Need Toe Advice!

[krissn333]

Fritz scared the bejesus out of me yesterday-he was limping when I got home from work and it seemed to be his shoulder/upper front leg that was hurting. Of course I freaked out after already having two Osteo pups...but I swear I checked him all over last night. He got some pain meds and seemed better this morning. Tonight when I got home he cried out a couple of times, and I checked him over again. Shoulder area seems fine, I squeezed the bones in his leg, no response other than general distaste for being poked and prodded by upset mom I grabbed his foot to bring his leg up to do some range of motion, and he cried-AH HA! It's the outer toe!!! Just below the first joint it is a little bit swollen, but only noticeable when scrutinized closely. The toe is a little bit more...pliable, I guess (?) than what is normal.

 

For at least tonight I have padded and wrapped the foot to immobilize the toe. We've had toe injuries, but, in both cases neither of them even seemed to notice they had torn ligaments (tendons?), and thus did not show any signs of pain, and I noticed when doing their nails. But since they weren't having pain, we just splinted to try to correct the weirdness a little, and carried on with life.

 

So my question is, does this warrant a vet visit? Or can we see how it's doing in a few days and maybe see the vet then? Or just wrap it for a long time and carry on? To me it feels like another case of something torn, I'm not entirely certain the vet would have us do anything different than we're already doing, you know?

 

I know there are lots of toe experts out there so I'm looking to you for advice!

[KF_in_Georgia]

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure this is a vet visit ONLY if it gets worse/more painful or if it doesn't seem to be getting better by next week.

 

But when you wrap, just be sure you pad between his toes so that one nail doesn't rub the neighboring toe.

[krissn333]

Oh yeah, he's padded well

[Guest IndyHound]

Sadly my toe experience only applies to slo. That being said if he's able to walk on it and appears to not be constantly in pain I would wait. But I think the best answer is what you think would be best for your piece of mind and his well being. Usually you can go wrong with that.

[krissn333]

I'm good with waiting, he's perfectly content now that the toe is immobilized.

 

Just wasn't sure if there was a time factor I should be concerned with, although I'm fairly certain there's not much more that can be done in addition to what we're already doing

 

Thanks for the feedback! Sometimes you just feel better to have someone validate your initial thought

[silverfish]

We had the same thing with Jeffie. He pulled up crying while running, stopped crying pretty quickly, came limping over. Was checked by a trainer who said he'd definitely pulled something in the hock area and may also have hurt his toe but it was probably just knocked up and popped right back into place because 1) it wasn't displaced, and 2) he was walking on it, and by now only limping slightly.

 

A week of intermittent limping later I decided that he probably ought to be seen, since there was a slight swelling underneath that toe. Still not displaced, and he'd let me feel it, he would be running on it, etc, but I could feel that it wasn't quite 'right'. Turned out to be completely shattered, and he now has three toes on that foot.

 

So, no, probably not an emergency, but you might want to let someone take a look anyway. I felt so guilty when I heard he'd been walking around on a badly broken toe for a week!

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

I say go with what you are doing; check the bandage every couple of days to make certain no pressure sores are developing between the toes. You can figure out where to "pad" a little bit to support the the toe in a natural position. We have followed a time schedule that goes like this; 3 weeks bandaged; then start gentle massage and very gentle stretching exercises to help restore range of motion. (During this whole period, leash walks and limited exercise are best.) You should see improvement by week 4 with flexibility; some "swelling" (really scar tissue) is likely to remain forever and toe may look "knobby". At five weeks, allow the hound to try some more vigorous exercise (for my dogs, this meant 100 yard sprints on the lure, starting slow and building up gradually to a normal exercise schedule.)

 

[krissn333]

Update on Fritz's toe:

 

I just unwrapped it to examine it and it looks GREAT! It's not that swollen and doesn't appear to be broken, nor is it floppy like it was. He allowed me to check his entire foot and nothing seems knobby at all. So far so good! I re-wrapped him, making sure to protect that inner toe from the toenail of the outer toe while keeping the toe in a natural position. I'm so glad that he's such a patient boy-doing this with Ace would require my mom to sit and pet her while I worked on her