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Swollen Toe


Guest larajane

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Guest larajane

Hello,

 

My five year old hound has developed a swollen toe that has me worried.

 

Two weeks ago, he was running around in my back yard and suddenly started limping and avoiding use of his back foot. I assumed that at worst he had broken the toe. After a few days, his toe, normally the thickness of a pencil, developed a hard ball shaped swelling around it. He's now walking and running without a limp, he's never showed signs of pain when I've touched the it, but the swelling remains..

 

I took him to the vet last week and the vet recommended X-Rays or an alternative antibiotic / anti inflammatory treatment. We tried the antibiotics because we were told the Xrays would cost approximately $350, and that just seems so expensive. Anyhow, they did not stop the swelling, and now I am considering getting the Xrays.

 

Has anyone experienced something like this before? Can you offer advice?

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Guest larajane

I have no advice but look up the thread "Gracie's Toe" and check the photographs. If it won't come up searching by title, just search "swollen", scroll down and you'll find it.

 

Thank you for the reply. My dog's toe looks similar. I would post a picture, but I can't figure out how to create a gallery.

 

Anyhow, the swelling on my dog's toe looks similar to Gracie's, but the nail is normal and there doesn't appear to be any kind of fungus issue. It is just a fat dry toe that doesn't seem to be causing him any discomfort.

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My boy had a swollen toe when i got him at almost 3yo, we xrayed and it just showed arthritic changes. My female jsut a year ago develoiped the same thing that shows some deformation of the bone. Hers came on fairly suddenly, i noticed her favoring the foot and noticed the swelling. We did the xray (just over $100 if i remember right), and one week of anti-inflamatory and she stopped limping after days 4. The swelling never went away it just feels hard. the vet figured she probably had some arthritis type stuff going ont hat was suddenly worsened by soem trauma, most likely running around.

Both pups walk and run normally, i find if they run a lot or tromp through uneven or rocky ground they favor the foot a bit, also when it has been raining for more than two days they get a little limpy. Both are fine normally, basically just arthritis. My vet said there isn't any immediate action that needs to be taken since they are normally ok, if it starts to cause a lot of pain then amputation of the toe is the best way forward. So far three years down for the boy and it hasn't become any worse.

I do give them both glycoflex daily to prevent any further damage.

I don't have a picture, but i would guess if your pup isn't continuously favoring the foot it isn't anything to get too worried about, just keep an eye on it :)

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Guest larajane

My boy had a swollen toe when i got him at almost 3yo, we xrayed and it just showed arthritic changes. My female jsut a year ago develoiped the same thing that shows some deformation of the bone. Hers came on fairly suddenly, i noticed her favoring the foot and noticed the swelling. We did the xray (just over $100 if i remember right), and one week of anti-inflamatory and she stopped limping after days 4. The swelling never went away it just feels hard. the vet figured she probably had some arthritis type stuff going ont hat was suddenly worsened by soem trauma, most likely running around.

Both pups walk and run normally, i find if they run a lot or tromp through uneven or rocky ground they favor the foot a bit, also when it has been raining for more than two days they get a little limpy. Both are fine normally, basically just arthritis. My vet said there isn't any immediate action that needs to be taken since they are normally ok, if it starts to cause a lot of pain then amputation of the toe is the best way forward. So far three years down for the boy and it hasn't become any worse.

I do give them both glycoflex daily to prevent any further damage.

I don't have a picture, but i would guess if your pup isn't continuously favoring the foot it isn't anything to get too worried about, just keep an eye on it :)

 

 

Thank you for sharing your experience. It is helpful to hear this insight.

 

I set up an appointment with the vet, so on Friday we'll see what is going on.

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