Corndog Question

[Guest BlackandTan]

So Gary has been dealing with having a pretty nasty corn on his front foot for a little while now. The night before last I was looking at it and decided that it was ready to come out. After a few minutes of working on it, the little painful thing was outta my boys foot. I thought that it would have been instant relief but it appears I was wrong as he still has a pretty significant limp on that foot.

I need any input anyone has about this.... If you've had this same problem, aftercare of a hulled corn anything you got hit me with it

Edited August 2, 2012 by BlackandTan

[turbotaina]

Hulling doesn't necessarily give instant relief. Often the tissue surrounding the corn is painful. We were always hit or miss when hulling Turbo's corns. Sometimes he got little or no relief, other times the improvement was drastic and he could go without his therapaw for months at a time. Our protocol was to wear therapaws when lame (which was most of the time ), hull as often as possible (and he had a deep corn that took a looooong time to break the surface of the pad, so we could only hull a few times a year), and for those times when the therapaw and hulling couldn't eliminate the lameness, we also used 50mg of tramadol once or twice a day.

 

In Gary's case, he may just be used to favoring that foot, so it could take a couple of days for him to realize that weight-bearing will not equal pain, so all hope may not be lost

 

One thing you might want to do is rub some Abreva in and around the divot where the corn was. It may help stop or slow regrowth and at the very least it should help soften up the area around the corn and maybe provide some relief. And if you're not using a therapaw, do. They're amazing.

 

Corns are a bitch.

Edited August 2, 2012 by turbotaina

[Guest BlackandTan]

Thanks a lot.. It took around a month to finally get to the point where we could pull it. I will try the abreva techniques i heard that somewhere else also. Thera Paws are the greatest thing ever

[Guest RHDonna]

We are joining the corn dog club. Our 2nd grey who is 2 has 7 I think. We got him back in February to help our first grey who is a nervous nellie and I noticed little circles on his pads then but didn't know what they were and didn't think much about it because he is very active. Well after months of wonderful walks (before him it was a chore to get donna out the door) he started slowing down about half way around the block and I took notice then! I guess because he has them on all his feet he really couldn't favor just one and make it obvious to me. One is very big, the other much smaller. We had the big one hulled at the kennel and he yelped and growled the whole time and it was back in a month. I just ordered the stuff from Murray and am trying to figure out what size therapaws for his little feet. Wish me luck and I'm so great full for this forum, in the 15 months that I have been a greyhound owner, it has been my go to source many times (nail trimming, what a train wreck that was).

[rascalsmom]

RHDonna, I hope the Murray Ave. stuff works for you. We used it on Jack for...well, until it was gone, and it didn't help. Jack has a large corn on each front foot. We have tried just about everything....Murray Ave. cream, Wart Ade, Bag Balm, duct tape, regular at-home hulling.....nothing seems to make them go away. It is very discouraging. I have not tried Abreva, but will ask the vet her opinion today, when Jack goes in for his annual checkup.

[Guest RHDonna]

Thanks rascalsmom, does jack use therapaws?

 

[rascalsmom]

I have two therapaws, and he uses them on the rare walk. He wears a Medium. I find I need a sock on under them, if he's going wear them for any length of time. Otherwise they can rub a little sore on his ankle.

 

And the vet says Abreva doesn't work--they have shown that corns are not viral, therefore it doesn't work.

[tbhounds]

I have two therapaws, and he uses them on the rare walk. He wears a Medium. I find I need a sock on under them, if he's going wear them for any length of time. Otherwise they can rub a little sore on his ankle.

 

And the vet says Abreva doesn't work--they have shown that corns are not viral, therefore it doesn't work.

Have you tried Aldara?

[Guest treclee]

sorry to revive an old topic, but my hound has a very painful corn on each front paw. we bought therapaws only to have him reject them. I'm currently trying to find a vet that will attempt to hull them, but many calls later I'm finding no one, yet the poor buddy is yelping in pain when he steps on it wrong. should I take him in to at least get some pain meds and attempt the duct tape technique myself? do pain meds help? he was prescribed rimadyl because an inexperienced vet thought it was arthritis, but that only makes him sleep. doesnt stop the limping or whines. being a fairly new dog owner I'm not sure how comfortable I am with attempting the hull myself, especially with how uncomfortable he appears I have to put two beds in his crate otherwise he whines while trying to lie down. I feel awful!

[Guest DeniseL]

There is a website that shows step by step how to hull, I'm suresomebody will post it, it is listed on the facebook group 'greyhounds with corns' but I know I have seen it here also. You can print that out and take it to a vet who may not be experience with the procedure....where are you located? My boy does take rymadyl occasionally and it helps him with his corn pain, but I don't use it often....

[Guest treclee]

I have seen that (from grassmere right?) and showed it to the last vet, but she wasn't too receptive. all of the others I spoke to said they'd only attempt removal under anesthesia. I'm in central nj..

