urgent help / advice needed for my dog

[old real tree 92]

hi guys im looking for some advice on my dogs toe / foot...

 

about 12 weeks ago i took her for her daily run over a local football field where a throw a ball for her, i threw it about 6 times and on the 7th she ran for it and went to pick it up and yelped and picked her front lefy foot up, she then limped towards me so i had a look at it and took her home, next day she seemed fine, so off we go for a walk, everything was fine till she done the same thing again with the ball

 

off we go to the vets they checked it out and x rayed it and said its 100% not broken, so they said give it time to heal. i didnt run her for about 6 weeks and took it easy on walks, so after the rest period i thought i would see if she was ok so i took her lamping,

she ran the first rabbit fine and the second but on the third she done exactly the same as with the ball,

and every time a have taken her out she has done the same.

there is a lump on her toe, not that big but looks bigger than the rest of her nuckles,

 

can anyone tell me whats going on as i think the vets are a waste of time on this issue...

 

will post some pics as soon as i can,,

 

thanks guys.....

[old real tree 92]

more pics

[higgins 75]

This is something that won't show in xrays,it's either due to a ligament or muscle injury,i'm not an expert in these matters,my advice would be to find your nearest greyhound trainer and let him have a look,hope the dog heals right,

higgins

[old real tree 92]

thanks, do anyone know where i can find such a serson... im willing to travel....

 

thanks

[higgins 75]

thanks, do anyone know where i can find such a serson... im willing to travel....

 

thanks

Your nearest greyhound or whippet racing track is the one to look for,good luck

Higgins

[poacher3161 1,766]

Looking at it i would say it looks fractured and has calloused over but if nothing showed up on the xray i would guess infection on the joint i know some of whippet raceing lads use a product called bone radium for such injuries and swear by it.atb

[ALLAN FOREST 0]

Not sure the age of the dog but it could be arthiritus setting in from an old unnoticed injury.Hope everything turns out fine and the dog makes a full recovery.

[skycat 6,174]

What you've got is a toe which was dislocated and its severely damaged the ligaments which hold the joint in place. So now you have an unstable joint: imagine the ligaments are like a load of wires which attach the toe bones together in the right place. When a toe impacts on something hard, for example, the wires (ligaments) can snap or stretch so now the bones ain't stablised in the right place any more. Each time the dog runs the bones grate against eachother and cause inflammation and pain. Result: early onset arthritis.

 

Given time there might be enough scar tissue to hold it all in place again, but it will always be a big lump and the toe joint won't flex like it should, so risks further damage if the dog hits a rock or something. With that much swelling the only option is to have the toe taken off, but do get the dog to a good greyhound vet who will tell you all your options. Mean time, get some Bone Radiol and apply every other day: this will help to bring blood to the area and hopefully more healing. Good luck.

[old real tree 92]

sound advice.. thanks....

[sandymere 8,263]

Knocked up toe is the colloquial term, its not uncommon, my bitch has the same, with luck and a little rest it shouldn’t be a problem on soft ground. I run mine all winter with minimal probs but five minutes on hard summer ground and it will play up.

 

from a post back along.

 

Arthritis the inevitable cost of work?

 

When we think of arthritis in working dogs in the main we mean osteoarthritis and it’s often thought that it is the inevitable result of being a working dog. There is a second type known as rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease, but thankfully in dogs the incidence of this type is relatively low as it’s a very different kettle of fish that needs proper diagnosis and ongoing treatment from a vet so we will concentrate on osteoarthritis. Generally when we talk of osteoarthritis we mean the aches and pains that come with age, that creaking knee or dodgy shoulder, and our dogs are as prone to this as we are. Traditionally it was thought that general wear and tear were causative and the more you did the more damage you got. Recent research in both dogs and people suggest this is not the case and normal joint use does not necessarily contribute, in fact human runners are likely to have less joint pain in later life than their sedentary counterparts and a group of dogs exercised on a treadmill with weighted packs were found to have no more joint damage than those just left to wander around a paddock un-weighted. Today it’s generally accepted that exercise is likely to be beneficial to joint and general health so why do our dogs get increasing incidence of chronic niggles and lameness as they age? Megan, the older of my two lurchers has a couple of, what I would describe, as weak points but in both cases it was not exercise that was the root case but injury. She has a knocked up toe with occasional lameness in that foot and a hip injury that shows itself if she consecutive hard nights lamping, both the affected joints show changes that would be labeled osteoarthritis. In the perfect world we’d have more the exercise but not the trauma with the result; super fit super healthy dogs, alas reality has other ideas.

 

In the real world our dogs, as workers, are fitter than most which defiantly reduces the incidence of many health problems but the nature of the work they undertake increases the risk of injury which then leads to trouble later on. Twisting and turning at high speed on uneven ground is enough to case minor strains which can then lead these types of oesteoarthritic changes. How we manage the problem is the key to good long term outcomes as good management can reduce the extent of the chronic structural changes that result from the initial acute injury. Megan’s toe is a classic example, she went lame running across Dartmoor, and most likely it was just bad luck, hitting a rock at the wrong angle that pushed the joint outside of its achievable range. Even in the middle of nowhere there are things you can do with this type of injury, once the problem had been isolated, getting the foot in a cold stream gave relief plus slowed and reduced swelling and the inflammatory process. Over the next couple of days it was rest and anti-inflammatories followed by a few weeks of gentle exercise and massage. I was lucky in that it was early summer so there was no time pressure on recovery and in truth she has had little in the way of problems, the only time she goes lame is if she runs on the hard ground of summer, the softer winter ground seems fine. Her hip is an example of a less positive outcome where a chronic problem has recurrent acute episodes. It started when another lurcher latched on to her thigh as she ran past; this caused an overextension of the joint and surrounding tissues. On x-ray the hip looked ok but the supporting tissues had suffered marked trauma which lead to the formation of scar tissue and reduced mobility over the longer period. It happened on the beach so a dip in the sea gave good immediate cooling then to the vets for an x-ray as the hip was very swollen and painful. Initially the bony structure showed as undamaged but the soft tissue had suffered and in spite of extensive treatment scar tissue formed around the hip which has weakened the area to a marked degree. The early intervention followed by anti-inflammatories, massage, joint mobilization, rest etc has meant that she can still work but there is and will increasingly be a tendency to suffer pain around the joint. In both cases cold water was the first line of defense, it could have been an ice pack if available, followed by a thorough program of rehabilitation. It wasn’t a cure but it minimized the damage to allow a comfortable productive career to continue.

 

There is no real cure to osteoarthritis and no real way of completely avoiding the injuries that precede it but appropriate intervention and ongoing awareness of their presence is central to allowing our dogs to maintain wellbeing beyond the first few years of working life and into old age. There is a plethora of over the counter treatments available, I’ve even heard diet mentioned, but in truth common sense is key. A fit dog worked in a sensible way, fed an appropriate balance of protein, fat and carbohydrate either as a commercial food or home prepared, will be well set to recover from the knocks and bangs of working life. Our role then is to watch out for those early niggles and treat them before they become longer term problems, early intervention and time for recovery are our the best treatments. Lastly if in doubt then get the advice of a vet at the earliest opportunity.

 

Regards Sandymere.

Edited June 14, 2010 by sandymere

[old real tree 92]

great advice,,,

 

got an appointment with a greyhound vet in cardiff on thursday. will keep you posted......