Looking for advice + thoughts on webbed/splayed toes...

[Glum_Turnover]

Just wondering if anyone's greys have similar webbed/splayed feet as our boy and if it caused them any issues?

His outer toes in particular really splay out from the rest of his foot and he sometimes seems to walk with most of his weight on the back of his feet. You can see how webbed they are when he play bows (which is 100 times a day lol).

Every few weeks he seems to tweak or pull something and then start limping (along with greyhound scream of death!) and usually after 24-48 hours will be back to normal. Sometimes it's worse than others and once we ended up taking him to the after-hours vet for him to end up putting weight on it (there were treats present) and was fine again the next morning. Our regular vet is aware and did a brief physical exam and couldn't see anything too concerning - they said to monitor it for now before we decide to dive into x-rays or more in-depth assessments.

He came to us from a rescue in China and as far as we know he's never raced (he's only 2 and was at the rescue kennel for 18 months after they saved a big group of hounds from a meat market truck). So I'm not sure if this is something he's always just had as his early life is a big question mark for us.

Would love to hear from others who may have seen similar starfish toes. TIA!  (cross-posted in r/Greyhounds)

 

[palmettobug]

Hmm, my youngest has splayed REAR toes. When he walks, he does put more weight on the toes, as opposed to the two oldest who walk more flat footed. He has been seen by my vet, after having shoulder/front leg issues, the vet thinks it's more of a soft tissue issue.

So, maybe a ligament or something is sliding the wrong way and popping and that's what he's reacting to? Maybe a boot would help keep the toes aligned and help healing?

[greysmom]

He probably has what's called "sprung toes."  It's a pretty common injury for greyhounds.

Dog toes all have ligaments and tendons that run from the end of the toe up through the foot and the back of the leg where they attach to the main leg bones. 

 

A "sprung toe" occurs when the flexor tendon gets ruptured, either through play or racing injury (or on purpose in the case of corn treatment).  Without the tension from the flexor tendon, the toe can't stay in it's proper positioning and placement and it usually flattens out so the toe lies flat against the ground, and sometimes will splay out to the side.  Once one toe is "sprung" it's much easier for other adjacent tendons to fail, and you can end up with the whole foot laying flat with most of the weight being born on the main carpal pad and the leg resting much further back and out of alignment in either the shoulder or hip.  This can cause mechanical difficulties when using the leg, but also down the road with arthritis and muscle inflammation.

It's not really something that's realistically fixable, though I suppose it's possible to try.  It would involve a major foot/leg surgery and months of restricted activities and rehab, with no guarantee of a permanent solution.  An evaluation by an orthopedic specialist could tell you more, if you want to investigate further.

It is worth a quick xray by your vet - toes to shoulder - just to make sure there aren't any other issues.  And using an nsaid for those times he seems painful can be helpful.  

 

 

[cleptogrey]

agree w/ post above sprung toe(but no need for additional medical attention) but cut those nails! he is not walking properly due to the excessive length. it will take quite a while to get them back unless the vet does it and cauterizes the quicks. then it's weekly maintenance. i trim every sunday- that's my schedule. not every 2 weeks, every week. start working with a groomer. a late gh owner in our group had 5 dogs with awful nails, i worked on them weekly until the nails were in good shape. then changed to every 10 days, every 2 weeks.