Warm, Inflamed And Oozing Toe

[GreytOwl]

Hello wise GreyTalkers,

I've been a long time lurker and know the great power of the GreyTalk forum. I am remiss in not introducing my sweet brindle boy, Lucas, when he is his happy loving self.

 

Halloween evening he started refusing to put weight on his rear right foot. There was swelling and redness and a small (1/4 inch?) bump on the inner side of his 3rd toe:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/nadinemariee/6qn2UX

 

I soaked his foot in warm water/epsom for about 5 minutes and we went about our evening as usual, he was limping heavily the remainder of the night and struggled to settle to sleep.

 

Yesterday am, his toe was lightly weeping a bloody fluid and he wouldn't get out of his bed. He wouldn't eat or drink, but he did struggle up to go out to pee (such a good boy ). Called vet, went in and saw new young vet - regular vet is out for all of November. No fever, normal weight, but Lucas was panting heavily and very stressed - in pain - as he usually is pretty happy go lucky even at the vet. We had to wait 45 minutes to be seen, and that added to the stress, of course. Vet applied a local anesthetic, tried to open the bump up and see if there was something that could be flushed out. No result, sent us home with clavamox and instructions to keep soaking 1-2x/day.

 

I was able to handfeed him about 2/3 of his supper, and he was able to eat the clavamox and the rimadyl that he's on for joint pain. I soaked the foot again last night and after peeing at 10 pm, he hobbled into bed and seemed to sleep pretty well all night.

 

This morning the toe looks much worse. He won't put any weight on that foot, but he did get outside to pee and he was very hungry and ate his breakfast and meds. It's weeping quite a bit of watery bloody fluid now from the space between toes on the outer opposite side of the toe from where the vet tried to open and flush out the area. That original spot has started to scab up a bit, but today the space between toes 3 and 4 and the sides of those toes are extremely red and weeping. He won't let me look too closely, and I'm not able to separate the toes to see if there's an open wound between the toes.

 

Called the vet's office to see what they think, but haven't heard back.

 

Any advice? This new vet is pretty inexperienced. He did say that sedating greyhounds can be complicated (but I thought that was full-on anesthesia, not just light sedation?) He didn't want to sedate Lucas yesterday, thus the local anesthetic on the foot to do the flushing.

 

Should I take Lucas to a different greyhound savvy vet office today (they do our adoption group vet work) since my usual vet is out for the whole month? Should I wait this out a while to see if the antibiotic and soaks resolve this? Is it typical for things to look a lot worse when they are actually improving?

 

I don't have the foot covered, but he's not really licking at it much - just occasionally and not for long. Instead he licks his bed

 

I am hoping these links to pics on Flikr will be visible if you want to take a look - be advised this second one is a bit bloody.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nadinemariee/shares/7F2d2A

 

Thanks for reading through all this and thanks for any advice you may have for me. I'm a very worried momma.

 

 

[MaryJane]

Go to the Greyhound savvy vet, that needs to be looked at better.

 

If you have a muzzle, bring it with you to the vet as it might allow the vet to take a closer look without anesthesia.

Edited November 2, 2018 by MaryJane

[greysmom]

What she said!

[GreytOwl]

Thank you, Mary Jane and Greysmom! That was my instinct too. He's been with us 2 years, but so healthy and he's my first greythound, so I thought maybe I was over-reacting.

 

We couldn't get in to see the MOST grey savvy vet there today, but the other folks there are very good - their overall practice is excellent, just a much longer drive from home. We'll be seeing someone at 3:45. I'll keep you posted and thanks for your advice!

[macoduck]

That almost looks like a histiocytoma. They can be bloody if nicked or licked too much.

 

Hope your boy (and you) are feeling much better after the vet visit.

[GreytOwl]

Thanks, Macoduck! Whatever it is, he's in lots of pain, so infection seems likely. I'll mention histiocytoma when I see the vet. Heading out in an hour - it's a 45 minute drive in good traffic but Friday rush hour will complicate things a bit. He's diligently licking his bed now, and leaving the foot alone.

[PatricksMom]

Good luck, a more experienced vet sounds like the right call.

[Neighsayer]

Hope they get it figured out.

[XTRAWLD]

Oh my goodness. Poor fella! I have no experience with this, but I second the opinion of a grey savvy vet if you are able. Use a muzzle when you have to do anything to it, he is pretty owie and might take it out on you/vet. The muzzle will also prevent him from licking it.

Soaks seem like a good idea to avoid infection, I'd say do it every time after he goes out so there isn't any debris stuck in there. Did it just happen out of the blue? I assume you can't see if he stepped on something outside? I side with Ducky if she's able to recognize it though. Hope he gets help ASAP. Gentle skritches, keep us posted!

[GreytOwl]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the positive vibes and encouragement. We did get in to see someone at the Grey savvy clinic, and she didn't think any change in treatment was needed yet. We're going to give the clavamox more time to do its magic, and with continued soaks, she's hoping that if something is in there it will find its own way out. I feel a little sheepish for not trusting in the new young vet, and it cost $60 bucks for the second opinion today, but I'm feeling more relaxed and better able to dial back the worry. Worth every cent.

 

Can't stand to see our boy in pain, but he was a super trouper at the vet today and she really gave that toe a good going over. If this doesn't resolve by Monday or if it worsens, we will be back to the original vet at that point. Hope he doesn't feel insulted that I went elsewhere for opinion #2!

 

This did happen out of the blue! We took a 2 mile walk on Wed morning and then at suppertime he started limping.

 

You all are the best! Thanks for chiming in and for being a corps of greyt advisors! I'll post an update tomorrow.

[GreytOwl]

Just wanted to post an update - Lucas is responding well to the Clavamox. The bloody oozing has stopped and the swelling has decreased. He is putting weight on it and insisted on taking a nice mile-long walk this morning and another this evening (foot protected in a PAWZ balloon bootie.) I've been soaking the foot daily and though the toe always looks more red and weepy after soaking, it's bothering him a lot less.

 

The soaks are a challenge because I'd already been soaking his front right paw daily because of a corn. We feed him tiny licks of peanut butter while he stands with both right side paws in pans of warm water for about 10 minutes. I've been so focused on the rear foot infection that I forgot about the corn for a couple of days and tonight - bonus! I could almost pick the whole thing out of his toepad! (Ichthammol salve is miraculous!)

 

We'll carry on with the soaks and antibiotics. I think there's something lodged in there still. Tomorrow I hope to order some Therapaws. Every other week, the recycling collection truck leaves puddles of crushed glass along both sides of the street where we're walking. We can only avoid these by walking down the middle of the road as there are no sidewalks. He has worn a Neopaw boot on his corn foot, and now I think we're just going to walk with all four feet protected. He's had an earlier episode with a tiny pebble stuck in a paw pad and causing an infection on his front left foot. His paws are his Achilles heel. (Sorry - lame joke - oops, 2 of them!)

 

So at this point, it's a waiting game to see if something flushes out of the toe pad or if we'll need to go fishing for it. I'll update if there's news

[greysmom]

For soaking you can also drench and lightly wring out a small towel or washcloth in the soaking liquid, then wrap it around the foot. Cover the towel with a plastic bag and secure with a rubber band (NOT TIGHT!!!!) or vet wrap. This way they can be laying down and don't have to stand for so long.

[XTRAWLD]

Oh dear, let's hope there is nothing too nasty in there, but soaking will be your best chance to get anything out to the surface enough for a vet to look a little closer. Keep us updated!