Corns: Non Gh Dog-Owner Seeking Advice

[Guest pauloconnor]

Hi all,

 

I hope you don't mind me joining your great forum but I am in desperate need of some advice and it seems like greyhound owners could be my best shot at some balanced opinion.

 

I have a 6.5 y/o Mastiff who weighs in around 85kg. He is now classed as an OAP as giant breeds typically do not live beyond 8 years of age.

 

The past few days my partner and I have noticed some slight, intermittent limping but other than that he has been fine. Last night I took him to the vets (expecting him to have developed a bit of arthritis) and they have said he has corns on both front feet (main, central pads). The placement of the corns aren't on the flat central area but rather on the edge of the pad almost in the gap between his toes.

 

The vet has referred us to a specialist to have them surgically removed. Due to his size and advanced age they do not want to do it themselves as there is a chance we will lose him on the table which has happened to a good number of Mastiff-owning friends so we are naturally reluctant to put him through this at his age. Ultimately, I won't let him suffer and if surgery is the right thing to do I will do it but it seems very extreme to go down this route when there could be other options we could try first.

 

Additionally, my research tells me corns can always come back so I don't really want to risk the his life for an operation on something that might come back in future.

 

I'm particularly interested in any other methods of management/treatment that you all have experience of. I've read on another site about things like cider vinegar, lemon juice, pumice stones and even baking soda mixed in water as a bath for the feet. I think with his advancing years and size I would like to at least try managing the corns initially because they don't seem to bother him too much before going down the surgical route.

 

Either way I will at least take him to the specialist for a second opinion as you can never have too much advice but definitely interested in anything the members on this forum might have tried with their own pets.

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated - we are worried sick about having him operated on.

 

Thanks so much,

 

Paul.

[Batmom]

See www.grassmere-animal-hospital.com/corns.htm and www.grassmere-animal-hospital.com/corn_hulling.htm .

[charbess]

Paul, have you checked out the Facebook page Greyhounds with Corns? Lots of experience there. Never dealt with them (and hope never to have to...they are the devil) but hulling seems to be helpful. How about Therapaw boots?

[Guest pauloconnor]

See www.grassmere-animal-hospital.com/corns.htm and www.grassmere-animal-hospital.com/corn_hulling.htm .

 

Thanks very much - will check this out

 

Paul, have you checked out the Facebook page Greyhounds with Corns? Lots of experience there. Never dealt with them (and hope never to have to...they are the devil) but hulling seems to be helpful. How about Therapaw boots?

 

I'll add that page right away. I had a quick look at therapaw boots last night I think I will be ordering them

[Riverhound]

Can you post pictures? Or link to them if you have trouble posting them here?

[Hubcitypam]

Paul -

 

As someone who has been there I would advise against surgery. The recovery is long and painful and they do come back.

 

My "corn dog" was before hulling came about and when they came back I used duct tape cut slightly bigger than the corn and changed every 3-4 days. Eventually the corn will come out along with the tape. If hulling had been around then I'd have tried that.

[Guest BlueCrab]

Welcome, Paul. Our grey came down with 2 corns a couple years ago. We almost operated, but I'm surper glad we didn't, as I have heard tales that the recovery can be quite rough. Some people have done it with success. We opted not to go that route.

 

We used a corn slave (Kerasolv) and baby socks, which softened her pads, but didn't help with the corn. We then read about using duct tape and tried that, which works for us remarkably well - but again it doesn't seem to work for everyone. Something about the adhesive causes the corn to gradually pull out, leaving a small divot in the pad. We use about a 1cm x 1cm square of tape, change it every couple days (pull it right off - it's ok - won't hurt the paw) and eventually you see the corn starting to come out, too. Eventually the corn pulls out, or you can nudge it out with the edge of a fingernail. Yes, it does come back. But the duct tape worked for us.

 

We do have two Therapaws boots for when we hike on hard surfaces. We usually only need one boot, as one corn seems particularly vexing, while the other doesn't seem to appear as often. But the Therapaws work great for us and Trixie doesn't mind having us fool with her feet, nor does she object to wearing boots. Hope they make them in a large enouge size for your Mastiff! Keep in touch, let us know how it goes.

 

Edited to add: Pam and I were posting at the same time. We had a vet try hulling the corn, which didn't seem to do anything at all but cost us money. We have a dremel that we use on Trixie's claws and periodically we'll try to hull the corn with the dremel, but that still doesn't seem as good for us as the duct tape.

Edited January 7, 2014 by BlueCrab

[Guest pauloconnor]

Thanks for replying, everyone. It's nice to know other people have opted to avoid surgery. For such a massive dog it seems more suffering than he needs to have both front feet operated on. Even if he survives the sedation the recovery is going to be a nightmare and might all be for nought if they re-occur anyway 12 or 18 months down the line at which point he would be 8 - 8.5 and I wouldn't want him to go through it all again. I'd sooner spend an hour a night for the rest of his life bathing his feet and doing other things to make the discomfort manageable by preventing the corn from growing further.

 

I say discomfort but he is literally fine in himself other than for a slight limp that comes & goes.

 

 

Can you post pictures? Or link to them if you have trouble posting them here?

 

Thanks for replying - I will take some pictures this evening and post them.

 

Paul -

 

As someone who has been there I would advise against surgery. The recovery is long and painful and they do come back.

 

My "corn dog" was before hulling came about and when they came back I used duct tape cut slightly bigger than the corn and changed every 3-4 days. Eventually the corn will come out along with the tape. If hulling had been around then I'd have tried that.

