Swollen Foot/sores

[Guest mommylinda]

Macoduck, you probably got him in sooner than I did. Astrid's leg swelled first and made the outer toe on the back leg look dislocated. The pad was turned under toward the foot, pushing the big middle pad backward. I had to look at the other foot to understand what was going on in the bad foot. The first sore opened up on Saturday night. I soaked her foot in a bucket of water with antibiotic soap because that is all I had. I put neosporin on it and wrapped it loosely as per instructions I found here. The second really deep sore started as a blister that burst on Sunday night. Same procedure on Sunday night. Got her in Monday and saw a new to the practice vet. He did the culture, put her on meds etc. Another sore opened up Tuesday and the second one wasn't looking good either so back we went. Saw our usual guy and he was the one that told us all this about the spider and the toe being dislocated, etc. he said the venom (for lack of the proper term) had started moving up the leg. It hadn't gotten to the nearest two lymph nodes so he he said the meds were working.

Melissa 516, as I said above, her lymph nodes were fine. That was one of the first things our vet checked the second visit. He has a greyhound also, so I feel comfortable knowing he knows a lot about treating them. I am in north central Florida. Between Orlando and Daytona Beach. I know now that unless it is an emergency, I will make my appointments with our regular vet, not the new guy. I've taken my dogs and cats to him for about 10 years now. He's super. Kinda young and really smart. He seems kind of intuitive with animals.

 

 

[Guest mommylinda]

Macoduck, I almost forgot, I love the photo. Astrid also has two Italian greyhound cousins. I have a foster here right now too. He is seven and still acts like a puppy. I got him from someone who had to give him up. I thought we would keep him but my Astrid does not care for him at all. It's been about a month and she still hasn't warmed up to him. She growls and tries to bite him if he gets too close. Which is all the time because he knows nothing of personal space. We are teaching him so someone will have a great grey! Anyone here know of someone looking for another?

[cleptogrey]

BROWN RECLUSE!!!!! yup, that's what i thought......boy are you lucky that it didn't fester into some of the examples of BR bites that i saw when i researched it(w/o the internet). my daughter was bit in her teens. she too was put on tons of antibiotics and we were waiting to see if the bite site enlarged(which it didn't). but her bite was at the nape of her neck and all of her reflexes were totally off on one side. eye not dialating, paulsey face on one side(mouth drooping), little reflexes on the bite side of her of her body. we were concerned about needing to debree the site since it was affecting her viola/violin playing. but as luck had it....there was a small amount of scar tissue and the surgeon who was going to clean it though it looked more like a black widow than brown recluse. boy did i feel guilty i brought it into the house in an antique head board which she was using! can you imagine what a black widow would do to a #70+ dog if it affected a #105 kid that way! well, glad to hear she's on the mend! it's scarey if it's a dog or a kid!

[Guest mommylinda]

Cleptogrey that is a scary story. She doesn't have any lasting effects? I sure hope not. I asked the vet about debriding the sores, but he wants us to either wet bandage it or soak it once a day with the chlorhexidine to keep it clean. And a good side effect is that I don't think she likes the scent/taste and isn't licking it. I also made her a collar with plastic on the outside so she can't get at it. After one soaking it already looks a bit better. Glad we got her in early enough to stop it spreading too much.