Pododermatitis

[Guest Melissa516]

Ginger had what we thought was a cut on the webbing of her back foot on Friday. I cleaned it up, put antiseptic on it, wrapped it, etc. It didn't look big enough for stitches. It looked like 3 small round cuts on the top side of the webbing between two of her toes on the back right paw. There was some bleeding on Sat. morning, but after that all seemed to be well, until this afternoon. It was obviously swollen and painful. We took her to the vet and the diagnosis was "draining tracts, pododermatitis, mild lameness." She was prescribed Simplicef for 15 days and needs to go back to the vet for a follow-up on Friday. But, we were told that the antibiotic treatment could be extended (1 to 2 months) to completely cure it. Anyone have any experience with this?

Edited June 5, 2012 by Melissa516

[sweetdogs]

Hopefully, it's just a little infection that's cleared up with the abx. So hard to keep the paws clean - is it wrapped/covered?

[Guest Melissa516]

It's not covered per the vet's instructions. From what I understand, it's not a cut on the foot that got infected. It's an infection in the leg that drained into the foot. It then collected between the toes and burst open (looking like cuts in the webbing).

[BauersMom]

My foster had something similar, it was biopsied and determined to be a pododermatitis.

http://forum.greytal...ke-this-before/

 

In our case, there was no active infection, so we treated with bag balm treatment at night to soften up the hard areas.

Edited June 6, 2012 by BauersMom

[Guest Melissa516]

In our case it's in the webbing between the toes of the right hind foot. The pads aren't affected at all. The vet said the lymph gland in that leg was swollen also. At first it just bled (bright red blood only... looked like 3 small cuts). But, after a few days it became swollen and was obviously infected. Last night the whole foot was really swollen. It's better tonight but still a bit swollen.

[sweetdogs]

Looking up pododermatitis, it sounds like a symptom rather than the source. Did the vet have any idea what might have caused it? Did he have a cut/scrape somewhere or a history of parasites? Is he feeling better today?

[greyhead]

Wow, this is a bigger deal than I suspected when you first posted. Good thoughts for quick healing for your boy!

[Guest Melissa516]

Ginger is doing pretty good. She isn't really limping much now, and the foot doesn't look as swollen after 3 days of antibiotics. The hardest thing right now is keeping her from running around. She is feeling better and has all this pent up energy. She is just itching to run in the back yard! The vet doesn't really know what caused the infection. Apparently, it's really hard to pinpoint. Our vet also likes to take a conservative approach, avoiding extensive testing that may prove unnecessary. So, we are starting with 2 weeks of antibiotics, and she goes for a follow-up on Friday. Thanks for all the well wishes and advice!

 

Also, to answer a question I missed, we've only had her since October last year. So, we aren't aware of anything in her history that would have cause this. She did have a significant tic infestation when we brought her home, but that was 8 months ago.