 

Thanks very much for the honest reply. You've confirmed what I was thinking. The duct tape idea is interesting - nothing to lose by giving it a whirl. Have you ever tried any other treatments alongside to soften the corn or flatten it ie filing?

 

Welcome, Paul. Our grey came down with 2 corns a couple years ago. We almost operated, but I'm surper glad we didn't, as I have heard tales that the recovery can be quite rough. Some people have done it with success. We opted not to go that route.

 

We used a corn slave (Kerasolv) and baby socks, which softened her pads, but didn't help with the corn. We then read about using duct tape and tried that, which works for us remarkably well - but again it doesn't seem to work for everyone. Something about the adhesive causes the corn to gradually pull out, leaving a small divot in the pad. We use about a 1cm x 1cm square of tape, change it every couple days (pull it right off - it's ok - won't hurt the paw) and eventually you see the corn starting to come out, too. Eventually the corn pulls out, or you can nudge it out with the edge of a fingernail. Yes, it does come back. But the duct tape worked for us.

 

We do have two Therapaws boots for when we hike on hard surfaces. We usually only need one boot, as one corn seems particularly vexing, while the other doesn't seem to appear as often. But the Therapaws work great for us and Trixie doesn't mind having us fool with her feet, nor does she object to wearing boots. Hope they make them in a large enouge size for your Mastiff! Keep in touch, let us know how it goes.

 

Edited to add: Pam and I were posting at the same time. We had a vet try hulling the corn, which didn't seem to do anything at all but cost us money. We have a dremel that we use on Trixie's claws and periodically we'll try to hull the corn with the dremel, but that still doesn't seem as good for us as the duct tape.

 

Thanks for posting. Definitely going to give some duct tape a try as well as potentially bathing, too.

[Hubcitypam]

No, I just used duct tape. You have to use the "good" stuff like Duck or Nashua, Dollar store stuff doesn't have the right gunk in it (whatever it is). My thinking if you put other stuff on it might hinder the duct tape from doing its job.

[Hawthorn]

I have only dealt with one corn. I treated this by filing it down level with the pad (dog did not mind this at all) and then putting a drop of tea tree oil on it, followed by a drop or two of vitamin E oil. I then covered it with a sock so dog couldn't lick as tea tree oil can be toxic to dogs if ingested. I did this every evening for a couple of weeks and then gradually increased the interval so after a while I was doing it once a week. I'm a little hazy about the timescale as this was 10 years ago, but after about 2-3 months the corn was completely gone and never came back.

[claudiav]

nothing but hulling works... here's an excellent video of it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdVWFUAT_4w

 

my vet used to charge $75/corn to do this... I learned how to do it myself, and did this every 3-4 weeks for the rest of my corn-dog's life...

 

my pup had surgery initially, and the recovery wasn't that bad, but the corn came back in 6 months, so it was a waste of $1000

[Neighsayer]

I use an emery board to file it flat if it bothers her. One of my dogs has a corn on each back foot. I pick at them when she is next to me on the couch. I have sometimes been able to get them out in a few sittings. Many people soak the pads. This doesn't work for me. The corn ends up only partly out and sometimes breaks off. Then I trim it with a nail clipper and file it flat. I got Misty in February. I got both corns out in one piece twice. Then they didn't come back for several months. They came back about six weeks ago. I broke both of them twice. They are currently filed flat, and I started picking at them again to get them out. Misty doesn't appear to be bothered by them unless there is an edge sticking up. I use my fingernail or the edge of a nail clipper to pick them out.

I hope you can get relief for your dog without surgery. Some people on the Facebook page have had success with the surgery, but I wouldn't chance it. Good luck!

[Houndtime]

Our Paulie, at 12 years of age, has two corns for the first time. I was reluctant to take him to our vet for this, as Paul is terrible in the car. He stresses out, sometimes poops, and just makes a wreck of himself. I was reading about the Duck tape and decided to try it. We have it in the house, and I thought, he would never leave it on as he fusses with everything. He left the tape on as I think it cushioned the corns. I kept it on for about a week and then took it off today. The smaller corn popped out with the tape and the other one has moved up but not out, yet. It is magic. He actually had a small hole in his pad where the corn was. So simple. I hope this works for your dog.

[Hubcitypam]

It really does work.

[Guest BlueCrab]

Yup - the tape does work for many cases, but I would again say, it sounds like not all cases. But it's cheap, it's easy to find if you don't have some already, and it's pretty simple to do. It definitely did work for us. But the first time around using it, it took probably almost two months of consistent use, changing every couple days, to get those corns to pop out. After that, when the one persistent one did come back, we'd go back to the tape, and the time frame seemed much shorter. Now it seems if I put tape on, it only takes one or two pieces of tape over the course of 3 - 5 days, and the corn pops out.

[Guest DeniseL]

I would be interested to see photos. Corns can appear on the sides of pads, but more often are more centrally located. I believe they are pressure related, so they are often located where there is unequal pressure. Does your pup have arthritis, an uneven gait, anything that would cause him to put more pressure on those particular paws/pads?

[tbhounds]

I would be interested to see photos. Corns can appear on the sides of pads, but more often are more centrally located. I believe they are pressure related, so they are often located where there is unequal pressure. Does your pup have arthritis, an uneven gait, anything that would cause him to put more pressure on those particular paws/pads?

I questioned myself if these are truly corns--I have never heard of any other breed afflicted with corns. I wonder if these are papilloma warts. Love to see a pic.