# Sore on toe and e-collar question



## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

*Sore on toe and e-collar question (pics added)*

Molson has had a sore on the top/side of his front 'pinky' toe for about 2 weeks. It appears like he scraped it when he was running, and now it has begun to scab over. Hard to say because it is hidden beneath some fur, but it's about 3/8" in size, and located right above/beside the nail.

It hasn't gotten any worse than it was initially, but hasn't gotten much better. Another one showed up 2 or 3 days ago on the outside of a back paw. Same place, slightly above/beside the nail.

I've been putting polysporin on them twice a day for the past week, and prior to that I was using this anti-inflammatory (Advil-like) spray that thet vet had given us a few months ago for something similar. The sores don't seem to bother Molson when we touch them, but as soon as I put any medication on it, he pulls his paws away and spends the next 15 minutes trying to lick it off (I try to stop him but he still gets at it). 

I have already tried putting his boot on but he just pulls it off, and likewise, a sock or bandage would not work. Bitter apple spray doesn't stop him either.

I'm thinking of trying an e-collar to stop him from licking them for a couple of days and give the ointments time to get absorbed and take action. 

We have never used an e-collar before... I am concerned about leaving the e-collar on while I'm at work, are there any dangers with that? What about if I went with an inflatable one instead, is one safer than the other?

Also, do you think that this would help the sores?

ETA:
Here are some pics I took tonight. The first one is the back paw and the 2nd one is the front paw, although it's really hard to get a good picture because it's under the fur.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

It actually sounds a little like he has itchy feet and give himself a hot spot. If that's the case, I wonder what might be causing it.


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

tippykayak said:


> It actually sounds a little like he has itchy feet and give himself a hot spot. If that's the case, I wonder what might be causing it.


I thought of hot spots too, but the sore on the front paw isn't moist which made me think otherwise. I'm thinking that the one on his back paw might actually look a little more like a hot spot. Should I try using some listerine?

He had itchy feet for a while and he would chew at the fur underneath/between his pads, but I keep that fur short now and recently switched him to Eukanuba (we're halfway through the first 30lb bag) and he stopped the chewing thing, he's just into licking now. 

Previously he was eating Nature's Harvest Grain-Free.


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## Augustus McCrae's Mom (Aug 14, 2007)

I was thinking hot spot too, but maybe not. I don't think an inflatable collar would keep him from licking his front paws. He can probably still reach those. I've wondered about leaving a dog in the crate with a big plastic e-collar on, but have so far decided against it. Gus has a hot spot on the side of his face , and today's the first day he's been left on his own with it. I'll be curious to see how it looks when I get home this evening. I've been loading him up on Benadryl and tried the Listerene for a little while, but it didn't seem to stop the itching. I finally put some Cortizone cream on it, and that seems to have helped the most.


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## Payton (Jan 23, 2009)

Mine would lick their feet with allergies.. Once mine also had a yeast infections on the feet from the moisture from licking, we used a spray once they realized it was yeast related and it cleared up.
Are you getting a correct diagnosis from your vet? Maybe he needs an oral antibiotic that can clear it up.. 
Has he had skin scraping to know what your up against for proper treatment?

I have used antihistimines but with the proper doses from an veterinarian allergist on my dogs. 

Just a thought, I know how frustrating this can be.


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

I added some pics to the original post.

Any thoughts on making him wear an e-collar when we aren't home to supervise?


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

Payton said:


> Mine would lick their feet with allergies.. Once mine also had a yeast infections on the feet from the moisture from licking, we used a spray once they realized it was yeast related and it cleared up.
> Are you getting a correct diagnosis from your vet? Maybe he needs an oral antibiotic that can clear it up..
> Has he had skin scraping to know what your up against for proper treatment?
> 
> ...


No we have not been to the vet for this yet. Since it's not getting worse, I'm going to see if it can clear up over the next few days, and if not then I will take him in. Regarding the itchy feet in the past, both our old and new vets said that it was unlikely to be allergies because there were no other symptoms and he was on a relatively basic food.


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## Belle's Mom (Jan 24, 2007)

In the one pic it looks like the hair is gone - is it or is it just wet from licking?


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## Merlins mom (Jun 20, 2007)

A couple of months ago, Merlin had a similar spot on the top of his pinky toe at the nail bed! I used Gentocin spray on it 3 times a day, but I think what helped just as much was shaving the fur on that toe so it could get some air. 

The vet found it was bacterial. I think Merl picked it up at a lake we went to that had a very muddy bottom. Anyway, it healed up after about a week. 

Poor Molson!! Hope he feels better!


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## Belle's Mom (Jan 24, 2007)

It is rare.....but I am concerned about Demodex.


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## Merlins mom (Jun 20, 2007)

esSJay said:


> No we have not been to the vet for this yet. Since it's not getting worse, I'm going to see if it can clear up over the next few days, and if not then I will take him in. Regarding the itchy feet in the past, both our old and new vets said that it was unlikely to be allergies because there were no other symptoms and he was on a relatively basic food.


