Paw Lesions - Not Corns - What Are They? (Cross Posting For Help)

[Rickiesmom]

Here are extracts of the background story to give you context for the eventual question about the paw lesions (permission granted to cross-post).

 

Jan 30:

Hello, We have a young whippet crossed with perhaps a saluki,she is a rescue dog and when found was emaciated,it wasn't noticed by the vet at the time but she was in fact pregnant with 8 pups (1st season) alas as she had no milk to give all 8 died.We have fed her up and she got to a near normal weight.She was perfectly house trained and we had no problems at all.
She was spayed on Friday (approx 8 weeks after having pups) with key hole surgery and we have been told the uterus was infected (pyometra) and was removed at the same time.she was given metacam (NSAID) and I think amoxicillin.
Since the operation she has needed to urinate every 2 hours (including through the night) and is drinking on the hour,maybe 8 pints a day approx.we have revisited the vets and they have her on a iv drip at 110ml/hour (looks correct as she is 40lbs)

 

Feb 1:

 

She returned home happier but still drinking a lot.

 

Feb 8:

 

Today the vet took a blood sample for a 'bun' test (blood urine nitrogen),this showed a high urea level.Also her resting blood pressure was high.We are going back again on Monday for another blood pressure check.She has started to limp on one of her front paws and this is inflamed and infected,so she is on tramidol for pain relief and clavaceptin (antibiotic).She has been very sleepy as a side affect of the tramidol. I bathed her paw in warm salty water but she licked it after and sodium is no good for kidneys so I guess I shan't do that again.The vet also took a urine sample directly from her bladder,I guess for growing any bacterial cultures.I will post another update on Monday.Thank you for everyone's kindness.

 

Feb 11:

 

The vet asked us to visit today for a blood pressure test and to get the results of the urine test.Both were ok so it looks as if things are going in the right direction.She is sleeping till about 5.45 before he wakes for a pee, so getting better.The vet wants us to go back in a couple of weeks for another urine test.It's looking like she has lost the use of about half of her kidneys.As for her paw problem I have found another growth on a rear leg.Due to her having 3 of these we are ruling out corns and infections due to foreign bodies (thorns,seeds etc) so they maybe warts due to a weakend immune system.This is my theory as the vet doesn't know what they are,I like the fact that the vet has been honest and it gives me a bit of trust in him.He was talking about giving her a few weeks to recover and then operating on them using a general anaesthetic ....need I say that this isn't something I want to happen.

 

Today (Feb 13):

 

Hi,we are in the UK.I don't think we have "internal med vets" here.We are all in agreement about not wanting to give her another anaesthetic.
My thinking is that they are warts caused by a reduced immune system.She was a rescue dog and we do not know her previous history.
How does this theory go......lets say her first owners were responsible and had her vaccinated,somehow she got lost and was rescued.We then adopted her with no history having been found imaciated and having just lost a litter of 8,she was then built up to gain weight and had her vaccinations (for the second time) and a week later had her spay operation and uterus removed due to pyometra this then caused kidney failure due to anesthetic with low body fat.So it's fair to say she would have been in a weakend state at the very time her immune system is trying to fight of the viruses introduced via the vaccine and as I understand it warts are a sign of a suppressed immune system

 

Me: Kidney issues apart, and I do think this dog needs to be seen by a specialist, here are photos of the lesions on the paws - they definitely do not look like corns. In threads I've seen about racers things that look like this are often seed warts but I don't know what to think here and am looking for the collective experience to help this owner.

 

Thank you so much!!!

 

 

 

 

[JJNg]

Hard to tell from the photos, but they could certainly be viral papillomas which are often induced by stress. An elevated BUN by itself doesn't diagnosis kidney disease - I want to know the creatinine too. And I'm wondering how they determined she's "lost the use of about half of her kidneys"?

 

I had a hard time believing that their aren't any veterinary internists in the UK, so I did a search.

 

The Animal Health Trust in Suffolk has a Small Animal Internal Medicine Department, and there is also the Royal Veterinary College in London. There are also a number of other ones listed through the European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

[tbhounds]

Look like viral papillomas to me also.

[Rickiesmom]

Thank you both. I have posted your suggestions back and hope they will be heeded.