What To Do About Wound Between Toes

[christinepi]

Tracker somehow slipped and scraped the insides of the two middle toes of his back foot. He's not limping and walks fine. But he tries to lick the wound often, which keeps it from drying and healing. Of course, since the toes are so close together, there's not much air getting to that space, and it's humid in there; the toes start sticking together while he rests and as soon as he gets up they pull apart again. I put a sock on him, velcroed it loosely behind his hock, and put bitter apple on it, and that works for long stretches at a time, but invariably the sock sometimes falls off, or he licks the sock do long everything gets moist under it. I put antibiotic cream in the space between the toes. Sometimes he gets real irritated with the spot and dies to get to it, like when we go for a walk without the sock. The wound is superficial and clean, no sign of infection. I don't know what to do. Should I just let him go at it as he feels he needs to, keep doing the sock thing (this has been going on for 3 days now), or just take him to the vet--but what would she do? Wrap the whole foot up somehow for a week or so?

[PrairieProf]

Muzzle with stool guard or duct tape over the end, and leave the foot open to the air when you're indoors. It should be covered to keep it dry/clean when you're outside (I find Pawz disposable booties a godsend for this). I have definitely been through this with lots of toe wounds. He really needs to leave it alone and the muzzle will do that. Not fun but you should hang tough until the wound is really closed up.

[DocsDoctor]

As Prairieprof says the Pawz rubber booties are great for protection outdoors.

 

But I have to say that when I muzzled Doc indoors to prevent him getting at a wound on a back paw he ended up creating a new hole in his back leg with the muzzle in his continued attempts to get at the paw

 

My preference would therefore be for a better-secured sock. What I find works best is to cut the foot off an old cotton ankle sock. You will be left with a straight tube - sew straight across the bottom of this to make a new greyhound-sized 'sock'. Then sew one of those velcro fasteners for computer cables a couple of inches from the top. This way you can fasten it snugly above his paw but below his hock, which should be a good deal more secure.

 

He probably will still try to lick it, at least in your absence. You could try adding an inflatable collar or lampshade into the equation but may find his long nose and tongue can still reach to his back paw with that on. I don't think a bit of licking of the sock will matter too much if it stays on, what you want to avoid is him licking the wound itself and opening it up further. So I would make a spare sock or so too, then you can change over and launder them as needed.

 

Good luck!

[Riverhound]

Rinse in a solution of warm water, Epsom salts and betadine. That'll help dry things. Whenever they lick, I pull out the bag I wash the foot in, and they stop. "Do you want your foot in a bag?" is a powerful question here!

 

To cover the wound, I use a tube sock, taped in several places to try to keep it up.

[greysmom]

Muzzle with stool guard or duct tape. Soak several times a day with the concoction Riverdog suggested (I use a plastic ziploc baggy). The Pawz boots are great as long as the foot is *completely* dry before you put it on. You can use vet wrap to help keep a baby sock on his foot, and a small roll of gauze placed between the toes will help keep them from rubbing together.

[christinepi]

So I'll make that part of the routine: rinse with warm water and then use Hexadene. I'll keep using the sock method (darned things slide down all the time, but I don't want to tighten the velcro too hard), apply Bitter Apple and keep my finders crossed. The muzzle... he hasn't worn one in 3 years, I shudder to think what he would do. But it could be done.

[lukasmom]

My Luka has a bad cut in between his toes. I tried putting the Vetericine spray in between his toes and bandaging and vet wrapping his foot. He kept pulling the bandage off. Then I tried just using the boot. He would get that off too. Had him at the vet last week. He said leave the boot and bandage off so it gets air. He did a laser treatment to help the healing. Gave me a nasty tasting gel to put on his foot to stop the licking. It does work. although he was licking some today so I put the gel on again.

He has had cuts before between his toes. Never see it happen and he never cries when it happens.

[cleptogrey]

i agree w/ let the air get to it. in general they will heal much faster and you don't have to worry about fungus developing. tis the weather- hot and humid...medicated foot powder takes care of fungus but it needs to get scrapped off first.(don't ask, been there w/ both dogs)

 

felix is the king of cut pads and annie had an audition for princess of cut webbing have taught me a lot. for pads, nicks ,slices, etc i was only once w/ hydrogen peroxide to get the dirt out. only once, since it will stop the growth of new tissue. if i have saline solution i rinse it w/ that instead, it depends upon what i have on hand. then one application --a good size glob of a triple antibiotic and that's it. i will rinse it w/ saline if it looks pretty dirty but they seem to heal really quickly when left alone. medicated foot powder kept it dry- we use Ammends but Gold Bond is just as good.

 

with the split webbing that was another story. my vet likes to develop scar tissue where the tear is. so 2xs daily i washed it w/ peroxide. up, didn't want it to do anything but scar and develop tuff skin. it was covered for one week- omg, bandage changes 2xs a day. well, annie at 10 bandages, she rubs the walls w/ her muzzle and i gave up on day 5. it's fine.

Edited July 9, 2014 by cleptogrey

[christinepi]

Well, mystery solved. Vet just pulled out a major foxtail that had burrowed all the way in between his toes. Now the healing can finally begin!! I'm so glad I took him to see her--today he wouldn't even go for his walks because after a few steps he'd try to lick his toes like crazy and just couldn't stop. This would have gotten worse and worse, I'm sure. This was the first foxtail I've ever had to deal with; now I know what's up if this ever happened again.