I waited about a week before I went to the vet. He didn't do a scraping, but he did employ some state of the art testing....a strip of scotch tape!  And just told me to up the gentocin to 3 times a day.


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

Belle's Mom said:


> In the one pic it looks like the hair is gone - is it or is it just wet from licking?


You're right that the sore on his back paw has almost no hair.


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

Merlins mom said:


> I waited about a week before I went to the vet. He didn't do a scraping, but he did employ some state of the art testing....a strip of scotch tape!  And just told me to up the gentocin to 3 times a day.


Interesting! lol Did you have any problems with Merlin licking the spray off?


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## Heidi36oh (Feb 27, 2007)

I would try some Gold Bond Powder, cut the hair away a little and use the Gold Bond..it seems to work wonders on hot spots, dries them out really quick also good on any other sores.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

I actually would have the vet look at those and do a skin scraping to make sure it is not demodex or a bacterial infection.


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## Belle's Mom (Jan 24, 2007)

I recommend the skin scrape also. 

We had a very similar sore and thought it was a hot spot and self treated for a few weeks. Kept getting worse. Went to the vet they thought it was a hot spot and we treated with Gentamicin for a few weeks and it kept getting worse.

If you look at my thread titled "Sore on Foot - Update and opinions wanted" (sorry don't know how to do the thread link) this is what it ended up looking like about 1 1/2 months into it when the scrape was finally done and she was diagnosed with Demodex. 

I am not saying this is what it is, but with the lack of hair I am concerned and think it is worth checking out.


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## mm03gn (Sep 24, 2008)

When Bailey had her skin infection, the vet gave us Fuciderm gel and we still have pretty much the full tube. It seems to be just a general topical antibiotic...look it up and if you feel that it might help him, you can borrow the tube for a while


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## Merlins mom (Jun 20, 2007)

esSJay said:


> Interesting! lol Did you have any problems with Merlin licking the spray off?


A couple of times, but I stayed nearby until it dried up. 

For some reason my vet doesn't like to take scrapings. It's always a last resort.


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

Well last night I got paranoid after Google Image searching Dermodex :no: (I know it's always the most extreme pictures that show up) so I made an appointment with Dr. Z (our vet) for tomorrow afternoon. 

We leave for vacation on Saturday so this way I will have some peace of mind while we're gone. Molson will be at "Camp Skoker" (my mom's house) and my mama is a nurse so she can apply her magic touch on his paws! 

I'll be sure to update when I get the verdict!


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## Belle's Mom (Jan 24, 2007)

I am so sorry as I did not mean to scare you when I mentioned it.....and I debated it mentioning it, but on the off chance that is it I wanted to use my experience to help so you did not go thru what we did which was months of experimenting before getting a diagnosis.

The internet pics are terrible.....when I looked it terrified me also when she was diagnosed. 

I will say the toughest part was trying to figure out what was wrong, once we learned it was demodex it got much easier as we just did the medicine and got better.

I hope and pray that is not it, but if that is it my personal experience is that it is treatable and you move on - done deal.


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

Belle's Mom said:


> I am so sorry as I did not mean to scare you when I mentioned it.....and I debated it mentioning it, but on the off chance that is it I wanted to use my experience to help so you did not go thru what we did which was months of experimenting before getting a diagnosis.
> 
> The internet pics are terrible.....when I looked it terrified me also when she was diagnosed.
> 
> ...


Don't feel bad! What concerns me more is that I won't be here next week and I don't want my mom to have to hum and haw about taking him to the vet for me if it does get any worse. It's good that I'm learning about different problems so I don't just assume that anything is 'just' a scrape or anything... better leave it to the experts to diagnose!  

But while on the topic of Demodex, a few questions: what kind of treatment did your vet give you? And how long did it take to clear up? Can you see the mites without a microscope and what colour were they?


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## Mad's Mom (Oct 28, 2008)

Hi Steph,

Sorry about Molson's. Just wanted to say Mad had dermodex when she was about 11 months old. One small spot on her face, didn't spread. We got a cleanser (I'm heading out but will see if I can find the name when I get home) to spot wash it, and a condition to put on after so the skin didn't dry out too much. I think we cleansed it for a couple of weeks, and then it took a few more weeks for the hair to grow back completely.

Can't see the mites by eye, but they did show them to me with the microscope after the scraping and I must say they were very ugly.

Hope the vet gives some answers and a quick solution.
Cindy


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## Belle's Mom (Jan 24, 2007)

OK - here is more info than you probably ever wanted, but here is what we were told....

