Limp And Foot Swollen, "cellutitis, Vasculitis, Or Alabama Rot&#3

[Guest quinoa]

R is a 5 year old male greyhound. He has some chronic kidney damage and high creatinine levels.

 

Sunday (less than 48 hours ago) he started limping, favoring one of his rear legs. There was no known injury. No known tick bites since July.Today (Tuesday) the sore foot is swollen and he is still limping.There is a little bit of redness on one of the pads or on the webbing.

 

We took him to the vet this evening. Before the exam, vet mentioned "cellulitis or a fracture". Vet did a blood test, injected R with a local anesthetic, and examined the foot, ruling out a fracture. The new diagnosis is "cellutitis, vasculitis, or alabama rot". When my husband asked about "alabama rot", the vet was not able to answer his questions. Vet offered hosptiallization with IV, which we declined.

 

R came home with Doxycycline and Clavamox (antibiotics in case of tick bourne illness), Rimadyl (anti-inflamatory), Tramadol (pain releiver) and pentoxifylline ("Treats problems from poor blood circulation by improving the flow of blood through blood vessels.") Instructions are no running.

 

Anyone have experience with this? We are a little concerned about lack of a definative diagnosis.

 

thanks for your help!

[MaryJane]

Go to the top level and do a search for "alabama rot".

 

Spider bites can also cause swelling and a host of other symptoms. A few people have recently had issues with what looked like spider bites and hopefully they will respond.

Edited November 6, 2013 by MaryJane

[JJNg]

Despite the lack of a definitive diagnosis, it sounds like your vet has all the bases covered. Sometimes it can be difficult to get a diagnosis even if you run lots of tests. If he doesn't improve the current protocol, I'd consider adding in a stronger antibiotic like Baytril. If you're interested in trying to get a diagnosis, ask your vet about doing a full tick-borne disease panel. The bit of redness in his foot does make me suspicious of a spider bite. If that's the case, it may become more evident in the next few days, or it may resolve quickly if it's some other insect bite.

 

I'm also wondering about the "chronic kidney damage and high creatinine levels". Greyhounds normally have higher creatinine levels than other breeds. Is your vet aware of this? What is his creatinine level, and what is his urine specific gravity (concentration)?

[a_daerr]

Henry had a spider bite earlier this year, and it was absolutely awful. He was in excrutiating pain like I've never seen before. We went to the regular vet twice before going to the e-vet. The bite kept getting worse and worse, then the swelling turned to edema and continued halfway up his leg. Following a joint tap, we found that it had infected the bone. He was on heavy duty ABX (Baytril and Clavamox) and pain management meds for six weeks until it finally cleared up.