Strange Pink Bump In Between Bentley's Toes

[Guest happygrey]

Last night while having our usual evening love fest with the doggies we noticed a strange pinkish swollen bump in between the toes of Bentley's front right paw. It seemed to bother him a little bit when we looked at it but nothing too major. No whining or snapping -- he just pulled his foot away.

 

This was the first time we'd seen this thing and I've looked at his feet extensively and he had his nails done while he was neutered. If it was there then it was very small.

 

This morning however while out on our walk it spontaneously began bleeding (perhaps it was rubbed by the adjoining toe nail) and was clearly hurting him. We came home and I soaked it in a warm epsom salt bath and took a closer look. I discovered that he had another one, which was much smaller, and not quite as red between the other 2 toes of the same foot. That concerned me. Rather than fool around with a potential e-trip over a long weekend, I called the vet and asked if they'd squeeze him in this morning. (I love our new vet!!)

 

Her first thought was that it was a plantar wart, but she was also concerned that it might be a mast cell tumor. So the poor guy had to have a fine needle aspiration done. Owie. His foot's all wrapped up now and she wants me to get him a bootie for outside. No long walks either (there go our plans for tomorrow!). We'll go back on Tuesday AM for another look and potentially an x-ray. With luck, the cytology results will be back but with the holiday they may not be ready by then.

 

I guess the best case will be that it's just a wart. Poor little cutie has only been with us 3 weeks and we've already so attached. I'm praying that this is nothing serious!

 

I'll try and post some pictures I took of it later if I can. Perhaps it will look familiar to someone here. (But I guess mast cell tumors are tricky and can appear very differently dog to dog.)

[Guest Energy11]

Could be a bug bite, wart, anything, but I don't think it sounds too serious.

 

I'd clean the foot good with antibacterial soap (weak), and water, and go from there. You could always put a toddler sock on the foot to keep the dirt out, too, but, I'd just keep it clean for now and go from there.

 

Good Luck!

[TheFullHouse]

Hopefully it's nothing and your boy will be fine.

[Guest wmlcml6]

The sores I've seen between toes are are usually more blood filled than just pink. If we can squeeze the core out, and it does bleed, then put hydrogen peroxide or bleach on it, they clear right up. Starting off with an epsom salt soak was a smart idea, in my opinion. If I'm not mistaken, sometimes it's caused from sand getting between the toes. Hopefully your vet will confirm that it's something like this and not serious.

Edited May 29, 2010 by wmlcml6

[Guest happygrey]

The sores I've seen between toes are are usually more blood filled than just pink. If we can squeeze the core out, and it does bleed, then put hydrogen peroxide or bleach on it, they clear right up. Starting off with an epsom salt soak was a smart idea, in my opinion. If I'm not mistaken, sometimes it's caused from sand getting between the toes. Hopefully your vet will confirm that it's something like this and not serious.

 

Thanks! Yes, she did say that something could be lodged in his foot and that this was a drainage track. Not sure exactly what that means (other than having something there that shouldn't be there) but apparently this would show in the x-ray. She did say that it could resolve over the weekend and then obviously we wouldn't do anything else.

 

However, I have to say that if anything it actually looks a little bigger than it was before. And it did start bleeding again even with the bootie on when we went on our after dinner walk (we kept it short -- DH and Tatam went on longer and B + I came home).

 

But I am sure that the needle aspiration could have caused it to swell.

 

Guess we just have to wait and see.

Poor little guy, it's clearly hurting him. I gave him some rimadyl and that seems to be helping a bit.

[Guest happygrey]

Here are some pictures of the bigger bump. The quality is not that good -- he kept moving his foot. Definitely let me know if this looks familiar! The bump looks very red in these pictures, because I took these pictures after it had started bleeding. When we first found it, it looked pink with a sort of grayish scabby thing in the center.

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2010 by happygrey

[Guest luvdogs]

Do you have spear grass where you live? I had a dog that had a bunch of those bumps in between her toes, and it was from walking through spear grass. What is in the bumps looks like a small white piece of rice. I actually managed to massage it out and then they healed up and were fine. Hope your pooch is okay.

[Guest happygrey]

Update: we finally got the results of the needle biopsy. Unfortunately, they were inconclusive. There was no sign of a mast cell tumor, but there were squamous cells present. So our vet thinks it's either a benign cyst or a squamous cell cancer. In order to get a correct diagnosis he needs an excisional biopsy. We'll get that done sometime next week and go from there.

 

fingers crossed that it turns out to be an (expensive) benign cyst!

[Guest happygrey]

Update: looks like Bentley will not have to undergo the excisional biopsy after all! These weird things have (mostly) disappeared on their own. I am sooooooooooo glad but will probably bring him in to see the vet just to be sure!

 

Just so glad he doesn't have to go under again! :)

[Guest Energy11]

WOWEE!!! Good news, good news!!

 

Glad those "mysterious" bumps are GONE!

[Guest greyt2love]

So happy to hear this !! Hope they don't come back !!!

[Guest eaglflyt]

Canine histiocytoma?

[Sambuca]

Random question, did you try squeezing them to see what happened? Sometimes they can be little infections and a quick squeeze will help the drainage process. I'm a pet sitter and I went to walk an elderly dog that I knew really well 1 day and she had a bump between her eyes. I gently squeezed and it popped like a pimple. I talked to the owner later and mentioned the bump and she said she had brought the dog to the vet and the vet said she needed to have it surgically removed. Then I told her to look at the bump and that it was a pimple. She decided to switch vets.

[Guest happygrey]

Random question, did you try squeezing them to see what happened? Sometimes they can be little infections and a quick squeeze will help the drainage process. I'm a pet sitter and I went to walk an elderly dog that I knew really well 1 day and she had a bump between her eyes. I gently squeezed and it popped like a pimple. I talked to the owner later and mentioned the bump and she said she had brought the dog to the vet and the vet said she needed to have it surgically removed. Then I told her to look at the bump and that it was a pimple. She decided to switch vets.

 

I did try giving it a bit of squeeze when I first saw it, but nothing happened. I really don't think it was a pimple. It had a weird scabby center. My first guess was a cyst or a wart. Then I did see some pictures of mast cell tumors, and it sure did look a lot like those (but it's not, we had it tested). I'm just glad that they went away. Poor little guy was just under 2 weeks ago for a neuter and a dental and I didn't want him to have to go under again.

 

Anyway, thanks for the tip!