Cut Toe Bed

[cleptogrey]

i have dealt w/ inflamed toe beds before, but this one is a doozy. as usual mad dog felix has managed to not only irritate the bed of his toe, but has a 1/4" cut that won't seem to heal. first i soaked and cleaned it 3xs a day in epsom's salts and applied triple antibiotic to the cut. the epsoms salts weren't doing anything so i have changed to to salt water(as described in the care of your racing and retired greyhound). when i get a crack in my cuticle or finger when it splits takes around 2 weeks, it's been over a week and no puss, no intense swelling but i doesn't look like much healing is going on. i have been putting a short cotton sweat sock (easier than gauze)over the paw and duct taping it so it doesn't come off(leaving lots of room for his toes to move), felix eats vet wrap like candy!

 

should it be exposed to air dry out? should i keep it drier by coating w/ desitin after cleaning? soaking it 3xs a day in saline any other tricks out there before i call my vet. it doesn't look like he needs antibiotics.

[cleptogrey]

do i have the only lunatic out there???

[Batmom]

Nah, have had some lunatics here, too.

 

Two options:

 

-1- Keep up the soaks for another week. Epsom salts or dilute Nolvasan solution. Baby sock to protect it in between. Foot things can take a long time to heal -- dog is always on them, right?

 

-2- Clean well once more. Pat dry. Smear some triple antibiotic ointment (or SSD ointment) on a bandage, plop the bandage over the cut spot, bandage and KEEP DRY AT ALL COSTS. Change 1st bandage after 24 hours, then 48, then every 72-96. Don't clean it when you rebandage, just peel the old one off and plop a new one on.

 

Kind of a toss-up. I'd be inclined to give -1- another week and see how it goes. Good luck.

[Hubcitypam]

I'd go with Batmom's #2 option.

 

In my experience and in my own personal owies over 50+ years if you keep it wet it just takes forever to heal. If you cut your finger and keep it with neosporin covered with a bandaid at all times it takes ten times longer to heal than if you initially apply neosporin and cover then in a couple of days let it breathe, at least half the time. You know how they say not to use peroxide more than once or it destroys the healing tissue? IMO the repeated soaking does the same on a much milder level, but that is just me.

 

If I had that situation I'd use EMT gel.

[cleptogrey]

thanks, will try not soaking it, it looks like it has a tad less inflamation right now. i have been trying to keep it as clean as possible, applying triple antibiotic ointment 2xs a day and have been keeping a sock on it except at night. it gets really sweaty and i have been worried about fungus- been there. boy does this boy sweat!

 

let me see if i can manage to keep it bandaged, he hates bandages and they are off in no time what so ever! razor teeth when it comes to vet wrap and now duct tape!

 

basically i have been barking up the right tree, thanks, just needed to know if was.

[racindog]

Furacin dressing will heal pretty much anything. I have seen it actually "reattach" a torn off pad with no problem-even when the seperated part had started to dry/shrivel up because it wasn't found when fresh. Just put it on both ends, stuck them together, bandanged it and voila was as good as new in around 3 weeks. The furacin actually reattached it and it knit back together perfectly. It has a bad rep now because it causes cancer in lab mice (like the saccarine I have been drinking large quantitites of for the last 5o years) but it does work. Couldn't tell you why. Its just supposed to be an anti-bacterial but I've seen quite a lot exceptiional healing results with horses, dogs (and myself) over the years. Guess it depends on how desperate you get but furacin dressing would heal it I know. That would be with Batmom's #2.

Also you might try Elasticon and muzzle. Sometimes I have trouble gtting that off myself with 2 hands sissors and a knife. Pretty good stuff. Minny loves to lick up chew deterrants but he doesn't get through the elasticon.

Edited October 22, 2010 by racindog