Dislocated Toe :(

[RedHead]

Ugghh...so another little mishap here. Teague was running off leash in the baseball diamond when he all of a sudden started limping on his right front paw. I thought his toe was broken because it looked all twisted, but he didn't seem to be in pain when I touched it. I gently manipulated it and it popped right back into place. Well...it has since popped out twice, each time I can fairly easily get it back in.

 

He is lying down now, so am hoping to do something to stabilize it. I got a little paranoid reading how people were amputating toes, so I hope it doesn't come to that I haven't taken him to the vet as it just happened, and wasn't sure if they would do anything different so am asking here first. Should I be splinting or wrapping it? His nails aren't too long but I will also try to keep them short. Should I be taking him into the vet?

[Guest Clawsandpaws]

If it were me, or if this happened to a dog in our adoption kennel, we would probably just keep an eye on it. I would recommend restricting movement for a little bit, crate when you aren't home etc (if he can be crated.) and leash walk, even if it's in your yard. I don't like splinting unless it's necessary because if you do it wrong, you can cause more harm than good. You could do a soft wrap, put cotton in between the toes and lightly wrap the whole foot maybe?

 

Definitely keep the nails short, but be careful trimming the nails on the injured toe, you can dislocate it all over again. Do you have a good relationship with your vet? I don't think they can do much for you except to do the splint/wrap themselves if they think it's necessary. I would call on Monday and ask their advice. If it keeps dislocating you may want an exam to have the vet do his/her own physical check.

[Guest Rhea]

Maybe some type of medipaw or boot would be the best course of action here for awhile? Or else some sort of wrapping to help keep it from popping back out of place? Some of those delicate ligaments may have gotten torn or damaged, so I would def. make a vet appointment, just to get the best opinion on how to proceed with care and recuperation. Maybe also put a little ice on it or something to keep any swelling down.

[RedHead]

Thanks I wrapped his foot in vet wrap (not sure if I did it right, or how tight it should be, I just sort of wrapped his toes together) and he is lying down. Thankfully it hasn't popped out since we got home. He did it probably an hour or so ago now, and there is no swelling at all from what I see. I am just worried that it will keep coming out as the last two times he was just walking. I am not really sure what the vet will do at this point...so I might wait and see how he does for a few days as he doesn't seem to be in discomfort.

[Guest Clawsandpaws]

Did you put anything in between his toes? He could develop sores if you don't, they have bony feet! Make sure you don't wrap it too tight, that can cause swelling by itself

[GreyKarma]

If the Vet wrap is too tight his toes will turn cold and maybe swell so keep and eye on it. Molleigh did this last year..toe was sticking out sideways. I popped it back in and wrapped it..of course it was the weekend. I did take her to the vet to make sure nothing broke which it had not. Had to keep her quiet for a few weeks..but each time she went outside I wrapped it lightly to keep the toes together.

 

I think she caught it in the track of the patio door...silly girl came in on 3 legs never whimpered when I reached down and popped it back in...she just wanted her cookie.

[Remolacha]

I wouldn't go to the vet unless it keeps popping out. Sallie dislocated an outside toe on Monday, popped it back in and she was OK, just limping a bit by the next day. Then the little erm, monkey, snuck outside early Friday morning and now it is broken So, be sure you make him take it easy, probably for a couple of weeks.

[RedHead]

Thanks again...I do have some thin cotton pads between his toes. The wrap doesn't cover his whole foot. There still doesn't look to be any swelling or pain. So far it hasn't popped out again, but he has been mostly sleeping. It just seemed to pop out with virtually nothing before so that is my big concern. I am glad to hear some stories where things went back to normal with rest. Crossing fingers!

 

Is there less of a chance of it popping out after it has healed for a few days?? We will definitely take it easy for 2-3 weeks, and definitely no off-leash running for a while. Poor Teague is going to be sad.

[Guest Addie]

That happened to Addie, except the bone came out of the skin. I also was able to put it back and clean to wound. (We had to get her antibiotics because you don't want them to get a bone infection but you don't have to worry about that.) I was told to keep her foot wrapped good or it will keep popping out. So I got some stiff tape to go over the vet wrap to keep it stable. The hardest thing was getting the wrap tight enough to keep the toe safe and not have the wrap come off but not to tight to stop the blood flow.

[WHanson12]

This happened to our Mae, 7 years old, just a couple weeks ago, but she actually tore the ligament on the side of the affected toe, causing it to dislocate. Mae was in a lot of discomfort immediately, even after I realigned her toe from under her main foot pad (which caused the swelling to commence), although she never cried out or whimpered. Of course it was after hours, so off to the ER clinic where they xrayed, splinted & bandaged her entire hock. The splint will be staying on a total of 8 weeks & is being checked by the ER clinic weekly (complete bandage change every 2 weeks or sooner if a problem develops) along with my careful daily monitoring. Mae is obviously being leash walked & on pain meds as needed. Mae is a very active girl & I fear that once the splint is taken off for good, that her first free run will result in the same injury. I plan on leash walking her for more extended time periods once the splint is off both to release some of her pent-up energy, as well as gradually strengthen that foot, toe & leg after being immobilized for so long... We'll just have to see how it goes!

[RedHead]

So far so good in terms of the toe staying in place. He was quite mopey and sad looking today but I just took off the wrap to look and he is back to normal, so I am almost positive that it was just due to the wrap (it wasn't too tight, he just didn't like the feel). It isn't swollen at all from what I can see so I am hoping that means there isn't a lot of ligament damage.

 

 

Mae is a very active girl & I fear that once the splint is taken off for good, that her first free run will result in the same injury

That is exactly what I was worried about. He loves running, it would terrible if I had to take that away. I feel like I will always have to wrap up his foot and be paranoid

[Guest Ebony]

Poor boy! My previous greyhound had issues with one of her front feet. It had previous been broken at the wrist and was never properly splinted/treated. With me she dislocated a toe and her dew claw (ouch!). I had to keep her quiet and leash walked and used some wrap for a week when outside so the toe wouldn't snag on something and dislocate again. It took a few weeks to heal fully but when it did she could run again and never did dislocate toes on that foot again.

[Opals_mom]

Eden had the same issue maybe a year after I got her. She would limp over to me every time I popped out of place and I'd put it back. It started happening so often after that - no matter what she did - that we took the offending toe off. I'm thinking that the tendons were just useless at that point because she'd take two steps than hobble over to me. Hopefully splinting will help!

[RedHead]

Thanks again for the help and advice So far so good...it hasn't popped out again since Sunday. We've been doing short leashed walks this week and I'm going to keep the nail as short as possible. I just didn't want this to be a reoccurring thing, so glad to hear some dogs went right back to normal. Crossing fingers!