LaurenD

I have a very athletic male - he doesn't run, he flies! Two months ago he seriously injured his foot on a bad landing. After two sets of x-rays, it was found that he had shattered an interior bone structure in his foot, It was the bone structure that is connected to the front dew claw. Unlike the back, where the dew claw is just an appendage - the front has a bone structure. This was shattered into three pieces. After having it checked by an orthopedic surgeon, we had the bone removed. Three days after the surgery, while changing the dressings, we found some infection in the incision and changed the antibiotics. In ten days it appeared to be well healed but he still would not walk on it. We had digital x-rays done and found a small pocket of infection, higher up on his leg. He was given another course of antibiotics and after ten days it appeared to be fine and he was beginning to use his leg more and more. He still, will not place his weight fully on his front leg. It brings tears to my eyes to think that he will never walk properly again. Has anyone had any experience with a similar paw injury? I keep hoping that it is just a matter of time and more healing to get to a full recovery.

periece with

twiglet

Yes I certainly have and have hope it can get better. Five months ago my Newfoundland whilst I was grooming him I noticed he had a start of what looked like an abscess between his toes on his back foot. we think a grass seed went in his paw.Up the vets I went,antibiotics were given.That day he went very lame and he got worse.He is eleven stone and cannot walk on three legs.Phoned the vet and they said pills should work soon . They did not work and he was in a lot of pain so we took him back up the vets .Next day he had an operation to find grass seed but no grass seed just a vast amount of poison and infection in his leg they drained, and more antibiotics.His leg was huge thre times its normal size, we were very worried.It started to go down for a few days and he could walk on it but a few days later it was swelling again so back up the vets.He had just above his paw a wound where all was weeping and a lot of puss kept coming out continuously.He had another operation to find again the foreign body the vet said must still be in there but was not found again so different antibiotics were given.These did not help either and by this time he was getting poorly,he is only six and we were very worried. My vet also was worried and he referred us to a speciaist who would do a MRI scan to see where the foreign body in his leg was. This was quite a journey from us but he was a specialist in this field.They scanned him and showed us the results ,no foreign body but found all rotten tissue infected with Ecoli.Ther was a big risk they would have to amputate his foot to get rid of total infection and we were devastated as he could not live on three legs.So they took all the infected tissue out that they could without amputation and appropriate antibiotics. It was a big operation and he stayed in hospital for a week.That was a month ago and now he is wonderfully back to his normal self. Twiglet and him are back on their daily walks together and are loving it so please don't give up hope .Love Jayne

fjm

It is possible that he has learned to avoid putting weight on that leg, partly because of the pain, and partly because of the sympathy. My mother's miniature poodle limped all one summer holiday, while my sister cuddled and carried and coddled her. The vet could find nothing wrong, and eventually my mother came home from holiday, my sister went back to college, and the dog made a sudden recovery. Come the Christmas holidays when my sister came home once more, back came the limp - but on the wrong leg!

Your boy has obviously been through a much more genuinely painful experience, of course. Does pain relief make any difference to his walking? Dogs have amazing powers of recovery - I do hope he follows Twiglet's inspiring example.

__________________

To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing was not boring- it was peace.

~ Milan Kundera

LaurenD

This boy weighs close to sixty pounds and is packed with muscle. He does not appear to feel any pain. I might add that he isn't quick to show pain either. He has improved immensely over the past week. To relieve his boredom - he is getting tired of being told to take life easy - I gave him a very large bone and he is actually beginning to try and "hold" it with his injured paw. I massage his foot and leg several times a day and there is no evidence that touching it causes him any discomfort. All of the swelling seems to have gone down. He does, however, only put his foot on the floor about every fourth step. We keep thinking there has to be something we are missing. I'm hoping it is only time!

twiglet

The other thing it could be with your poodle is stiffness in his leg after his operation. Hank my Newfie came home walking fine on his leg after his operation but then went downhill for a few days. We were really worried at the time, he did not want to walk or move. and seemed very depressed. This happened after his stitches were taken out. We were not to take him out for a walk for three weeks after his op but when he went downhill we decided to go in the car to the woods ,he was on his lead and we just let him have a little walk round.This was just over two weeks after his op , the next day another little walk.His spirits lifted and his stiffness in his leg went completely.