Yucky swollen toe

by **Shoshana** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:18 pm

Peanut was licking her toe Fri nite so I went to see what she was doing. Her toe was all swollen and red!

Inside toe passenger side front. E Vet said abscess and gave us pain med (carprofen) and antibiotic (cefpodoxime). This is it 2 days after vet visit. A little smaller I think. She was ignoring it then started licking it right before I took pic. I put a sock on w vet wrap to keep her from licking. She pulled the sock off. Bought her a cone of shame and ... her head is the same size as her neck. 2 seconds and it was off.

They said to keep it clean and dry (tech and paperwork) but vet said licking is ok. Paperwork says we can put triple antibiotic on it IF we can keep her from licking. So far that's a no go.

We are taking her to our regular vet as soon as possible (even tho the E-vet said to wait till Fri)

Anyone seen anything like this??? Very worried!

Wearing the sock

by **PitBull-Lady** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:44 pm

well, for sure it is infected, ewwww sorry about that
obviously going to the reg vet tomorrow is good, but I'd say take the sock off and let that puppy breathe. You'll want it to dry out.
Could she have a thorn in it?

That antibiotic is oral? But if not, topicals normally never work for us as they are quickly licked off.

I know everyone is sick of hearing about the Kong Cloud inflatable collar but I can't say enough good about it.
My idiots hate it, but except it. And it is very tough.

Good luck, it looks similar to something we had before and it cleared up, but it needs AIR :))

by **Shoshana** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:45 pm

Comparison between swollen and unswollen toe

by **PitBull-Lady** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:48 pm

here is some stuff I wrote before
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=151935&p=1991072&hilit=inflatable+e+collar#p1991072

some people with longer leg dogs can't use them due to the reach of the head to leg, luckily we've never had a problem. Even with sir licks a lot.

by **dogs4jen** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:36 pm

We didn't have good luck with the donut for front feet, Roscoe could still reach them and managed to tear out a couple of stitches.
Could that be a lick granuloma on Peanut? Red dawg's Sneaky had some kind of lump on one of her front feet, I think it turned out to be a fungus, but I'm sure you could find the thread to check. Sending Peanut good thoughts.

by **Shoshana** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 11:05 pm

Thanks y'all!

We did look at the blow up ecollars but since it's her front paw I thought she could still reach it ... I could be wrong. I'll look into that!

She isn't normally much of a licker - she didn't lick when she got spayed and when she got bit (on the meaty part of her back leg) she never licked that either. But she did lick her other front paw when she ripped a section of pad off. But not like this!

Tomorrow I'm taking her to a friend's house to look at it then to the vet. I want my friends to look at it because they've had 2 dogs go thru this not too long ago and both had something stuck in their foot. The vet we are taking her to is at a practice we have always taken her to but our favorite vet left so we'll be seeing a vet that has only seen her once, last month when she had the green eye boogers.

On another note, the antibiotics were EXPENSIVE! $77?

by **Misskiwi67** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:05 am

Your vet said licking was OK? Thats crazy, in my world, licking is absolutely NOT ok. Licking contributes to the heat, moisture and inflammation in which an infection thrives.

If its not getting better in 2-3 days, get a second opinion.

The Cefpodoxime is a newer antibiotic, and its a favorite of e-vets because its once daily and is more likely to have owners give it appropriately. Its not out in generic yet, so its pricey, but its a good choice for skin.

by **AllisonPitbullLvr** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 5:06 am

x2 on the not licking! Poor Peanut-- that looks ouchie! Hope she's feeling better soon!

by **Shoshana** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:03 pm

Common sense on my part said licking was bad. And I can tell when she has been licking because the lump gets red and raw looking.

That wasn't our regular vet - it was the eVet. We're at my sister's house and we used that same eVet when she got bit 2 years ago when we were up here and the vet they had then was good. This one, I didn't get the warm fuzzies but was happy to get pain pills and antibiotics.

We will be driving home today and hopefully will get there before the vet closes at 6 otherwise we will take her in tomorrow.

by **Shoshana** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 11:29 pm

We took her in today. Vet looked at it and said. It's infected. Duh.

He said to soak it it epsom salt n water and keep giving her the meds.

We soaked it tonight. I think it might look a little smaller - it started bleeding a little in the water.

He will look at it again on Friday when she is sedated (see other post)

by **jtalt7** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 11:39 pm

Beans toes do that every 6 mos or so, we have never been able to figure out what he gets in to or what the foreign body is. Epsom soaks are great, easiest way I have found is place both front feet in a litter box (clean obviously) for 10min twice a day until resolved. With systemic abx and an NSAID.

Good luck! They are a pain but do get better.

Oh and no licking

by **Shoshana** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 12:20 am

TY!

We have had a lot of weeds this year and I was thinking maybe one of those got her dunno. Now I'm a little less worried abt her toe and more worried about the thing on her belly!

by **Shoshana** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 1:35 am

After a few days of epsom salts it's not as angry looking but I don't think the swelling has gone down much.

Hopefully the vet will figure this out when we bring her in in a few hours...

by **Misskiwi67** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 7:13 am

You've done antibiotics and epsom salts for how long now? If its not better after 10-14 days of treatment, its time for a biopsy.

by **Shoshana** » Fri Jul 27, 2012 11:21 am

7 days of antibiotics and 2 days of soaking. The pic was from abt 1 am. We just got back from the vet for her lump removal and while she was under he looked at the toe, checked for foreign matter and cleaned it really well.

He said he thinks it's a trauma injury. Looking at it now, even after he messed with it it looks less swollen than even last night. He will be taking the stitch on her belly out in 10 days and if the toe is still swollen he will xray and then biopsy.