Swollen Foot/sores

[Guest mommylinda]

My nine year old female came in from running outside about a week ago, limping. By the next day she seemed fine. Then about four days after that, I noticed her back paw was quite swollen, enough to push a toe around enough to make it look broken. I iced the foot and wrapped it lightly so she wouldn't lick it. By the end of the day she had a couple of sores that were oozing. Got her into the vet, not our usual but a new one to the practice. He did a smear for a culture on the worst sore and started her on a broad spectrum antibiotic and Previcox. It is now the next day, three doses of the antibiotic in her, and the redness and swelling is now further up her leg. She is eating, drinking and going out to relieve herself. Has anyone encountered anything like this? She is my first grey and have had her about seven healthy years. This has me worried,and I am going to call the vet in the morning to see if her regular vet can see her. Should the vet have given her an antibiotic shot to speed healing, with the oral to be given after? I am so afraid this is worse than they know.

[MaryJane]

The antibiotic is probably not working and your girl probably needs to get another antibiotic. They have the culture so they should be able to tell what grew out and what antibiotic to use.

 

It seems a bit unusual to me to have "sores" that are oozing that stemmed from a swollen paw -- is there a chance that there is something in the paw ... were x-rays taken?

 

Any chance of a spider or insect bite .. maybe a snake?

 

You might want to use a marker on her leg and mark how far up the redness is and swelling.

 

Can you take a picture and post - the reason that I mention this is that his might be serious enough to go to the e-vet tonight.

[Guest mommylinda]

Hi MaryJane

Actually the vet said it would take at least three days just to get a preliminary report. It is only the next day since being in there. They did x-rays and said no break, dislocation or signs of osteosarcoma. I'm not a medical person, but it seems the foot is so swollen that maybe these sores are helping the fluid in the paw drain? When it first swelled. I did soak the foot and check for anything lodged In a pad or between and found nothing. Our backyard isn't too big, but I have it kind of "natural" in landscaping. Plus we have had some storms and have some small branches down. I just had surgery and cannot get out and pick them up. So it is possible she stepped on something that didn't stay in and are dealing with average infection. Or I suppose it could be some kind of bite, but insect and probably not snake. I will try to take a picture and post it. She just came in from a bathroom break and is eating, so she doesn't seem really sick. I am keeping her quiet so she doesn't get up on the paw because it starts the oozing all over again. Each sore seems to ooze for a while then dry up. I think I will use the marker and see just how fast it is spreading. Thanks for the input Mary Jane.

 

Linda

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

I 2nd the spider bite theory... curious to see what it ends up being.

[MaryJane]

Can you tell if it's oozing a watery liquid or is it pus?

[Guest mommylinda]

 

Here's a photo of Astrid's leg. It's not as swollen, but it still has sores.

[Guest mommylinda]

The oozing seems to be a bloody pus. Sometimes more watery than bloody. If I can keep her quiet, they pretty much dry out. That is until she tries to get up and walk again. The redness was only on the paw and is now up to the joint. Also, the sores seem to start where the bones are clos to the skin. In taking the picture I realized the pads on the paw actually look like the other paw now. They were so pushed out of their places originally that it looked totally different than the good paw. I have been icing it to try and keep the swelling down. The sore that is the highest up the leg just opened up this morning.

[cleptogrey]

call you vet back

tell them it's not looking good and ask for a recheck. i don't like the way it looks.

 

to keep her from licking it you can put a loose sock on and gently tape it well over the hock. make sure you can get 2 or 3 fingers inbetween the tape/ sock and leg. wraping it tight(as you initially did) will promote swelling- not enough circulation. but i would most likely keep it open, rinse it w/ saline solution and keep it clean. new antibioitics should do the trick...

 

i dealt w/ a black widow spider bite- my daughter at age 14. it looked like a cigarrette burn, but didn't get very swollen but affected her reflexes. the brown recluse also has a nasty nasty bite. if the raw area enlarges, then i would think a nasty insect bite. don't even look up brown recluse spider and just see your vet. sometimes less is more. good luck and post the outcome.

Edited June 6, 2012 by cleptogrey

[KF_in_Georgia]

Tell your vet: it's not just that her foot isn't better. The problem is that it's actually worse.

 

Where are you located? (It's possible that other GTers from your area will have an idea about what hazards are possible there.)

[Guest mommylinda]

Well, our vet opens at 7:30 with the vet getting there for 8:00 visits. I will be calling at 7:30. Kleptogrey, I really didn't wrap it tightly. I did look for tips here and I put 1/2 a cotton ball between each toe and wrapped it as lightly as I could, just to keep her from licking. I have done the sock over it more to keep the seepage off beds, floors etc. Yesterday I kept it open all day and put a soft collar on her. She can reach the foot with it on, but she just doesn't seem to want to move with it on. KF, we are in Central Florida so I know there are lots of spiders and snakes around here! The vet looked to find any kind of bite marks but couldn't. She is laying with the leg down now and is sleeping. I give her the meds soon, so I will get her up and look at it. Our regular vet is in today and I will ask to get him to see her today. The new vet we saw seems very competent but I really like our regular guy and he sees quite a few greyhounds in his practice and even adopted one in the last year. I feel he may have more insight. I'll post more as I know it. Thanks for all the ideas!

