Ahhhh! Corns!

[krissy]

A few weeks back I posted about Summit's mystery lameness in his left hind leg. He had a full orthopedic exam which revealed absolutely nothing (couldn't pin point the pain at all). Checked his back. I looked for corns. He got some deramaxx and he was significantly better. We chalked it up to arthritis, though I still thought it was weird that he would be so acutely lame on a leg he has never had any sign of arthritis in.

 

This morning we went out to a greyhound run. We saw some blood in the snow so we all started checking our dogs' feet. Wasn't Summit, but when I was checking his left hind foot I found what appears to be a corn! Now, I can absolutely promise you it was not there a week ago which was the last time I checked him (we had an appointment back home with my vet to get a butt-load of deramaxx on Tuesday and the corn was not visible then). The wisdom of GT... someone had warned me that corns are not always visible right off the bat.

 

Soooo... I know a little bit about corns but never details because I never had to deal with it. I know they recur. I know they're a royal PITA. I learned how to hull corns when I was at OSU this summer. I have some questions though.

 

I find it weird that Summit has never had a corn before and all of a sudden he has a corn. Is that unusual? Does it tend to show up as they age? He's 6.5 now.

 

I know you can hull them and they tend to come back. I also remember reading on here about some "miracle" cream that someone used for several months that resolved a corn. Did that resolve it without recurrence?

 

To be honest aside from a few weeks back it doesn't seem to be bugging him that much right now. I wonder if it is less painful now that it has surfaced? It is not hard like the corns I saw when I was at OSU and he doesn't seem to mind me pushing and pinching and squeezing it. Is this because it is so new?

 

Bottom line... what is the best thing to do for him? Hull it or something else?

 

Thanks!

[rascalsmom]

I can't answer all your questions, but I can tell you that I tried the 'miracle' corn cream on Jack and it didn't work. Save your money.

 

I have also used duct tape, which seems to work the best of anything. It doesn't get rid of the corn but it makes it easier to get out. Recently, though, I have had trouble getting it to stick. We even tried Gorilla tape, and bought a new roll of brand-name duct tape, too, but for some reason it's not sticking lately.

 

Jack was about 4.5 years old when we noticed him limping--about six months after we got him. It was his rear foot, and we had that one hulled....funny thing is, that one did not come back, but the two on his front feet just will NOT go away and stay away.

 

Jack gets very, very nervous at the vet, so she showed me how to hull them, and I do it every couple of weeks. Yes, they are a royal PITA as you say--truly, the 'spawn of Satan', if you ask me.

[krissy]

Sorry, could you explain how the duct tape works? You put it on the pad over the corn... and then you pull it off later and the corn is easier to hull?

 

Also, this is interesting, but now that the corn is visible Summit is really not limping at all. No deramaxx for the last couple of days. The weather has been a bit warmer. I certainly notice the lameness is worse in the cold and after strenuous exercise. I thought corns hurt no matter what? Is it normal for a corn to hurt less once it surfaces and to hurt more in cold and after exercise?

[rascalsmom]

Duct tape: cut a small circle, large enough to cover the corn. Leave it in place, checking it every day or so as sometimes they fall off. After awhile (days, a week...it varies) the corn has changed texture somewhat--it gets softer--and sometimes you can easily peel a layer off, or even dig it out.

 

If Summit isn't limping, I would not worry about the corn. Jack had his back one hulled--the one he was limping on--and I then noticed one on each front paw. I took him back and had those hulled, and I wish I never would have. The vet said, "we don't usually hull them unless they are causing problems", and not knowing, I just wanted them out, so I had her remove them. He has limped ever since, and I feel like it's my fault . I should've just let them alone, since he wasn't limping.

 

Jack was on rimadyl for quite awhile, but it caused stomach issues, so he doesn't take anything now.

 

I imagine corns would hurt all the time, since it's likened to having a stone in your shoe. I don't know about it being worse in the cold or after exercise. And it has been my experience that the corns hurt him worse when they are large.

[Guest kydie]

I did the tick rascalsmom suggested,,, and they popped right out,, just kind of hung on the edge,, I only had to hull the edge away,, good luck

[kamsmom]

Just a thought but my dog Isis has what I have thought to be a corn for a long time. Even took her to the vet and had it hulled. Turns out it is a cutaneous horn. Very soft and yes can be cut but really is not a corn.

[tbhounds]

Perhaps it's not a corn but, rather a foreign body working its way out?

[Yamaha_gurl]

Hmmm, I thought it was a corn right away when I saw it, but then I decided to google corns, and the pics do look quite different.

