When would you decide toe injury healed?

[Pippin's person]

One of our dogs injured his toe a little over three weeks ago. We consulted a homeopathic vet and also a vet tech friend of ours about it. The vet tech examined the toe. Both suggested either a soft tissue injury or a broken toe and noted that the treatment would be the same for both. Because of this, we did not have the leg X-rayed (this dog is not a happy camper going to the vet, so we made a calculated decision about this). Our homeopathic vet said that once he wasn't limping on it anymore, he would be good to go.

 

We treated with arnica and ice and kept him pretty strictly crated for 1 1/2 weeks with only short leash walks (he was most unimpressed). Once he wasn't limping during those brief periods, we slowly started to increase his activity level--longer walks, going outside unleashed, going outside with the other dogs, etc.

 

During the last week, he has lifted the paw twice and limped briefly following activity (for approximately the length of our hallway)--once while catching a gently tossed ball and once after scrabbling down the hall to go outside. The scrabble was two days ago and there's been no limping of any kind since (though there have been a couple instances of scrabbling). Today, I played a brief round of fetch with him to see how he'd do--gently tossed ball requiring no quick turns or anything like that. He was fine and no paw lifting or limping.

 

Because of the intermittent limping, I was planning to wait another week before letting him work stock again. Then, assuming he hasn't lifted the paw or limped, take him out for a short, easy session (that would be just over 4 weeks post injury and 1 1/2 weeks of no discernible effect of the injury) and resume our regular 3x a week work after that if everything is fine.

 

Does that seem reasonably safe or would you wait longer to put him back on stock (This is the first leg injury we've dealt with in one of the dogs we work)?

[Laurae]

I think your plan sounds like a good one, Robin, but I'd limit Ky's first time out again to maybe 10 minutes so you can see whether anything flares up post-session (in case he's too focused/stoic to show he's in any pain while he's working).

 

I hope he feels 100% soon!

[MrSnappy]

If it were me, I'd have the foot xrayed anyway, and I say this only because Tweed went through the maybe-it's-a-broken-toe, maybe-it's-a-dislocated-toe, maybe-it's-a-soft-tissue-injury etc thing with intermittent limping, rotating crate rest, mystery come-and-go limping for two years before my newest vet identified it for what it was - damage to the sesamoids in his foot. Sometimes he'd be out of commission for days or weeks and then long stretches would go by where he'd be fine, but it always returned. Anyway, if my previous vets had been familiar with this problem and knew what to look for, we would have cleared it up a lot earlier and saved him a lot of pain.

 

I guess if he goes back to limping, I'd get the foot xrayed, but make sure you have a vet who knows how to look for something beyond the obvious. I had two other vets xrays Tweed's foot and they saw nothing amiss, but my vet identified the problem without xrays - they just confirmed what he suspected.

 

RDM

[njnovice]

I think your plan sounds like a good one, Robin, but I'd limit Ky's first time out again to maybe 10 minutes so you can see whether anything flares up post-session (in case he's too focused/stoic to show he's in any pain while he's working).

 

I hope he feels 100% soon!

 

I agree with your plan. I know Mick is of the very stoic sort when it comes to injuries. Unless he's at the vet, then whatever injury he was pretending did not exist, despite the fact it was breeding profusely/whatever, he suddenly becomes a giant baby and it involves four people holding him down to take care of whatever absurd thing he did to his paw.

 

Fortunately, his first year of the "$1000 paws" is over. Mostly due to a vet showing me how to wrap him up, and being stockpiled on antibiotics in case I suspect an infection. It's amazing how a dog that can work through so much pain can turn into such a flaming wimp the second he enters an exam room.

[DebnKirk]

I'd also have a test for tick-borne diseases. I had an intermittent limper, and after 3 x-rays it turned out she was positive for Lyme.