Toe Troubles - Inflammation

[Guest eva1634]

Kadi has been limping on and off for months and it boils down to a single, weight-bearing toe on her left hind foot.

 

At first, we thought it might be corn or a soft tissue strain, but x-rays (everything is clear and no arthritis or other anomolies), a trip to the ortho, Rimadyl, epsom salt soaks and leash walking have not helped. Now I'm thinking it might be a sliver of glass that's somehow worked it's way into the pad and is perpetually irritating her.

 

Has anyone had experience with glass or a recurrent issue with lameness? If so, how did you manage it or did you take other action (amputation exploatory surgery in the pad)? I welcome you thoughts.

[inugrey]

Yep, we went through that exact thing, right down to the toe location. We also tried iodine soaks on top of everything else and our ortho consult was with Dr. Radcliffe (greyhound guru but not a specialist) anywho. Best we could determine was there was possibly an embedded foreign object that wouldn't show up on x-ray that kept the toe inflamed and infected. We amputated it.

 

His recovery was a little more laborious than what most people on GT told me to expect. But he made it through. Every once in a while I'll look at him and wonder if I made the right decision. In the end it seemed like the only action we could take to improve his quality of life.

 

I'm happy to share more if you are interested. It's not an easy decision.

[Guest eva1634]

Thanks, Inugrey. Quality of life is the goal, and amputation is looming large as an option - that is, if a booty doesn't help.

 

That being said, I have been reading everything I can on this list about amps and recovery.

 

What were the challenges you had? How high did your surgeon go onthe toe? How did they handle the gap between toes left by the amp. How long did recovery take? How long before your grey started to move on that foot again?

 

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I'm trying to make the most informaed choice I can.

[Guest eva1634]

Yep, we went through that exact thing, right down to the toe location. We also tried iodine soaks on top of everything else and our ortho consult was with Dr. Radcliffe (greyhound guru but not a specialist) anywho. Best we could determine was there was possibly an embedded foreign object that wouldn't show up on x-ray that kept the toe inflamed and infected. We amputated it.

 

His recovery was a little more laborious than what most people on GT told me to expect. But he made it through. Every once in a while I'll look at him and wonder if I made the right decision. In the end it seemed like the only action we could take to improve his quality of life.

 

I'm happy to share more if you are interested. It's not an easy decision.

 

Thanks, Inugrey. Quality of life is the goal, and amputation is looming large as an option - that is, if a booty doesn't help.

 

That being said, I have been reading everything I can on this list about amps and recovery.

 

What were the challenges you had? How high did your surgeon go onthe toe? How did they handle the gap between toes left by the amp. How long did recovery take? How long before your grey started to move on that foot again?

 

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I'm trying to make the most informaed choice I can.

[PrairieProf]

I'll answer as my grey had a weight-bearing toe amputation too (you've probably seen my posts). They typically take the entire toe -- fewest problems that way. The gap isn't really a problem. Occasionally a twig or something might poke in there and Beth will three-foot a few strides but it doesn't seem to bother her (I was worried about snow, but that doesn't bother her either). Others have said their toes realign to close the gap a bit but I can't say I've seen that so far with mine after nine months).

 

Beth placed weight on the foot again immediately (wrapped). We did have worse healing complications than many people -- the wrap caused abrasions on remaining toes, and so we tried taking it off too soon, and then the skin ripped around the sutures, and Beth ended up on crate rest for several weeks (foot unwrapped to heal inside the crate as there were wounds that had to heal by granulation, wrapped to go out). She was left with some hairless areas on the remaining large toe from deep abrasions that continued as an issue. She always walked fine, though! I think I walked her too much the first week -- the problem is that she has to walk pretty vigorously to poop.

 

But she has been 99% fine in terms of her gait, running, etc. -- I just feel I need to be much more careful now lest she have an injury to the remaining toe. And the knuckle on the remaining toe has become rather large and unsightly with calcification, but the vet says that helps stabilize the toe so it's not a bad thing. And I don't know that others' dogs have had that happen as much.

Edited February 2, 2012 by PrairieProf

[GreyTzu]

Just generic information on toe amp. Our bridgekid Dixie came to us with a front outside toe already amputated. She broke it while racing. The kennel amputated it and she went back to racing and winning. She actually broke another toe and that is why she was turned over the to adoption group. So, given my limited experience, my decision would be to amputate a toe if I were faced with the decision.

 

Good luck and I'm sure your decision will be correct.

[XTRAWLD]

We were worried that Ryder had some glass embedded in his paw. It was just a bump I noticed and he was not lame. We soaked it with epsom salts and gently tried to express the bump. Whatever we did worked, the bump was gone within a week.

[inugrey]

Thanks, Inugrey. Quality of life is the goal, and amputation is looming large as an option - that is, if a booty doesn't help.

 

That being said, I have been reading everything I can on this list about amps and recovery.

 

What were the challenges you had? How high did your surgeon go onthe toe? How did they handle the gap between toes left by the amp. How long did recovery take? How long before your grey started to move on that foot again?

 

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I'm trying to make the most informaed choice I can.

 

 

Happy to help you out. I remember his recovery taking much longer than the week I had anticipated. He also has a tendency to swell after surgery and his entire leg was quite big, but I think a lot of that is just how his body processes surgery. I think if you search my posts you'll find at least one post surgery topic where I talked about problems post amp. We were on very short walks for about two weeks. We're pretty used to changing bandages so the vet gave us instructions and it was our resonsibililty. Early on we changed every day (maybe even twice a day?) and after a few days we were able to extend it. The vet took his toe off at the highest joint so there was no toe stub. When using a finger to describe it, he took it off at the knuckle. I want to say in general I wasn't comfortable with his recovery until about a month to six weeks.

 

We call that his Gremlin foot.

[PrairieProf]

If you're on Facebook, there's a group for Three Toed Greyhounds there you can join. Much of it is just a fun celebration of our "different" hounds but it would probably be a good place for advice too.

[Guest eva1634]

If you're on Facebook, there's a group for Three Toed Greyhounds there you can join. Much of it is just a fun celebration of our "different" hounds but it would probably be a good place for advice too.

 

 

Faceless on Facebook, but I'll check it out over someone's shoulder.