[Guest mommylinda]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/579473_3281859121030_825164115_n.jpg

 

 

 

this mornings photo

Edited June 6, 2012 by mommylinda

[racindog]

_{I would be concerned about snake bite. Goldie was bit on his front leg by a snake one morning when he went out. The cows that got bit on the legs reacted much like your baby is doing. They would eat etc. but the wound was nasty.}

Edited June 6, 2012 by racindog

[Guest mommylinda]

We have an appointment with our regular vet this afternoon. I do not like what I see in the close up picture posted above. Because of recent surgey I can't bend over to see it so close and the picture scares me. I'm glad we are getting in later. Would either a snake or spider bite cause so many sores to open up like this? Racindog, how long did it take for Goldie to get better ? What did the vet do for her - similar to what we are doing? Anti-inflamatory and antibiotic? i just wonder if she needs some type of steroid too? Here is another photo. The spots closer to the joint are how the sores she has now started out.

 

Edited June 6, 2012 by mommylinda

[racindog]

Goldie was very lucky because his bite happenned at a time of year, so I was told, that the snake had little or no venom to inject. His leg swelled up but did not break open. It's been several years and I fogret the drugs she administered except for she painted the aera with DMSO. The swelling began to subside after treatment and he was well within 2 weeks. If you find out it was some kind of bite/venom consider a poltice of pescalite clay. It is unexcelled as a drawing agent to draw poison out and helps healing too. http://www.relfe.com/pascalite.html

[Guest mommylinda]

Thanks Racindog. I will bring the website to the vet today just in case. I know we have a black racer snake somewhere in the backyard. They aren't poisonous but can they do damage like this? The only other snake we've seen is a Florida banded water snake. They also aren't poisonous, although they do strike. Haven't seen one for almost a year now. I will ask the vet about snake/spider bites today. I made a plastic "barrier" this morning for Astrid's leg. I figured it's easier covering the leg than her neck. It fits over the area, shouldn't touch and makes it impossible for her to lick the area. The plastic looks like what is used to make the neck cones.

Thanks to all for all the ideas I will bring with us today. Will let everyone know when I know. Thanks again

 

Linda

[sweetdogs]

Good luck at the vet today. I don't like how it looks either - be firm that you want some concrete answers & a treatment plan - it's not just a little infection. Spider/snake bite are definite possibilities. You want to get ahead of this so if the vet blows you off, look for another. (Not trying to scare you, I just wouldn't want to waste time.)

 

for Astrid.

[Guest mommylinda]

Back from the vet. Wellll, all of you who thought spider bite are probably right. He said it looks like a brown recluse bite and that we caught it in time. He did another x-ray and he said he thinks the toe was dislocated by the swelling. Now that the swelling is going down, the toe(outside one) is kind of floppy, but he is hoping that as it heals, it will tone up some and not have to be amputated. Also one of the sores is so close to the bone- he could actually see a kind of dark channel on the x-ray - he doesn't want it spreading to the bone so she is on another antibiotic along with the first. I have chlorhexadine to add to a bucket of water to soak it every day. He also said it will be a long time until it is healed completely. I am so glad I listened and got her back in, especially to our regular vet. I trust him completely. He doesn't sugarcoat, but wants you to know exactly what you are dealing with. He is great! Thanks to all who answered when I was worried. You are all the best!

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

I am glad you have a diagnosis. When I saw the pics earlier it had me pretty worried about your girl; it surely didn't look like any simple infection I've seen. Sending healing prayers, and yes, things like that seem to take forever to heal so she's got a long road ahead. Her dislocated toe will probably be fine, since she is going to be on restricted activity anyways; it will give it a chance to heal. You can worry about that toe when her infection is all cleared.

 

Now that she's on the path to recovery, how about a picture of the whole girl?

[Guest mommylinda]

 

[KF_in_Georgia]

Oh, she's lovely! Kiss her a couple of times for me!

 

(I'm glad you have a treatment plan now.)

[MaryJane]

She's a beauty!

 

Just a note that you want to check with your vet and get the results of the bacterial culture to make sure that the antibiotics that your girl is on is the right one for the bacteria.

 

Hope she starts to heal ...

[macoduck]

Just now seeing this thread. Here's pictures of Harold's brown recluse spider bite. He had only been with us a few days when I noticed the swelling and then the skin burst.

He was on some heavy duty antibiotic but I don't recall the name. All he has left now is a scar.

[Guest mommylinda]

We won't have the culture report until Friday or Monday. Our vet said it may not matter for a spider bite anyway.Macoduck, how long ago was this? And how long did it take Harold to heal? Our vet said it may take a while to heal completely. Did he only have the one place that opened up? Astrid has three sores, one being between the toes and very deep. But she is getting better already. I think she likes our usual vet! Or maybe she sees that I am more at ease and that puts her more at ease.

[macoduck]

Harold was bitten a week after we adopted him last year. After I described the symptoms - swelling, weeping clear/reddish liquid, then rupturing and bleeding - my vet guessed it was the brown recluse as that's what he'd seen happen before. Harold had weekly dressing changes for 3 weeks. He was on Ciprofloxacin 500mg (10 pills) and Cephalexin 500mg (80 pills). He only had one rupture site but it was big and came on quick. He was also new to us and had arrived in very poor condition at age 12. No lingering problems from it as Harold is now 13.

Perhaps your girl was bit by more than one spider?

[Guest Melissa516]

This sounds similar to what we are going through with Ginger. See my post here:

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/286910-pododermatitis/

 

It was diagnosed as pododermatitis. Our vet put her on Simplicef (for skin infections and bacterial infections, I believe). From what I understand, dogs can get an sort of systemic infection in the leg that will then drain down into the foot and eventually burst open and drain.

 

Where are you located mommylinda? I would recommend our vet without hesitation if you were close.