Edited December 19, 2011 by Yamaha_gurl

[Guest BlueCrab]

We're using the Duct Tape for Trixie, too. Have been for a little over a year now (2 years, maybe? Can't remember...I know we chased the problem all summer and started the tape in September). We went thru about 4 months of trying to Dx what was going on before we figured out it was a corn. We tried hulling, dremmeling, nightly soaks in epsom salts followed by Kerasolv cream and socks. Because nothing worked, my vet figured it maybe wasn't a corn after all, and was a foreign body, so we should do exploratory surgery. Just before we tried surgery I found the duct tape idea, so we tried it and it worked.

 

First time took over a month of regular replacement every couple days before the corn loosened and came out. Now it's gotten to the point where we only have to put tape on for a couple days and the corn comes right out. Rascalsmom gave good instructions above on how to do it. The first couple times you replace the tape, you're almost afraid you're going to tug the whole paw pad off. You won't. Don't use a huge piece of tape (1 cm x 1 cm is sufficient) but it might take some tugging early on.

 

At this point, I would say that they do seem to develop with age (Trixie didn't show any signs for the first 2 years we had her); they do seem to become more frequent once you find one. Ours now comes back over and over. Trixie has one on both front feet, but only her right gives her problems on hard surfaces. We have Thera-paws boots for long walks or hikes where I know she'll be uncomfortable.

 

Never tried the expensive cream. Didn't see the need for the expense when we found how well duct tape worked for us. Doesn't work for everyone, tho - some have had great luck with the cream and no luck with the tape. It seems almost universal, however, that people who resorted to surgery were not happy they did it. I've seen only a few who were successful resorting to surgery and didn't have any problems after. I'd strongly suggest trying all other avenues before using surgery as a corn remedy.

[turbotaina]

Perhaps it's not a corn but, rather a foreign body working its way out?

 

This would be my thought. AFIK, corns don't typically respond to NSAIDS since it's not inflamation you're dealing with, but more like pain from having a pebble in your shoe. Also, most dogs will respond to the squeeze test if they have corns. Turbo's corns were very painful long before they were visible, but they did not get less painful once they'd grown through the pad. I'd do epsom soaks and see what happens.

 

If it is a corn, what worked for Turbo was tramadol, therapaws and regular hulling. And yes, corns can come up at any time. Turbo's first corn came when he was about 4.

 

Good luck.

[krissy]

Hmmmm... I have to say I'm about as confused on what to do as I was before I posted this! But thank you for all your experience and advice. I'm glad I asked, I'm just not sure what my best course of action is.

 

Summit hasn't had any NSAIDs for several days now and is no longer limping. The "corn" (or whatever it is) does seem to have firmed up the way I expected a corn to feel (when I first found it the pad felt essentially normal) but he still doesn't have much response to pinching. If I pinch REALLY hard he eventually tries to gently pull the foot away... but I'm pinching so hard at that point that I think if I did the same to any other toe he'd react the same. It has been significantly warmer the last week or two and I wonder if that has anything to do with the resolution of his limping. I guess I'll find out when it gets colder again.

 

I think for now I'll let it alone since he doesn't seem overly bothered by it. If it starts to bug him I'll try the duct tape trick.

 

Re: epsom salt soaks... is that just to soften it up? Does that help with hulling?

[Guest KennelMom]

we've had a handful of corndogs and they're all a little bit different...and they can cause lameness before they emerge. Dogs will limp to differing degrees and depending on their activity - if it's a corn, most dogs will limp or, at least, get a little hitch in their gait, if walking or trotting on a hard surface, like hardwood floor.

 

And, like corns with humans, there a myriad of "cures"...having tried most of them on several dogs, you'll find that each corn is a unique snowflake that responds (or doesn't) in it's own way. We've had the best luck with hulling, though we don't have the tool to do it at home, so our vet pops them out for us. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't...it depends on how much gets hulled, it seems. We only have one corndog now, Emma, and I usually use bag balm to keep the corn soft, I dremel it down when I do her nails and can usually fleck a good portion out with just my fingernail. But her corn is fairly large and very well defined. Our routine works well enough to keep her pretty much pain free and avoids the long round trip to the vet.

 

I never saw much difference with duct tape. Keeping it soft and dremelling has been our most "tried and true" method for home care, though that doesn't get rid of the corn, it just manages it. Hulling might get rid of it for good...or maybe it won't. Grandpa had his corns hulled (our dog named Grandpa, not a human Grandpa ) and they never came back. I dremelled Bucky's one time and it went flying across the room! I guess I hit a sweet spot or something That one never grew back either. Casino didn't live long enough for us to know if hulling permanently solved her corns (lost her to osteo) and we had Annie long before we ever knew about hulling, so it was just keeping it soft and dremeling it (Ken used Protect-a-pad lotion back in those days). I just use bag balm now b/c I always have a tin of it handy in the dog room.

Edited December 23, 2011 by KennelMom