[sweetdogs]

Here is the site on hulling: http://www.grassmere-animal-hospital.com/corn_hulling.htm Really is a simple procedure for any vet to attempt, so if you have a vet you like, they should be able to do it. IME, pain meds did not help my boy. Also, he hated the therapaws as well. But he likes his NeoPaws much better. https://www.neopaws.com/catalog/summerindooroutdoorcoolperformanceorthopaedicshoes-p-1908.html There was an adjustment period but he responded much differently to the neopaws.

 

There are a bunch of things you can try after he gets hulled, like bee propolis, bag balm, Murray Ave corn cream, duct tape, even dremeling. Some things work for some hounds, and nothing works for others. My boy is in the latter category & is recovering from surgical removal of his rear corns (the front ones were done about 3 years ago). He just had regular surgery but laser surgery is also an option. Such small little things but they cause such misery. I hope something here works for your boy.

[Guest DeniseL]

Well I have a vet in philadelphia that does it, no sedation and only charges $20....let me know if you want info. Right now, we are experimenting with Thuja/ salilyc acid tincture with some oral chinese herbs...too soon to tell if its working, but who knows? I will stay positive.

At some point, I'm sure I will be able to hull at home, but I'm not there yet, lol

[rascalsmom]

I have two therapaws, and he uses them on the rare walk. He wears a Medium. I find I need a sock on under them, if he's going wear them for any length of time. Otherwise they can rub a little sore on his ankle.

 

And the vet says Abreva doesn't work--they have shown that corns are not viral, therefore it doesn't work.

Have you tried Aldara?

No, I have not heard of Aldara. Do you have more info?

 

Jack's vet showed me how to hull his corns. I now do it at home, it isn't very difficult.

[TINMANPDX]

. I thought that it would have been instant relief but it appears I was wrong as he still has a pretty significant limp on that foot.

 

Our Lea had a corn hulled within a few weeks of our adopting her. She has been corn free for nearly a year now (knock on wood). After the hulling she had a big hole in her pad, but there was no blood or scab or anything, and the vet didn't bandage it. It seemed to heal and fill in really fast. The only thing we did was keep it clean. It took about a week for her to start walking without a limp.

Elliott, our boy started limping pretty seriously in April of this year, we thought the limp was related to a cracked toenail, so we took him to the vet and had x-rays taken (everything looked fine) and went home with antibiotics, tramadol and rimadyl. After several weeks, the cracked nail had grown out and looked good, but there was still no improvement in the limp. We went back to the vet and had another set of x-rays (again, nothing) and came away with a different antibiotic and more painkillers. We got a little frustrated because he was still limping several weeks after the second vet visit, so we took him to another vet who also found nothing. When we had pretty much resigned ourselves to walking him only on grass and having him wear a therapaw boot , we noticed a round mark near the tip of the toe that had had the cracked nail. It was clearly a corn, and had taken nearly three months to surface. Well, we have had the darn thing hulled twice now and he is finally enjoying his walks again. We are really hoping it doesn't come back and that both of our hounds remain corn free. Wishing the same for your pup.

[Finnsliz]

Corns suck! Once you start seeing part of a clear margin I found that soaking the foot in Epsom salts for a few hours can help bring the corn to the surface . I used paper towels saturated with Epsom salt solution in the bottom of a sandwich sized baggie. Place the baggie with the paper toweling on the corn area and cover the baggie with the Therapaw. Leave it on for a few hours. The area around the corn becomes so softened that the corn usually can be hulled out very easily. I used to just pull them out gently.

This was the most effective treatment I found. Unfortunately they usually do come back

 

When you actually see what comes out you will not be surprised at why they cause so much pain. The ones I got were shaped exactly like a diamond, round on the outside with a sharp point at the end and hard as a rock!

[3vagreys]

I have another possible tool to add to the corn care arsenal. Someone suggested trying just the soaking part of the Murray Ave. treatment. I started putting a baggie with a washcloth with water and olive oil. I did that half an hour twice a day for a few days. Then I decided that I would try adding white vinegar because 'everyone knows that vinegar helps everything'. When I got bored with dealing with the baggies, I made little booties from the PUL used for baby diapers similar to the therapeutic boots and made little fleece pads for the soaking solution. One day I forgot and left the booties on for almost 2 hours and the appearance of the corn changed so much that I started doing it only once a day for an hour or an hour and a half. Every weekend, the corn got a little dremel treatment at slow speed with the sandpaper roll when I did nails. After a few weeks of this, the corn started getting smaller. I ran out of white vinegar and tried cidar vinegar and the color of the corn changed and it started growing again so back to white vinegar. Now, after about 3 months of this, I can hardly find where the corn is. He has a little tenderness on this foot but I think it is because he has been wearing a Therapaw for walks during all of this.

 

I don't know if his corn is cured but I know it is lots better.