Help for hurt doggie!

Parent Cafe
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<p>Here is the deal:</p>

<p>My very active border collie/aussie mix dog, Reese, suddenly began limping on her left rear foot last Saturday morning. She is primarily an “inside” dog but had just gone out to do her “thing”, but she did not seem to be stung or bitten or anything. Her foot began swelling and the vet thought, from the exam and how tender it seemed to be, that she must have broken a bone. X-rays, however, were negative. No sign of bite or puncture wounds or stings. No fever, and she is eating/drinking fine.</p>

<p>Now today her foot is even more swollen. What would be her left inside “toe” is VERY swollen and hot. I took her to the doc again…x-rays still negative for breaks and the joints appear clear. She shaved the area to search again for bites, stings, something embedded in the pad, etc and found nothing. She punctured the swollen area to make sure it was not infected and only got blood. </p>

<p>Reese has been on anti-inflammatory meds since Saturday and the doc added some pain medicine as needed because this dog is used to being active and is not very good at being “still”. It hurts at times so much that she can’t even rest it when lying down. The vet also suggested ice or cold packs, but Reese will barely let me touch her foot, much less apply cold.</p>

<p>The vet is stumped and plans to seek other opinions and I thought I would go to my own panel of “experts” for clues… Otherwise, since she appears to not be “sick”, we will just wait and see…</p>

<p>Help!</p>

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<p>I am sure you have checked all her nals and such, my female dogs was limping and her foot was swollen, she had cracked her nail and it wasn’t obvious at all unless you fiddled with it</p>

<p>do you have foxtails around?</p>

<p>my dog got bit by a wasp and he swelled up like fat elvis, we only knew it was a wasp because we saw it on his face</p>

<p>the vet gave him a steroid shoot</p>

<p>same dog broke a tiny bone in his foot and had to be casted for 6 weeks</p>

<p>sounds like a bite to me</p>

<p>apply wet and not freezing cold at first and build up, the shock of the cold immediately startles the dog, so work toward the ice pack</p>

<p>good luck I am sure if she is still eating etc, she will be fine</p>

<p>something that helps is to massage the dog gently in the NON hurt area, as they can pull muscle, etc compensating for the hurt area, ie putting extra weight on other legs</p>

<p>again, I am going to guess if its not a break and its swollen its a bite, it could be in the nail bed, or under the nail if she stepped on the insect</p>

<p>ask about a steroid shot, my dog was allergic to wasps, and that is why he was so swollen, and the swelling was hard</p>

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<p>I’m wondering if that paw has a thorn or a piece of glass or something in it. But I would think that the vet would have seen that. Poor thing.</p>

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<p>I don’t know what it could be but, I just wanted to say how sorry I am that your dog isn’t well. I know when my dogs are hurt it is just so sad, scary and upsetting. I empathize with you and hope your pup is well soon. Sending you and your pup cyber hugs ((((((hugs))))))</p>

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<p>I am not a vet, but inflammation and hot tells me infection. Why wouldn’t your dog be on an antibiotic? If an infection in a human foot is allowed to spread long enough, one could potentially lose a limb. I would imagine the same holds true for a dog. Maybe you want a second opinion. I hope that Reese gets better soon!</p>

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<p>Thanks to everyone who replied so far!</p>

<p>CGM, yes, the vet checked her nails and they seem fine and intact. She (the vet) also did check very carefully for anything imbedded in her paw and found nothing. Thanks for the wet, then gradually moving up to cold idea. I will give that a try, though Reese really hates us to even look closely at that foot.</p>

<p>Northeastmom, I asked about the antibiotic thing as well in view of how hot the affected area is, and the vet pointed out that as long as she is eating and drinking and “eliminating” without problems (and she is), there is probably no infection. If there was, she would most likely feel bad altogether. </p>

<p>Again, thanks for everyone’s input. Sympathetic ears help a lot!</p>

<p>We will continue keeping a close eye on Reesie and if there is no change in a couple of days I imagine we will go back. And our vet is seeking other opinions…this is driving her crazy as well. She has called here a couple of times to check on Reese and said she would call again tomorrow (after checking with some “specialists” to solicit their input).</p>

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<p>I know a lot of very athletic dogs (since I compete in dog agility), and what you are describing is a sprained something… possibly just a toe. Border collies and aussies are notorious for being oblivious to hurting themselves, then keeping going until it’s impossible to go on. Ice is a great idea, but if the dog won’t tolerate it, very difficult to implement. If it were my dog, I’d go with a few days crate rest, walks only on leash (perhaps with a gentle leader to keep things very slow), and some anti-inflammatories, such as Rimadyl. (In fact, that’s exactly what I did do when my puppy came up with a mysterious limp a few months ago… which only lasted two days. Never did figure it out. No swelling, though.)</p>

