Sadie's Toe Woes

It has been a while since Sadie has had any issues with her toes.  If you have followed me for very long, you know we have had our fair share of toe woes.

 

It all started Tuesday when I caught Sadie chewing and licking on her foot.  I checked the foot over and the only thing I could find was a tiny cut on the pad of the outside toe.  She continued to lick though.  I noticed a slight swelling of the inside right toe at the knuckle, but nothing really too bad.  She was walking on it, but when she stopped, she would hold the foot up for a bit.

 

By evening, of course after the vet closed, the foot had started to swell and she was basically a tripod.  It was a very long night with neither one of us getting much sleep.  By morning, you could see some bruising on each side of the toe.

We arrived at the vet as soon as they opened.  I love that my vet doesn't have appointments and you can just go in at any time.  Doc gave her the once over and decided it was either a soft tissue injury or a bite/sting of some sort.  Whatever it was, was already infected as she was running a temp and the entire foot was hot.  Of course, me being the paranoid greyhound owner that I am, I insisted on an x-ray of the foot.  I was already in full panic mode when she started limping.  I was really a mess when she got to the point that she wouldn't use the leg at all!  My vet gave in to my crazy thoughts and did an x-ray.  Toe was normal.  As always, they bring the laptop out to show me so I can see it with my own two eyes.  We leave there with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds. 

By the time we got home, the foot was really swollen.  In a matter of 30 minutes it had swollen so much that I was worried it would actually pop open.  Upon further inspection, I noticed a blistery area.  I was pretty concerned, enough to call them back pretty quickly.  Doc said it was most likely the infection "festering" and it may even bust open drain.  He said, it might even relieve some of the pain it if did open up.  Well, of course, it did start draining.  So I tried an ice pack, a soak in Epsom Salts, both of which she hated.  I also tried applying Chamomile tea, as suggested by a friend. 

 

In less than 24 hours on meds, Sadie was at least walking on the foot again.  She has continued to make good progress while the toe is still swollen, and is acting like her crazy old self again.  Big sigh of relief here!  She can't be feeling bad, we are leaving for Florida in 12 days!

Didn't want to leave Bowser out, but his situation was a bit more embarrassing!  Now the day before Sadie and her toe woes, Bowser was at the vet.  I had noticed him licking a certain area under his tail.  A lot.  I had also noticed a little blood tinged liquid coming from said area.  I knew something was up and by the look in this picture, Bowser knew something was up too!  This visit we had one of the lady vets, good thing, as she has smaller hands and fingers!

Bowser got the dreaded anal exam only to find his gland were full and infected!  He was such a trooper though and once again they were surprised how stoic greyhounds can be.  You'd think they know that by now as many times as we've been in there with our issues.  It wasn't quite the way Bowser had envisioned spending his birthday, but he is feeling better now.