Toenail Problem And Limping

[Guest scarletandmargo]

My 6 year-old grey, Scarlet has developed a limp. The vet thought it was shoulder pain/arthritis, and recommended glucosomine supplements.
]It's been a few months that she's been on the supplements and the limping is getting worse.
We began to notice crustiness and discoloration on her outer toenail on her limping leg. Took her to the vet today, and he is perplexed, as Scarlet shows no painful reactions when he pushes on the toenail, and he doesn't detect the odor that accompanies an infection.

I've attached a picture of her toenail...does this look familiar to anyone?

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I am taking her to the vet tomorrow for an x-ray of the toe, and would love to share more input from fellow greyhound folks with my vet.
He has good experience with sighthounds (he has a whippet at home) so I trust his judgement but would also love the expertise of other greyhound owners out there.

Thanks!

[macoduck]

It might be SLO which is manageable. I don't think it warrants an xray. Also check her pads for corns.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Is she an all-terrain limper? Limping on hard ground but not on soft frequently indicates a corn. And she could have a corn that's quite separate from whatever is going on with the toenail.

[Guest MnMDogs]

Macy was diagnosed with SLO (based on symptoms since it can only be definitively diagnosed by amp and biopsy) but she had severe pain on manipulation. And her toenails had started to fall off which is why we brought her in initially-that and recurrent apparent infections.

 

What do the other toes look like?

[Guest scarletandmargo]

Definitely a difference between grass and pavement. Also between hardwood floor and carpet. Her limp is more pronounced on the harder surfaces. But she still favors her left leg and sometimes stands with her right leg lifted off the ground even when she's on those softer surfaces.

 

You can definitely tell she's avoiding putting pressure on the side of the foot with the yucky nail.

All of the other toes look normal.

 

I remember stepping on her foot during a walk this Spring. She let out a yelp, but didn't limp during the rest of the walk. The vet and I are thinking perhaps that caused some trauma to the nail/toe bone?

[tbhounds]

I would x-ray that toe. Doesn't look like slo too me. Definetly check for corns too. You may need to wet the bottom of the pads to get a better look.

[kudzu]

SLO is what jumped to my mind first but I will add this. My SLO girl limped more on soft surfaces than hard. She walked better on our hard wood than she did on carpet. I believe the softer surfaces put more pressure on her nails. Meaning it's the opposite of your girl. With all the other nails looking normal that makes SLO less likely.

 

Hopefully it is just an injury & quickly healed. These things do happen.

[Guest scarletandmargo]

Thanks, everyone. I'll let you know what happens at the vet tomorrow. I just want to see my girl walking normally again soon, poor thing!

[Guest abbysmom]

My Mocha developed squamous cell carcinoma in the nail bed of one nail. I don't think it looked quite like this, though. It has been quite a few years. That might be a possibility to keep in the back of your mind, though. I think we treated her for infection, and when the toe didn't respond, we began to think about carcinoma.

p.s. She didn't limp from the nail bed issue, but she spent many years limping because of corns!

[macoduck]

This was Gracie's toe:

The nail didn't fall off. It looked nasty. We tried all sorts of antibiotics. Nothing on xray. We finally had it amputated. It was a rare but luckily benign tumor of the nail bed.

 

Hopefully you'll get some answers today and your girl will get some relief.

 

This will tell you more about corns: http://www.grassmere-animal-hospital.com/corns.htm Also click on the "greyhounds" tab in their page directory for other good info.

[Guest scarletandmargo]

It definitely looks like she has a corn on her toe pad on the toe next to the one with the yucky nail. I let the vet know about this when I dropped her off. Even if the corn is the cause of the limp, I still want to figure out what's going on with her nail, since its been like this for a few months now.

[Guest scarletandmargo]

X-ray came out clear! Vet did a surgical trim of the toe, which revealed some pus (eww) so she's on antibiotics. He also hulled out the corn so maybe that will also helped with the limping! We're hopeful that it's just an infection and she'll be back to normal soon.