Gracie's Funky Toenail

[macoduck]

A couple of weeks back I posted about Gracie's swollen toe and limp. It came on so suddenly that I took her to the e-vet.

She had a fever but her bloodwork showed no signs of infection.

Vet said there was a split of the nail at it's base and the crusty stuff was fungus.

We did discuss SLO and pemphigus but she didn't think it was that.

She gave Gracie antibiotics and an anti-inflamatory med (rimadyl) and I was to put a topical antifungal cream on it and do epsom salt soaks.

I was to keep an eye on the nail as the split might need trimming or possible removal of the entire nail.

By the next day her limp was gone. We've continued with the meds. The swelling of that toe has gone down but not completely.

 

The only change I see is that there is a bit more of the crusty stuff. It is not on any other toes.

Have you ever seen this on your dog's toenails?

Can this really just be a crusty fungus?

 

This angle shows the swelling:

Different view of the crusty stuff:

[DesiRayMom]

Yep, I've fought that. DesiRay's wasn't quite that bad....his foot wasn't swollen, but he had the crusties. We thought it was SLO

for a while & treated for that....no improvement. FINALLY, I insisted on a culture, came back staph, 30 days of Cephalexin & switched

to grain-free diet....he's much better.

 

I still see a tiny bit of crusty on one toe now & again, but it doesn't bother him & I haven't treated it since Aug.

 

It was also weird the way it presented. One toe on a rear foot, one toe on a front foot. When I got him, his nails were really long,

and I kind of thought that his walking (we MUST walk, no fenced yard) aggravated the nail base banging on the concrete sidewalks.

We started dremeling every 2 weeks, and have them down now so they don't touch, and that's helped his gait a bunch.

 

ETA: Both of his toes affected were outside toes, not that I guess it makes any diff.

 

Hope Gracie's foot gets better soon.

Edited October 29, 2010 by DesiRayMom

[macoduck]

Yep, I've fought that. DesiRay's wasn't quite that bad....his foot wasn't swollen, but he had the crusties. We thought it was SLO

for a while & treated for that....no improvement. FINALLY, I insisted on a culture, came back staph, 30 days of Cephalexin & switched

to grain-free diet....he's much better.

 

I still see a tiny bit of crusty on one toe now & again, but it doesn't bother him & I haven't treated it since Aug.

 

It was also weird the way it presented. One toe on a rear foot, one toe on a front foot. When I got him, his nails were really long,

and I kind of thought that his walking (we MUST walk, no fenced yard) aggravated the nail base banging on the concrete sidewalks.

We started dremeling every 2 weeks, and have them down now so they don't touch, and that's helped his gait a bunch.

 

ETA: Both of his toes affected were outside toes, not that I guess it makes any diff.

 

Hope Gracie's foot gets better soon.

When the culture was done were they able to just break off a piece of the crusty stuff or did DesiRay have to be sedated?

[Guest Energy11]

There is DEFINITNELY an infection going on, whether it be a fungus or bacteria. If they haven't already cultured it, I would have that done, ... this way, they can see what the bacteria or fungus, or whatever, is receptive to. Good Luck, Ducky!

[DesiRayMom]

Yep, I've fought that. DesiRay's wasn't quite that bad....his foot wasn't swollen, but he had the crusties. We thought it was SLO

for a while & treated for that....no improvement. FINALLY, I insisted on a culture, came back staph, 30 days of Cephalexin & switched

to grain-free diet....he's much better.

 

I still see a tiny bit of crusty on one toe now & again, but it doesn't bother him & I haven't treated it since Aug.

 

It was also weird the way it presented. One toe on a rear foot, one toe on a front foot. When I got him, his nails were really long,

and I kind of thought that his walking (we MUST walk, no fenced yard) aggravated the nail base banging on the concrete sidewalks.

We started dremeling every 2 weeks, and have them down now so they don't touch, and that's helped his gait a bunch.

 

ETA: Both of his toes affected were outside toes, not that I guess it makes any diff.

 

Hope Gracie's foot gets better soon.

When the culture was done were they able to just break off a piece of the crusty stuff or did DesiRay have to be sedated?

 

 

 

We cleaned his toenail really well one morning....then afternoon, just took a cotton swab & dabbed it on the fresh goo to make a

slide to send out to the lab. No anes.

 

I'm a FIRM believer is shelling out $ for the culture. I'd spent all summer trying this & that but the cult/sens told us EXACTLY

what we were dealing with & whata AB it was sensitive to.

 

Worth every penny.

[Batmom]

Yeah, some type of infection . Should be able to do a fine needle aspirate without sedation.

[SAVED2]

The nails are too long and should not have holes in the center of the nail get a dremel and grind the nails flat across the bottom.

[tbhounds]

Just remember--you can't culture the toe until she's been off the antibotics for a few days.

[Guest GreysAndMoreGreys]

The nails are too long and should not have holes in the center of the nail get a dremel and grind the nails flat across the bottom.

No offense but that was just totally useless info for the situation at hand.

If the dog has something wrong with it's toenails more then likely it's none to happy to have someone messing with them (like it's painful), which would mean it would be very hard to clip or dremel the nails.

 

And I agree with the others, some sort of infection and a culture should let you know what your dealing with.

[macoduck]

Heather, thank you for your comment. I actually keep a control chart on the fridge so everyone's nails get trimmed every 3-4 weeks. I just can't make any progress with Gracie's nails. Bandit's nails were curling under when we got him in January and I've made some progress with him.

Between my bad back and bifocals, I've had to take the dogs to a groomer for the trims. The groomer I trusted for years never let me watch them do the trim. I suspected that they were just nipping the tip. The dogs hated going there so I began a quest for a new groomer. The gal who does them now lets me stay while she does the trims. We have a goal to get the quicks back. The past 2 times Gracie was sedated for dentals I'd asked for a quick-cut but they forgot.

Gracie will finally let me dremel a nail or two at a time now but that too has been a slow process.

The funky growth is a bit bigger and I'll be making an appt soon for a followup and hopefully a biopsy/culture.