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<p>Sorry to hear about your hurt pup. When our (late) dog had a somewhat similar issue, it turned out to be an allergy to something. He had swelling but it was more itching than tenderness. Any change in lawn care products or diet?</p>

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<p>“Northeastmom, I asked about the antibiotic thing as well in view of how hot the affected area is, and the vet pointed out that as long as she is eating and drinking and “eliminating” without problems (and she is), there is probably no infection. If there was, she would most likely feel bad altogether.”</p>

<p>I’m not a vet either, but as a lay person, I know in humans this is not necessarily true when there’s an infection. I’m sure many of us/our kids have had infections in a finger, foot, etc. and it hasn’t affected our eating, drinking or “eliminating”. I don’t see what harm it could do to put Reese on antibiotics, especially since the vet has no other clear cut cause for the problem.</p>

<p>I hope he’s feeling better soon…</p>

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<p>It does sound strange. I’m thinking dmd has the right idea – a sprained something – wouldn’t show up as an external injury or on an x-ray, but would hurt like hades.</p>

<p>My first thought was Lyme – but usually dogs with Lyme act sick as well as broken. And I don’t think you are in a Lyme area?</p>

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<p>dmd77:</p>

<p>I am so glad you chimed in! The doc did say it could well be a sprain or strain and the behavior you describe is my Reese to a “t”. She will push herself beyond the pain and then not be able to bear weight at all. I will try to be more strict about the rest thing and hopefully she will improve. She is already on the anti-inflammatory you mentioned. </p>

<p>Also, I am really interested in getting her involved in agility training (when we get through this, of course!). We have been going to some more advanced training to get her off-leash, but I have no idea where to begin with agility (except what I have read).</p>

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<p>Just tossing this out to ask the vet since more obvious causes seem negative-
do dogs get gout or pseudo gout? How about Lyme?</p>

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<p>It did actually occur to me to ask about “gout”! Alas, I did not.</p>

<p>There has been no diet change or lawn chem change recently…</p>

<p>I guess as long as her general health seems okay, I am not going to worry too much…just make sure her foot does not worsen and TRY to keep her calm (not an easy task with a bc!)…I miss my walking buddy!!!</p>

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<p>Thorns do not show up on X-rays!!!</p>

<p>We learned this the HARD way with our youngest son when he was 9. Got a puncture wound in his shin, and his whole leg swelled up like a balloon and turned purple. They gave him giant horse shots of antibiotics for a week, which did NOTHING (they didn’t know what it was for that long!), and then finally did surgery to excise and pack the wound.</p>

<p>Organic matter is not visible!</p>

<p>Son told me later that he had taken an inch long (according to him) piece of thorn out of his leg and didn’t tell me because he was out in the woods with his brother and didn’t want to get into trouble.</p>

<p>Your dog could have a piece of plant material, or could have HAD a piece of organic material, in his foot, which caused an infection.</p>

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<p>doubleplay, how scary for your son! The vet did shave her foot closely in order to see and then palpate the area to try to feel for anything that might be stuck in her foot, but found nothing. And, again, she does not feel like there is an infection (no fever, generally feeling okay, etc). I appreciate her not prescribing the antibiotics precipitously, though we will keep a close eye on!</p>

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<p>Dogs need agility training? Can’t they already chase their own tails? I would have a hard time “competing” with that. :)</p>

<p>Sorry your dog is hurt. I don’t really have much to add, but I’ve heard that recently in people they’ve seen bad staph infections with no apparent puncture wounds. A young girl (14) in Louisiana died a couple of years ago from a community acquired staph infection (that is, she didn’t get it in a hospital). Her only early symptom was pain in her shoulder.</p>

<p>I hope this isn’t it, and it’s just a sprain, but thought I should mention.</p>

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<p>Hi churchmusicmom,
Sounds as if your vet is being quite thorough and even checking in with you periodically. Just wanted to add my best wishes for a speedy recovery for your pup. It’s so difficult when they can’t tell us what is wrong! :(</p>

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<p>Thanks, conyat! We will watch out for that!</p>

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<p>foxtails have been know to move into the paw of a dog and cause an infection and are not on an exray, do you have any around you</p>

<p>we have them and we check their paws</p>

<p>thet are reallly pointy then have a fan like effect in the back so they fo in but not out</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29569.asp[/url]”>http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29569.asp&lt;/a&gt;
The seeds of the drying or dried grasses detach from the plant and stick to a person’s clothes or an animal’s hair. They can easily become lodged between a dogs toes, in it’s ears, and in it’s eyes. Since the seeds are barbed like a fish hook, they can be very difficult to remove. Once embedded, foxtail seeds cause severe infections and abcesses.</p>

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<p>Nope, none of those around here. </p>

<p>I did, however, achieve some success with the cold cloth idea. I got my pup nice and relaxed on the floor by me and draped a cold damp towel (dipped in ice water and then wrung out) over her foot. She looked pretty annoyed with me but tolerated it.</p>