sure she doesn't go for the bandage and maybe take her to work with me for a while although that might be a problem because we just started a new semester and I am seeing many students every day. She will be in the splint for 6 to 8 weeks. I don't know how my boss would appreciate that.

 

So it was another $579.42 for a grand total (so far) of $1,162. Of course her being well and whole....priceless.