The mites cannot be seen without a microscope hence our vet scraped the skin (sometimes until it bled a tiny bit to make sure to get enough scraped to see the mites if they were there) and put the scraping on a slide and looked at it under a microscope. I personally did not see them, but the vet compared them to little alligators.....so we told Belle she had alligators on her toe and we had to give her meds to get rid of the alligators. From what we were told all dogs have a few demodex, but some times in puppies or dogs with a compromised immune system their fragile systems will let the demodex take over in one area and then you see the hair loss, etc as that is what Demodex eat - hair.

The vet originally gave us Goodwinol Ointment to try for a few days and see if it helped. She said after day 3 when we did not see any hair growth that she did not think it was going to work and we needed to bring Belle in for the Amitraz dips. They only dipped her foot, not the whole body. We did this about every 2 weeks for a few months - then they rescraped every so often to see if they were gone, etc. I will say with the dips we never really seemed to fully get ahead of the mites and get rid of them in that area. Long story and not for this reason, but we ended up switching vets before the treatment was done. The vet we moved to did not like the dip method and preferred treating with Ivomec. He said it would take about 2 months to get rid of them with the Ivomec which was about right. The Ivomec is bitter to the taste (no I did not try it....granted I would have as I give her nothing I would not eat, but the vet told us this was bitter) so we always kept treats ready after the med. Belle also did better with the Ivomec when given it with a meal.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions and please keep me posted.



Jennifer


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

Thanks for the info, Cindy & Jennifer. I read on the internet about the dips and it being sort of harmful to their liver... I hope that if it is Demodex, our vet goes with the Ivomec instead. Is it contagious to other dogs or humans? I wonder if I should be washing his bed and our sheets and such.

The more I read and hear about it, the more I'm convinced that this is what it is. When I got home from work tonight it seemed to be much worse than it was this morning (larger area, more inflamed, gooier and has about half the amount of fur that was there last night), and I'm thankful that I have the vet appt for tomorrow aft. I'll be sure to update you tomorrow! 



Here are some more pictures from an hour ago. 

Oh, and FYI this is the back paw. The front paw's problem looks nothing like this at all, and its condition has not gotten worse or better.


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## Belle's Mom (Jan 24, 2007)

Belle's was on the back foot, outside toe. 

I do not think it is contagious to humans. I do not think it is contagious to other dogs as all dogs have some and it just depends on the immune system if it takes over an area or not, but I am not 100% sure on this one so be sure to ask your vet.


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## Mad's Mom (Oct 28, 2008)

Hi Steph,

Mad's spot of demodex never looked inflamed or gooey, just stayed as a dry, scaley bald patch. But then her's was on the face so she couldn't lick it, and in fact didn't seem to be aware that it was there. Cleanser/shampoo we used was Pyoben, a benzoyl peroxide medicated shampoo, don't know what I did with the conditioner so I can't find the name of that.

My former vet (former for a completely different issue) said their practice never use the dips except as a last resort for demodex that is no longer localized. One of the clinic's owners happens to have a specialty in dermatology. 

Yes, little alligators is a good description of what they look like under the microscope. Good luck today, and let us know.

Hugs to handsome Molson.

Cindy


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

*Update*

Well we just got home from the vet and the good news is that it's not Demodex! And the bad news is that they shaved his toe fur! lol The diagnosis is actually an infected nail bed for the hind paw. The scab from the front paw has disappeared and it looks to be fine, just stained fur from him licking it. *sigh of relief* . I asked why the hair was falling out on his toe and she said that his toe is pretty swollen and that tends to happen often. 

Dr. Goodman prescribed him 2 weeks of oral antibiotic tablets, continued use of the Topogen spray I was using before, and soaking his paw in warm water & epsom salts for 10mins a day should clear it all up. 

He just has to deal with looking silly with a shaved toe for a little while . 

It was my first time meeting this vet at the clinic (we've only had to go twice since he came home) and she was super nice! She kept asking which breeder Molson came from because he was so handsome, all while Molson kept kissing her face  tee hee

Anyway, here is a pic I just took with the shaved toe.


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## Our3dogs (Apr 3, 2008)

The one on the front paw looks exactly like one Lacey had on her foot several months ago. The vet said most likely she had scraped it, but then it started looking like yours. He gave me an antibotic steriod type liquid to put on it twice a day. I would just distract her for a little bit so she would not immediately lick it off and it had time to dry. We never covered it up. It did take about 2 weeks for it to finally go away.


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## Belle's Mom (Jan 24, 2007)

That is great news!! 

Sounds like he is on the road to mending.


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## Mad's Mom (Oct 28, 2008)

Glad to hear that Molson is on the mend.

Molson, don't worry about the shaved toe, just make up a really cool story for the other doggies about how you got your "wound". The girls will go more crazy for you then I'm sure they already do.


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

Mad's Mom said:


> Glad to hear that Molson is on the mend.
> 
> Molson, don't worry about the shaved toe, just make up a really cool story for the other doggies about how you got your "wound". The girls will go more crazy for you then I'm sure they already do.


lol "You think this is bad?! You should have seen the other dog who just got neutered!" 

"Bitches" dig scars!  haha


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